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Glacier Bay National Park and PreserveRuby crowned kinglet
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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Plant Succession in Pictures
Moss beginning to colonize glacial till
It's not much to look at but moss like this will start to colonize glacial till, paving the way for the plants that follow.
 
The lovely pink blossoms of fireweed
The seeds of fireweed are perfectly designed to be carried to new areas by the wind.
 
A mat of dryas gone to seed with cottonwood trees growing up in the middle
Dryas (shown gone to seed) is very good at enriching the soil with nitrogen, something all plants need to live. Notice the moss growing close to the ground around the dryas mat and the cottonwood trees growing up in the middle.
 
Looking through the dense foliage of an alder thicket
Alder is good at fixing nitrogen in the soil. But it can make hiking very difficult, if not impossible!
 
Young spruce tree
Eventually, spruce trees begin to grow under the alder thicket.
 
Hemlock branch
Hemlock trees are an important member of the mature forest community.
 
Mature spruce and hemlock forest
A mature spruce and hemlock forest (often referred to as "old growth") is a lovely yet disorderly place, with trees at all stages of growth and decay.
 
Icebergs calve off the face of a tidewater glacier  

Did You Know?
Seawater is highly erosive to glacial ice. Waves and tides work away at an unstable glacier face, causing huge chunks of ice to calve, or break off, into the ocean.

Last Updated: July 24, 2006 at 22:37 EST