Appalachian Deciduous Forest Food Web
Terrestrial
Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
Eastern United States — from Maine to Georgia
Description
The Appalachian temperate deciduous forests harbor exceptional salamander diversity and support a food web structured by mast-producing trees like oaks and hickories. Periodic mast years create bottom-up pulses that cascade through rodent, tick, and predator populations. American black bears fatten on acorns before hibernation.
Trophic Pyramid
Level 5
Decomposers
Mycorrhizal fungi
Millipedes
Leaf-litter invertebrates
3 species
Level 4
Tertiary Consumers
Black bear
Bobcat
2 species
Level 3
Secondary Consumers
Timber rattlesnake
Red-tailed hawk
Eastern coyote
3 species
Level 2
Primary Consumers
White-tailed deer
Eastern chipmunk
White-footed mouse
3 species
Level 1
Producers
Red oak
Sugar maple
American beech
3 species
Apex Predators
Tertiary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Primary Consumers
Producers
Key Interactions
- Oak mast years increase white-footed mouse populations, amplifying tick-borne disease risk
- Black bears consume acorns and hickory nuts to build fat reserves for hibernation
- Salamanders are the most abundant vertebrates by biomass in Appalachian forests
- American chestnut blight removed a keystone mast species from this food web