Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial and temporal variability of herbaceous vegetation in an eastern deciduous forest

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined spatial and temporal variability of understory herbaceousvegetation on opposing north- and south-facing slopes in an eastern deciduousold-growth forest in southeastern Ohio, USA. Secondly, we explored theinfluenceof sampling scale and analytical technique on our assessment of diversitypatterns. The influence of aspect and seasonality were examined at varyingsampling scales using observed richness, evenness, andH′ diversity measures, non-parametric richnessestimators, species-area curves, and SHE analysis. Herb layer composition,abundance, and diversity were strongly influenced by location (north slope vs.south slope), seasonal sampling period (April, June, August), and plot size(micro (2 m2)- vs. meso (70m2)-scale samples). Although north and south plots werecompositionally distinct, they followed similar courses of change through thegrowing season. Richness, evenness, and H′ diversitywere generally greater on the south plot whereas herbaceous abundance wasgreater on the north plot. Species composition and diversity showed markedphenological (temporal) changes, and comparison of diversity measures at micro-and meso-scales produced markedly different results. Minimum sample areas of150–200 m2 were needed to evaluate micro-scalerichness in these species rich communities, suggesting that forest understoriesmay be frequently undersampled in ecological studies. Comparison of observedandestimated meso-scale richness also suggested underestimation of richness in thenorth plot, particularly earlier in the growing season. Thus, sample size,area,and time of sampling appear critical to assessment of diversity in spatiallyandtemporally variable communities such as herbaceous forest understories.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Austin M.P. 1999. A silent clash of paradigms: some inconsistencies in community ecology. Oikos 86: 170-178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bratton S.P. 1976. Resource division in an understory herb community: responses to temporal and microtopographic gradients. The American Naturalist 110: 679-693.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun E.L. 1950. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Hafner Publishing Co., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham K.P. and Overton W.S. 1979. Robust estimation of population size when capture probabilities vary among animals. Ecology 60: 927-936.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzas M.A. and Gibson T.G. 1969. Species diversity: benthonic foraminifera in western North Atlantic. Science 163: 72-75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzas M.A. and Hayek L.C. 1996. Biodiversity resolution: an integrated approach. Biodiversity Letters 3: 40-43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantlon J.E. 1953. Vegetation and Microclimates on North and South Slopes of Cushetunk Mountain, New Jersey. Ecological Monographs 23: 241-270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao A. 1987. Estimating the population size for capture-recapture data with unequal catchability. Biometrics 43: 783-791.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chazdon R.L., Colwell R.K., Denslow J.S. and Guariguata M.R. 1998. Statistical methods for estimating species richness of woody regeneration in primary and secondary rain forests of northeastern Costa Rica. In: Dallmeier F. and Comiskey J.A. (eds), Forest Biodiversity Research, Monitoring, and Modeling: Conceptual Background and Old World Case Studies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., pp. 285-309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiarucci A., Wilson J.B., Anderson B.J. and De Dominicis V. 1999. Cover versus biomass as an estimate of species abundance: does it make a difference to the conclusions? Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 35-42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke K.R. 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117-143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colwell R.K. and Coddington J.A. 1994. Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through extrapolation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 345: 101-118.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Grandpré L., Archambault L., and Morissette J. 2000. Early understory successional changes following clearcutting in the balsam fir-yellow birch forest. Ecoscience 7: 92-100.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeJong T.M. 1975. A comparison of three diversity indices based on their components of richness and evenness. Oikos 26: 222-227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffy D.C. and Meier A.J. 1992. Do Appalachian herbaceous understories ever recover from clearcutting? Conservation Biology 6: 196-201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenneman N. 1938. Physiography of Eastern United States. McGraw Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher R.A., Corbet A.S. and Williams C.B. 1943. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. Journal of Animal Ecology 12: 42-58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franzmeier D.P., Pederson E.J., Longwell T.J., Byrne J.G. and Losche C.K. 1969. Properties of some soils in the Cumberland Plateaus as related to slope aspect and topography. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 33: 755-761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimaret-Carpentier C., Pelissier R., Pascal J. and Houllier F. 1998.Sampling strategies for the assessment of tree species diversity. Journal of Vegetation Science 9: 161-172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleason H.A. 1922. On the relation between species and area. Ecology 3: 158-162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleason H.A. and Cronquist A. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of the Northeastern United States and Canada. 2nd edn. New York Botanical Garden, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goebel P.C., Hix D.M. and Olivero A.M. 1999. Seasonal ground-flora patterns and site factor relationships of second-growth and old-growth south-facing forest ecosystems, southeastern Ohio, USA. Natural Areas Journal 19: 12-29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek L.C. and Buzas M.A. 1997. Surveying Natural Populations. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek L.C. and Buzas M.A. 1998. SHE Analysis: an integrated approach to the analysis of forest biodiversity. In: Dallmeier F. and Comiskey J.A. (eds), Forest Biodiversity Research, Monitoring, and Modelling: Conceptual Background and Old-World Case Studies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA, pp. 311-321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heltshe J. and Forrester N.E. 1983. Estimating species richness using the jackknife procedure. Biometrics 39: 1-11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert S.H. 1971. The non-concept of species diversity: a critique and alternative parameters. Ecology 52: 577-586.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston M.A. 1999. Local processes and regional patterns: appropriate scales for understanding variation in the diversity of plants and animals. Oikos 86: 393-401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson T.F., Boerner R.E.J., Iverson L.R., Sutherland S. and Kenedy Sutherland E. 1999. Landscape patterns of understory composition and richness across a moisture and nitrogen mineralization gradient in Ohio (U.S.A.) Quercusforests. Plant Ecology 144: 177-189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lande R. 1996. Statistics and partitioning of species diversity, and similarity among multiple communities. Oikos 76: 5-13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee S.M. and Chao A. 1994. Estimating population size via sample coverage for closed capture-recapture models. Biometrics 50: 88-97.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur R.H. 1957. On the relative abundance of bird species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 43: 293-295.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur R.H. 1965. Patterns of species diversity. Biological Reviews 40: 510-533.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran A.E. 1988. Ecological Diversity and its Measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersy.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy B.C. 1995. Eastern old-growth forests. Ohio Woodland Journal 1: 8-10.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy B.C., Hammer C.A., Kauffman G.L. and Cantino P.D. 1987. Vegetation patterns and structure of an old-growth forest in southeastern Ohio. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 114: 33-45.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy B.C., Small C.J. and Rubino D.L. 2001. Composition, structure and dynamics of Dysart Woods, an old-growth mixed mesophytic forest of southeastern Ohio. Forest Ecology and Management 140: 193-213.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCune B. and Mefford M.J. 1997. PC-ORD for Windows: multivariate analysis of ecological data, ver. 3.17. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach, OR.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh R.P. 1967. An index of diversity and the relation of certain concepts to diversity. Ecology 48: 392-404.

    Google Scholar 

  • CLIMVIS Information, 1999. Selection Criteria for Displaying Period of Record. National Climatic Data Center/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; http://www.ncdc-.noaa.gov/onlineprod/drought/xmgrg3.html

  • Olivero A.M. and Hix D.M. 1998. Influence of aspect and stand age on ground flora of southeastern Ohio forest ecosystems. Plant Ecology 139: 177-187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer M.W. 1990. The estimation of species richness by extrapolation. Ecology 71: 1195-1198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer M.W. 1991. Estimating species richness: the second-order jackknife reconsidered. Ecology 72: 1512-1513.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peet R.K. 1974. The measurement of species diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5: 285-307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peet R.K. 1975. Relative diversity indices. Ecology 56: 496-498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielou E.C. 1966. Shannon’s formula as a measure of specific diversity: its use and misuse. American Naturalist 100: 463-465.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielou E.C. 1975. Ecological Diversity. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston F.W. 1948. The commonness and rarity of species. Ecology 29: 254-283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts M.R. and Gilliam F.S. 1995. Patterns and mechanisms of plant diversity in forested ecosystems: implications for forest management. Ecological Applications 5: 969-977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers R. 1982. Early spring herb communities in mesophytic forests of the great lakes region. Ecology 63: 1050-1063.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubel N., Jenny P.C. and Plunkett M.K. 1981. Soil Survey of Belmont County, Ohio. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruben J.A., Bolger D.T., Peart D.R. and Ayres M.P. 1999. Understory herb assemblages 25 and 60 years after clearcutting of a northern hardwood forest, USA. Biological Conservation, 90: 203-215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon C.E. and Weaver W. 1963. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon A.L. 1969. Equitability indices: dependence on the species count. Ecology 50: 466-467.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith E.P. and van Belle G. 1984. Nonparametric estimation of species richness. Biometrics 43: 793-803.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith B. and Wilson J.B. 1996. A consumer’s guide to evenness indices. Oikos 76: 70-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal R.R. and Rohlf F.J. 1995. Biometry: the Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoecker R.E. 1995. Statistical Methods for Environmental Scientists. J.A. Powell Publishing, Boulder, CO.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Geological Survey 1972. Armstrong Mills quadrangle, Ohio 7.5 minute topographic series (topographic) map. United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther B.A. and Morand S. 1998. Comparative performance of species richness estimation methods. Parasitology 116: 395-405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson J.B. 1991. Methods for fitting dominance/diversity curves. Journal of Vegetation Science 2: 35-46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson J.B., Gitay H., Steel J.B. and King W.M. 1998. Relative abundance distributions in plant communities: effects of species richness and of spatial scale. Journal of Vegetation Science 9: 213-220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson J.B., Steel J.B., King W.M. and Gitay H. 1999. The effect of spatial scale on evenness. Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 463-468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe J.N., Wareham R.T. and Scofield H.T. 1949. Microclimates and macroclimate of Neotoma a small valley in central Ohio. Ohio Biological Survey 8: 1-267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar J.H. 1996. Biostatistical Analysis. 3rd edn. Prentice Hall Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, 317 Porter Hall, Athens, 45701, USA

    Christine J. Small, Brian C. McCarthy & Brian C. McCarthy

Authors
  1. Christine J. Small
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian C. McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian C. McCarthy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Small, C.J., McCarthy, B.C. Spatial and temporal variability of herbaceous vegetation in an eastern deciduous forest. Plant Ecology 164, 37–48 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021209528643

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021209528643

Search

Navigation