Photo: Julian Thomas
Photo: Julian Thomas
A forested swamp is dominated by trees with few shrubs and emergent vegetation. The trees canopy shades out the understory reducing the number of shrubs and plants. They typically succeed a shrub swamp and have similar patterns of water inflow through streams, rivers, and run-off. Trees grow on the hummocks (high spots) and can tolerate flooding for only 3-4 months of the year. If they are flooded for longer the trees will begin to die. Trees that grow in a swamp have shallow root systems to gain exposure to oxygen. Common trees found in a tree swamp include red maple, green ash, and American elm. Wood ducks, gray treefrog, wood frogs barred owls and pileated woodpeckers live in the forested swamp.