Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Large-scale synchrony of gap dynamics and the distribution of understory tree species in maple–beech forests

  • Community Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Large-scale synchronous variations in community dynamics are well documented for a vast array of organisms, but are considerably less understood for forest trees. Because of temporal variations in canopy gap dynamics, forest communities—even old-growth ones—are never at equilibrium at the stand scale. This paucity of equilibrium may also be true at the regional scale. Our objectives were to determine (1) if nonequilibrium dynamics caused by temporal variations in the formation of canopy gaps are regionally synchronized, and (2) if spatiotemporal variations in canopy gap formation affect the relative abundance of tree species in the understory. We examined these questions by analyzing variations in the suppression and release history of Acer saccharum Marsh. and Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. from 481 growth series of understory saplings taken from 34 mature stands. We observed that (1) the proportion of stems in release as a function of time exhibited a U-shaped pattern over the last 35 years, with the lowest levels occurring during 1975–1985, and that (2) the response to this in terms of species composition was that A. saccharum became more abundant at sites that had the highest proportion of stems in release during 1975–1985. We concluded that the understory dynamics, typically thought of as a stand-scale process, may be regionally synchronized.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Battles JJ, Fahey TJ (2000) Gap dynamics following forest decline: a case study of red spruce forests. Ecol Appl 10:760–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaudet M, Messier C (2008) Beech regeneration of seed and root sucker origin: a comparison of morphology, growth, survival, and response to defoliation. For Ecol Manage 255:3659–3666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaudet M, Messier C, Paré D, Brisson J, Bergeron Y (1999) Possible mechanisms of sugar maple regeneration failure and replacement by beech in the Boisé-des-Muir old-growth forest, Québec. Écoscience 6:264–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudet M, Brisson J, Gravel D, Messier C (2007a) Effect of a major canopy disturbance on the coexistence of Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia in the understory of an old-growth forest. J Ecol 95:458–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaudet M, Brisson J, Messier C, Gravel D (2007b) Effect of a major ice storm on understory light conditions in an old-growth Acer Fagus forest: pattern of recovery over seven years. For Ecol Manage 242:553–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjornstad ON, Peltonen M, Liebhold AM, Baltensweiler W (2002) Waves of larch budmoth outbreaks in the European Alps. Science 298:1020–1023

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchard M, Kneeshaw DD, Bergeron Y (2006) Forest landscape composition and structure after successive spruce budworm outbreaks. Ecology 87:2319–2329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher Y, Arseneault D, Sirois L (2006) Logging-induced change (1930–2002) of a preindustrial landscape at the northern range limit of northern hardwoods, eastern Canada. Can J For Res 36:505–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brisson J, Bouchard A (2003) In the past two centuries, human activities have caused major changes in the tree species composition of southern Quebec, Canada. Écoscience 10:236–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Brisson J, Bergeron Y, Bouchard A, Leduc A (1994) Beech-maple dynamics in an old-growth forest in southern Québec, Canada. Écoscience 1:40–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Brokaw NVL (1982) The definition of tree-fall gap and its effect on measures of forest dynamics. Biotropica 14:158–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canham CD (1990) Suppression and release during canopy recruitment of Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia. Bull Torrey Bot Club 117:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canham CD, Denslow TS, Platt WJ, Runkle JR, Spies TA, White PS (1990) Light regimes beneath closed canopies and tree-fall gaps in temperate and tropical forests. Can J For Res 20:620–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, McLachlan JS (2003) Stability of forest biodiversity. Nature 423:635–638

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cleavitt NL, Fairbairn M, Fahey TJ (2008) Growth and survivorship of American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) seedlings in a northern hardwood forest following a mast event. J Torrey Bot Soc 135:328–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drohan PJ, Stout SL, Petersen GW (2002) Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) decline during 1979–1989 in northern Pennsylvania. For Ecol Manag 170:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchesne L, Ouimet R, Moore JD, Paquin R (2005) Changes in structure and composition of maple-beech stands following sugar maple decline in Québec, Canada. For Ecol Manage 208:223–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fain JJ, Volk TA, Fahey TJ (1994) Fifty years of change in an upland forest in south-central New York: general patterns. Bull Torrey Bot Club 121:130–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forrester JA, McGee GG, Mitchell MJ (2003) Effects of beech bark disease on above ground biomass and species composition in a mature hardwood forest, 1985–2000. J Torrey Bot Soc 130:70–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glitzenstein JS, Harcombe PA, Streng DR (1986) Disturbance, succession, and maintenance of species diversity in an east Texas forest. Ecol Monogr 56:243–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravel D (2007) Coexistence et dynamique d’espèces forestières tolérantes à l’ombre: le cas de l’érable à sucre et du hêtre à grandes feuilles (Ph.D. dissertation). Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada

  • Gravel D, Beaudet M, Messier C (2008) Partitioning the factors of spatial variation in regeneration density of shade-tolerant tree species. Ecology 89:2879–2888

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hane EN (2003) Indirect effects of beech bark disease on sugar maple seedling survival. Can J For Res 33:807–813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kneeshaw DD, Bergeron Y (1998) Canopy gap characteristics and tree replacement in the southeastern boreal forest. Ecology 79:783–794

    Google Scholar 

  • Kobe RK (1996) Intraspecific variation in sapling mortality and growth predicts geographic variation in forest composition. Ecol Monogr 66:181–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kobe RK, Likens GE, Eagar C (2002) Tree seedling growth and mortality responses to manipulations of calcium and aluminum in a northern hardwood forest. Can J For Res 32:954–966

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig WD, Knops JMH (1998) Scale of mast-seeding and tree-ring growth. Nature 396:225–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krasny ME, DiGregorio LM (2001) Gap dynamics in Allegheny northern hardwood forests in the presence of beech bark disease and gypsy moth disturbances. For Ecol Manage 144:265–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lande R, Engen S, Saether BE (2003) Stochastic population dynamics in ecology and conservation (Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution). Oxford University Press, Oxford

  • Landis RM, Peart D (2005) Early performance predicts canopy attainment across life histories in subalpine forest trees. Ecology 86:63–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Gallagher ED (2001) Ecologically meaningful transformations for ordination of species data. Oecologia 129:271–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Legendre L (1998) Numerical ecology (Developments in Environmental Modelling, vol 20), 2nd English edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam

  • Liebhold A, Koening WD, Bjornstad ON (2004) Spatial synchrony in population dynamics. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:467–490

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorimer CG (1980) Age structure and disturbance history of a southern Appalachian virgin forest. Ecology 61:1169–1184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorimer CG, Dahir SE, Singer MT (1999) Frequency of partial and missing rings in Acer saccharum in relation to canopy position and growth rate. Plant Ecol 143:189–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM, Mitchell MJ (2004) Sugar maple and nitrogen cycling in the forests of eastern North America. Frontiers Ecol Environ 2:81–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Majcen Z (1994) Historique des coupes de jardinage dans les forêts inéquiennes au Québec. Revue Forestière Française 46:375–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks PL, Gardescu SA (1998) A case study of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) as a forest seedling bank species. J Torrey Bot Club 125:287–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olano JM, Palmer MW (2003) Stand dynamics of an Appalachian old-growth forest during a severe drought episode. For Ecol Manage 174:139–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrofsky WD, McCormack ML (1986) Silvicultural management of beech and the beech bark disease. North J Appl For 3:89–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Pacala SW, Canham CD, Saponara J, Silander JA, Kobe RK, Ribbens E (1996) Forest models defined by field measurements: estimation, error analysis and dynamics. Ecol Monogr 66:1–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payette S, Fortin M-J, Morneau C (1996) The recent sugar maple decline in southern Quebec: probable causes deduced from tree rings. Can J For Res 26:1069–1078

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulson TL, Platt WJ (1996) Replacement patterns of beech and sugar maple in Warren Woods, Michigan. Ecology 77:1234–1253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robitaille A, Saucier J-P (1998) Paysages régionaux du Québec méridional. Les Publications du Québec, Ste-Foy

  • Rubino DL, McCarthy BC (2004) Comparative analysis of dendroecological methods used to assess disturbance events. Dendrochronologia 21:97–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1981) Gap regeneration in some old-growth forests of the eastern United States. Ecology 62:1041–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1990) Gap dynamics in an Ohio Acer-Fagus forest and speculations on the geography of disturbance. Can J For Res 20:632–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarcz PA, Fahey TJ, Martin CW, Siccama TG, Bailey A (2001) Structure and composition of three northern hardwood-conifer forests with differing disturbance histories. For Ecol Manage 144:202–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (1979) Reciprocal replacement and the maintenance of codominance in a beech–maple forest. Oikos 33:31–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (2000) Long-term change and spatial pattern in a late-successional hemlock–northern hardwood forest. J Ecol 88:267–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (2004) Intermediate disturbance in a late-successional northern hardwood forest. J Ecol 92:464–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (2007) Predictability, contingency and convergence in late succession: slow systems and complex datasets. J Veg Sci 18:543–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank D. Fréchette and D. Sénécal for assistance in the field and laboratory. Access to study sites was made possible by Domtar and the Unité de Gestion de Portneuf. Thanks to C. Drever, Miguel Franco and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Financial support was provided by Fonds d’Action Québécois sur le Développement Durable, Fonds Québecois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT, Programme des Actions Concertées), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). This work was conducted in compliance with the laws of Canada.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Dominique Gravel

    Present address: Département de Biologie, Chimie et Géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, G5L 3A1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département des Sciences Biologiques, Centre d’Étude de la Forêt (CEF), Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Dominique Gravel, Marilou Beaudet & Christian Messier

Authors
  1. Dominique Gravel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marilou Beaudet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christian Messier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominique Gravel.

Additional information

Communicated by Miguel Franco.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material (DOC 66 kb)

Supplementary material (DOC 466 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gravel, D., Beaudet, M. & Messier, C. Large-scale synchrony of gap dynamics and the distribution of understory tree species in maple–beech forests. Oecologia 162, 153–161 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1426-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1426-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation