Vegetatio

, Volume 73, Issue 2, pp 63–72 | Cite as

Understorey vegetation change in a Picea mariana chronosequence

  • S. J. Taylor
  • T. J. Carleton
  • R. Adams
Article
Accepted:

Abstract

Eighteen black spruce (Picea mariana) stands, representing postfire ages of 26 to 120 yr, were surveyed for understorey vegetation and site/microsite characteristics at two spatial scales. This enabled comparison of within- versus among-stand compositional variation.

Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination among the 18 stands revealed a complex age/moisture gradient. DCA ordination among 1 800 quadrats within the stands indicated a similar gradient with much compositional overlap. Quadrats were grouped, using two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), into 9 classes each representing a phase in understorey vegetation composition. These phases shifted in abundance from young to old stands with a high degree of concordance among replicates in the same age class. Understorey succession is strongly linked to the stages in tree growth, mortality and thinning coupled with the accumulation of site moisture.

Keywords

Classification DECORANA Ordination Succession TWINSPAN Understorey 

Abbreviations

DCA

Detrended Corrospondence Analysis

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Copyright information

© Dr W. Junk Publishers 1987

Authors and Affiliations

  • S. J. Taylor
    • 1
  • T. J. Carleton
    • 2
  • R. Adams
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of BotanyUniversity of TorontoTorontoCanada
  2. 2.Faculty of Forestry and Department of BotanyUniversity of TorontoTorontoCanada
  3. 3.Faculty of ForestryUniversity of TorontoTorontoCanada

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