Question

What ecology theories are present in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac in chapters 1-6?

Each year in late January comes a thaw. The hibernating skunk rouses and walks through the snow, leaving a track behind him. Aldo Leopold, author and speaker, follows the track, wondering about the skunk's purpose and destination. There is time for such musings in January.

Following the skunk track Leopold notices more signs of animal activity as a result of the thaw. A mouse runs across the skunk track. The thaw has exposed its network of tunnels beneath the snow. A hawk dives from the sky for prey, "well aware that snow melts in order that hawks may again catch mice." Rabbits run more freely, giving owls opportunities to feed.

The skunk track ends at a pile of driftwood, so Leopold goes home again.

According to Leopold, among the benefits of owning a farm is a greater understanding of where food and heat come from. Using the example of a felled oak used as fuel for the fire, he examines the origin of the energy in the wood and the process that led to its being used to provide warmth.

This particular oak had reached a diameter of 30 inches, made up of 80 rings. This dates the first ring to the end of the Civil War. The heat generated by burning the wood is, then, "eighty years of June sun." And this heat is greatly appreciated by Leopold's dog.

The oak had been struck and killed by lightning in a summer storm. Leopold felled it, imagining that the "saw was biting its way, stroke by stroke, decade by decade, into the chronology of a lifetime, written in concentric annual rings of good oak." He thinks of the oak over the years as he saws, imagining backward in time through the Great Depression, years of changes to conservation laws, and other significant dates in Wisconsin's conservation and forestry history. He also describes the function of the saw, wedge, and axe—tools for cutting up wood—not only as they relate just to cutting the tree but also how they interact with and reveal the years represented by the rings.

The return of geese in March means spring has truly and fully come. Other animals—cardinals and chipmunks—do not migrate, so they can be mistaken about the coming of spring. But geese migrate, so there is no room for error in timing. The return of hundreds of geese to the marsh on Leopold's property is a sure sign that the season is changing. The geese show their presence and eat last year's corn from fields that have been hidden under snow all winter.

Leopold notes some of the geese are "singles—lone geese that do much flying about and much talking." After careful observation he concludes these are "bereaved survivors of the winter's shooting, searching in vain for their kin." Leopold describes the noise of the birds in the marsh as a robust and boisterous conversation that, by May when the geese have migrated on, becomes much quieter. Through the migration of the geese, Leopold notes, the leftover corn from Illinois is transformed under the Arctic June sun into goslings.

Come High Water

Because of melting snow and the farm's proximity to the river, April often brings flooding to Leopold's farm. This causes both humans and animals to be stranded on high areas surrounded by fields rapidly being transformed into lakes. The geese struggle to find a place to land and feed, while the carp enjoy their larger world. Random pieces of lumber float down the river from areas upriver. Over the years these have been collected in a lumber pile that is "an anthology of human strivings in upriver farms and forests."

Draba

The tiny white blossoms of the Draba flower can go unnoticed by those who are not looking for them. It is a humble and overlooked flower that thrives in sand that is too poor for other flowers. Draba is not a romantic flower, but it does its "small job quickly and well."

Bur Oak

Because of its thick bark the bur oak is the only Wisconsin tree that can survive a prairie fire: "Bur oaks were the shock troops sent by the invading forest to storm the prairie; fire is what they had to fight." Botanists can use pollen embedded in the wood of trees to track the expansion and contraction of the Wisconsin forest over the course of this long battle between forest and prairie. Because of "allies"—rabbits, mice, squirrels, June beetles—that helped both the prairie and the forest, "the net outcome of the battle was a draw." That is, until human settlers intervened in the battle. Settlers plowed fields so that prairie fires were less common. This gave oaks an advantage as more of their seedlings could survive. This allowed much of the land that was prairie to be transformed into thick oak forest.

Sky Dance

In April and May the "sky dance" occurs at dusk and dawn over the woods of the Leopold farm. "Showtime" changes over the weeks as the times of sunrise and sunset change. At the appointed time the male woodcock bird appears and begins to perform a song and dance designed to appeal to his "lady." He spirals into the sky and swoops down for an hour or more, his "dance" accompanied by his unique call. Despite Leopold's careful observation of this sky dance he has many unanswered questions about it, such as where the female is during this dance and the exact mechanism of the music.

When dandelions begin to bloom in Wisconsin, one can listen for the "final proof of spring"—the song of the upland plover, which migrates far to the Argentine during the winter. The plover can be seen flying overhead or alighting gracefully on fence posts. Over the next several weeks the hens nest; the chicks hatch out and grow quickly; by August the chicks have learned to fly.

The plover has adapted well to the changes human agriculture has wrought on the landscape—it lives as easily among cows and farmland as among buffalo and prairie. They have also benefitted from federal migratory bird laws that protect them from hunters.

The Alder Fork—A Fishing Idyl

In this episode Leopold fishes for trout in a stream but has little luck. He relocates his fishing efforts to the Alder Fork—a part of the stream nearer the headwaters. While catching trout, Leopold sits on a rock and considers how much humans are like fish: "ready, nay eager, to seize upon whatever new thing some wind of circumstance shakes down upon the river of time!" He notes that this haste may sometimes have bad effects, but a life devoid of this eagerness would be very dull. Prudence may often be a virtue, but a life wholly prudent is boring. In fact, he remarks: "No prudent man is a fisherman."

Answer 1

Above we can see the beautiful presentation of seasonal variations observed by Aldo Leopold's.It all started in the month of January when their is remarkable end of winter season. The author observed the beginning spring thaw. Here anyone can think that how spring begins in March, or April, or May, but the fact is that late January sometimes brings this spring thaw is a surprise for the nature . When the author talks about the seasonal variations he started noticing with the start of calander year he got amused and he talk about the rings he noticed in the woody plants which also a evidence of passing of season and the rings fomed are 2 in 1year . 1 ring is deep in colour while the one is light in year shows the winter and summer seasonal variations. The writer is not thinking commonly he is observing and trying to find answers of each phenomenon that is taking place in the nature . The result is different from the conventional wisdom . Whatever the writer is observing is a result of ecological transformation and interaction. Author observed birds and reptiles,mammals in different seasons . He watched migratory birds . He also observed the birds dancing when the food for them was sufficient present in the environment and the weather was perfect. He saw transition of weather from deep winter to slightly warmer weather and explored various signs of seasonal variations and saw wild animals , migratory bird. He saw prey (mouse , rabbit ) - predator relationship (hawk ,owl ) . In the spring season the food was sufficient for the prey but during winter season they are unable to keep the stock and have to find their food risking their lives. A food chain and food web is also observed.

Leopold observed both fear and freedom . The organisms are naturally evolving and the interference of humans are also significantly observed .