Abstract
Increasing rates of forest disturbance may provide greater opportunity for invasion of nonnative species, thereby altering the successional trajectory of native plant communities. In the eastern U.S., invasive Ailanthus altissima and native Liriodendron tulipifera have similar life histories and niches and often co-occur. To examine how disturbance affects the establishment of these species, we performed field experiments to evaluate the response of sown seeds and transplanted seedlings to three levels of disturbance on north- and south-facing aspects. L.␣tulipifera germination was severely limited by low seed viability and had significantly lower germination than A. altissima in all sites. The effect of disturbance regime on A. altissima germination depended on aspect in the second growing season. In contrast, mean seedling survival, biomass, leaf area and leaf area ratio were greater for L. tulipifera in all field sites. Overall, the north-facing selective cut forest provided a disproportionately large number of suitable microsites for L. tulipifera establishment. Collectively, this study demonstrated that different timber harvest practices produce heterogeneous mosaics of suitable microsites for germination and establishment. Limited L. tulipifera germination may be a serious constraint to population establishment if seeds are deposited for the first time immediately after a disturbance event. However, if sufficient viable seeds of both species exist, L. tulipifera out-performs the invasive in the first two years following disturbance. This may explain why A. altissima has shown explosive population growth in a limited number of sites in the past century.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adamik KJ, Brauns FE (1957) Ailanthus glandulosa (Tree of Heaven) as a pulpwood Part II. Tappi 40:522–527
Adams MB, Burger JA, Jenkins AB, Zelazny L (2000) Impact of harvesting and atmospheric pollution on nutrient depletion of eastern US hardwood forests. Forest Ecol Manage 138:301–319
Antonovics J, Primack RB (1982) Experimental ecological genetics in Plantago VI. The demography of seedling transplants of P. lanceolata L. in natural populations. J Ecol 70:55–75
Barik SK, Tripathi RS, Pandey HN, Rao P (1996) Tree regeneration in a subtropical humid forest: effect of cultural disturbance on seed production, dispersal and germination. J Appl Ecol 33:1551–1560
Baskin CC, Baskin JM (1998) Seeds: ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination. Academic Press, San Diego, CA
Beck DE (1990) Liriodendron tulipifera L., Yellow-Poplar. In: Burns RM, Honkala BH (eds) (tech coords) Silvics of North America: 2. Hardwoods. Agriculture Handbook 654. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC
Boyce SF, Kaeiser M (1961) Why yellow-poplar seeds have low viability. Technical Paper 168, USDA Forest Service, Central States Forest Experiment Station
Busing RT (1995) Disturbance and the population dynamics of Liriodendron tulipifera: simulations with a spatial model of forest succession. J Ecol 83:45–53
Call LJ, Nilsen ET (2003) Analysis of spatial patterns and spatial association between the invasive tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and the native black locust (Robinia psuedoacacia). Am Midland Nat 150:1–14
Carvell KL (1980) Yellow poplar-white oak-northern red oak. In: Eyre FH (ed) Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Society of American Foresters, Washington DC
Clark FB, Boyce SG (1964) Yellow-poplar seed remains viable in the forest litter. J Forest 62:564–567
Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am Nat 111:1119–1144
Cowling RS, Pierce SM, Moll EJ (1986) Conservation and utilization of South Coast Renosterveld, and endangered South African vegetation type. Biol Conserv 37:363–377
Daehler CC (2003) Performance comparisons of co-occurring native and alien invasive plants: implications for conservation and restoration. Annu Rev Ecol, Evol Syst 34:183–211
Daniel TW, Helms JA, Baker FS (1979) Principles of silviculture. McGraw-Hill, New York
Della-Bianca L (1983) Sixty years of stand development in a southern Appalachian cove-hardwood stand. Forest Ecol Manage 5:229–241
DeSteven D (1991) Experiments on mechanisms of tree establishment in old-field succession: seedling survival and growth. Ecology 72:1076–1088
During HJ, Willems JH (1986) The impoverishment of the bryophyte and lichen flora of the Dutch chalk grasslands in the thirty years 1953–1983. Biol Conserv 36:143–158
Facelli JM (1994) Multiple indirect effects of plant litter affect the establishment of woody seedlings in old fields. Ecology 75:1727–1735
Fajvan MA, Grushecky ST, Hassler CC (1998) The effects of harvesting practices on West Virginia’s wood supply. J Forest 96:33–39
Friend DTC (1961) A simple method of measuring integrated light values in the field. Ecology 42:577–580
Gotelli NJ, Ellison AM (2004) A primer of ecological statistics. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts
Grime JP (1979) Plant strategies and vegetation process. Wiley, New York
Grubb PJ (1977) The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biol Rev 52:107–145
Gilliam F, Turrill NL, Adams MB (1995) Herbaceous-layer and overstory species in clear-cut and mature central Appalachian hardwood forests. Ecol Appl 5:947–955
Harper JL (1977) Population biology of plants. Academic Press, London
Heisey RM (1990) Allelopathic and herbicidal effects of extracts from Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Am J Bot 77:662–670
Heisey RM (1996) Identification of an allelopathic compound from Ailanthus altissima (Simaroubaceae) and characterization of its herbicidal activity. Am J Bot 83:192–200
Hobbs RJ (1989) The nature and effects of disturbance relative to invasion. In: Drake JA, Mooney HA, di Castri F, Groves RH, Kruger FJ, Rejmanek M, Williamson M (eds) Biological invasions: a global perspective. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, England, pp 389–405
Hobbs RJ, Huenneke LF (1991) Disturbance, diversity, and invasion: implications for conservation. Conserv Biol 6:324–337
Hu SY (1979) Ailanthus. Arnoldia 39:29–50
Keeley JE, Keeley SC (1981) Post-fire regeneration of southern California chaparral. Am J Bot 68:524–530
Knapp LB, Canham CD (2000) Invasion of an old-growth forest in New York by Ailanthus altissima: sapling growth and recruitment in canopy gaps. J Torrey Bot Soc 127:307–315
Kota NL (2005) Comparitive seed dispersal, seedling establishment and growth of exotic, invasive Ailanthus altissima and native Liriodendron tulipifera. MS Thesis, Department of Biology, West Virginia University
Kowarik I (1995) Clonal growth of Ailanthus altissima on a natural site in West Virginia. J Veg Sci 6:853–856
Landenberger RE, Ostergren DA (2002) Eupatorium rugosum (Asteraceae) flowering as an indicator of edge effect from clearcutting in mixed-mesophytic forest. Forest Ecol Manage 155:55–68
Landis RM, Peart DR (2005) Early performance predicts canopy attainment across life histories in subalpine forest trees. Ecology 86:63–72
MacDonald G (2003) Biogeography: introduction to space, time and life. Wiley and Sons, New York, pp 104–112
Maguire JD (1977) Seed quality and germination. In: Kahn AA (eds) The physiology and biochemistry of seed dormancy and germination. North-Holland, Amsterdam
McGraw JB, Antonovics J (1983) Experimental ecology of Dryas octopetala ecotypes I. Ecotypic differentiation and life-cycle stages of selection. J Ecol 71:879–897
McNab HW, Meeker M (1987) Oriental bittersweet: a growing threat to hardwood silviculture in the Appalachians. Northern J Appl Forest 4:174–177
Mergen F (1959) A toxic principle in the leaves of Ailanthus. Bot Gaz 121:32–36
Miller GW, Kochenderfer JN (1998) Maintaining species diversity in the central Appalachians. J Forest 96:28–33
Miller GW, Smith HC (1991) Comparing partial cutting methods in central Appalachian hardwoods. In: McCorwick LH, Gottschalk KW (eds) Proceedings, 8th central hardwood conference; 1991 March 4–6; University Park, PA. Gen. Tech. rep. NE-148. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, pp 105–119
Moore AD, Noble IR (1990) An individualistic model of vegetation stand dynamics. J Environ Manage 31:61–81
Mou P, Fahey TJ, Hughes JW (1993) Effects of soil disturbance on vegetation recovery and nutrient accumulation following whole-tree harvest of a northern hardwood ecosystem. J Appl Ecol 30:661–675
Oliver CD, Larson BC (1996) Forest stand dynamics: update edition. Wiley and Sons, New York
Orwig DA, Abrams MD (1994) Contrasting radial growth and canopy recruitment patterns in Liriodendron tulipifera and Nyssa sylvatica, gap-obligate versus gap-facultative tree species. Can J Forest Res 24:2141–2149
Parker IM, Mertens SK, Schemske DW (1993) Distribution of seven native and two exotic plants in a tallgrass prairie in southeastern Wisconsin: the importance of human disturbance. Am Midland Nat 130:43–55
Pickett STA, Collins SL, Armesto JJ (1987) Models, mechanisms and pathways of succession. Bot Rev 53:335–371
Rebertus AJ, Meier AJ (2001) Blowdown dynamics in oak-hickory forests of the Missouri Ozarks. J Torrey Bot Soc 128:362–369
Rejmanek M (1989) Invasibility of plant communities. In: Drake JA, Mooney HA, di Castri F, Groves RH, Kruger FJ, Rejmanek M, Williamson M (eds) Biological invasions: a global perspective. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, England, pp 369–388
Runkle JR (1982) Patterns of disturbance in some old-growth mesic forests of eastern North America. Ecology 63:1533–1546
Silveri A, Dunwiddie PW, Michaels HJ (2001) Logging and edaphic factors in the invasion of an Asian woody vine in a mesic North American forest. Biol Invasions 3:379–389
Smith HC, Miller GW (1987) Managing Appalachian hardwood stands using four regeneration practices: 34-year results. Northern J Appl Forest 4:180–185
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry, 3rd edn. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York
Spurr SH, Barnes BV (1973) Forest ecology. Ronald Press, New York
Stoyenoff J, Witter J, Leutscher B (1998) Forest health in the mid-Atlantic states. Unnumbered publication, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
Strausbaugh PD, Core EL (1977) Flora of West Virginia, 2nd edn. Seneca Books, Morgantown, WV
Stylinski CD, Allen EB (1999) Lack of native species recovery following severe exotic disturbance in southern Californian shrublands. J Appl Ecol 36:544–554
Sullivan TJ, Mix MC (1983) A simple and inexpensive method for measuring integrated light energy. Environ Sci Technol 17:127–128
Thonicke K, Venevsky S, Sitch S, Cramer W (2001) The role of fire disturbance for global vegetation dynamics: coupling fire into a dynamic global vegetation model. Global Ecol Biogeogr 10:661–667
Trimble GR, Hart G (1961) An appraisal of early reproduction after cutting in northern Appalachian hardwood stands. Station Paper 162. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, 22 p
Vidaver W (1977) Light and seed germination. In: Kahn AA (eds) The physiology and biochemistry of seed␣dormancy and germination. North-Holland, Amsterdam
Walk JL, Baskin JM, Baskin CC (1999) Ecology of the endangered species Solidago shortii. VI. Effects of habitat type, leaf litter, and soil type on seed germination. J Torrey Bot Soc 126:117–123
White PS, Pickett STA (1985) Natural disturbance and patch dynamics: an introduction. In: Pickett STA, White PS (eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, Orlando, pp 3–13
Williams CE, Lipscomb MV, Johnson WC, Nilsen ET (1990) Influence of leaf litter and soil moisture regime on early establishment of Pinus pungens. Am Midland Nat 124:142–152
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the USDA Grant No. 2002-35320-12535. Special thanks to Monica Faux-Kota, Bob and Patti Kota, Pratiksha Patel, Kristen Cave, Stefanie Whitmire, Skip van Bloem and Jessica Sine for their help with field and lab work, and to Patricia Lutsie for lab supplies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kota, N.L., Landenberger, R.E. & McGraw, J.B. Germination and early growth of Ailanthus and tulip poplar in three levels of forest disturbance. Biol Invasions 9, 197–211 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-006-9026-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-006-9026-4