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Spatial coexistence of American beech and sugar maple regeneration in post-harvest northern hardwood forests

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Abstract

Context

Fine scale regeneration patterns of coexistent species are influenced by regeneration mechanisms and microsite requirements. Spatial patterns may be either disjunct or overlapping, which will determine competitive effects and microsite dominance, and future forest composition.

Aims

Using American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) as an example, three hypotheses were tested: (1) random beech spatial patterns, (2) clumped spatial patterns of small sugar maple seedlings, and (3) disjunct beech and sugar maple patterns.

Methods

Individual stems were sampled in a contiguous grid of 1-m2 quadrats across a 576-m2 area at three sites. Densities were separated into three height classes (≤30 cm, 30–90 cm, and > 90 cm, ≤4 cm diameter at breast height). Spatial statistics and regression were used to analyze spatial patterns and correlations.

Results

Beech and seedling sugar maple patterns were patchy, rejecting the first and not rejecting the second hypotheses. Hypothesis three was rejected because patches of the two species overlapped with advance regeneration beech overtopping sugar maple.

Conclusion

Patchy patterns of advance regeneration beech and post-harvest sugar maple establishment suggest spatiotemporal niche partitioning. Beech had a competitive height advantage following harvest, but sugar maple still occurred in beech-free patches and beneath overtopping beech at a fine scale. Self-replacing beech patterns will ensure the species will continue dominance unless a selective chemical or manual treatment is applied that removes beech and releases sugar maple.

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Acknowledgments

CFRU members Huber Resources, Prentiss & Carlisle, and Katahdin Forest Management provided study sites for this project. We would also like to thank our field assistants Erica Kaufmann, Kyle Gay, and Alexandria Small.

Funding

Financial support for this project was provided by the Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU) and the Henry W. Saunders Chair at the University of Maine.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Andrew S. Nelson

    Present address: School of Forest Resources and Arkansas Forest Resources Center, University of Arkansas at Monticello, P.O. Box 3468, Monticello, AR, 71656, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, P.O. Box 5755, Nutting Hall, Orono, ME, USA

    Andrew S. Nelson & Robert G. Wagner

Authors
  1. Andrew S. Nelson
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  2. Robert G. Wagner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew S. Nelson.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Douglass Jacobs

Contribution of the co-authors

Andrew Nelson was responsible writing the manuscript, designing the study, collecting, and analyzing data. Robert Wagner was the primary supervisor and assisted in designing the study, interpreting the results, and preparing the manuscript.

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Nelson, A.S., Wagner, R.G. Spatial coexistence of American beech and sugar maple regeneration in post-harvest northern hardwood forests. Annals of Forest Science 71, 781–789 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0376-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0376-2

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