Abstract
The effect of canopy trees on understory seedling and sapling distribution is examined in near-climax hemlock-northern hardwood forests in order to predict tree replacement patterns and assess compositional stability.
Canopy trees and saplings were mapped in 65 0.1-ha plots in 16 tracts of old-growth forests dominated by Tsuga canadensis, Acer saccharum, Fagus grandifolia, Tilia americana, and Betula lutea in the northeastern United States. Seedlings were tallied in sub-plots. Canopy influence on individual saplings and sub-plots was calculated, using several indices for canopy species individually and in total. For each species sapling and seedling distributions were compared to those distributions expected if saplings were located independently of canopy influence. Non-random distributions indicated that sapling and seedling establishment or mortality were related to the species of nearby canopy trees. Hemlock canopy trees discriminate against beech and maple saplings while sugar maple canopy favors beech saplings relative to other species. Basswood canopy discourages growth of saplings of other species, but produces basal sprouts. Yellow birch saplings were rarely seen beneath intact canopy.
Since trees in these forests are usually replaced by suppressed seedlings or saplings, canopy-understory interactions should influence replacement probabilities and, ultimately, stand composition. I suggest that hemlock and basswood tend to be self-replacing, maple and beech tend to replace each other, and birch survives as a fugitive by occupying occasional suitable gaps. This suggests that these species may co-exist within stands for long periods with little likelihood of successional elimination of any species. There is some suggestion of geographical variation in these patterns.
Nomenclature follows Fernald (1950).
Acknowledgements: There are many whose help has contributed to this paper but Robert Whittaker played the primary advisory role throughout. The research described sprang from his ideas and his help was crucial in the performance of the research. I am also grateful to those who helped in the field work and the agencies and individuals who allowed access to field sites. I thank Peter Marks and Margaret Davis for their assistance and suggestions and Robert Peet and Steward Pickett for thorough and helpful review of the manuscript. The research was financed - in part - through a National Science Fellowship and by a Mclntyre-Stennis grant.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alemdag, I. S., 1978. Evaluation of some competition indexes for the prediction of diameter increment in planted white spruce. Can. For. Serv. For. Manage. Inst., Inf. Rep. FMRX-108.
Alexandre, D. Y., 1977. Regeneration naturelle d’un arbre caracteristique de la forêt equatoriale de Côte-d’Ivoire: Turraeanthus africana Pellegr. Oecol. Plant. 12: 241–262.
Anderson, R. C., Loucks, O. L., 1979. White-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) influence on structure and composition of Tsuga canadensis forests. J. Applied Ecol. 16: 855–861.
Barden, L. S., 1979. Tree replacement in small canopy gaps of a Tsuga canadensis forest in the southern Appalachians, Tennessee. Oecologia 44: 141–142.
Bella, I. E., 1971. A new competition model for individual tree. Forest Sci. 17: 364–372.
Bratton, S. P., 1976a. Resource distribution in an understory herb community: responses to temporal and microtopographic gradients. Am. Nat. 110: 679–693.
Bratton, S. P., 1976b. The response of understory herbs to soil depth gradients in high and low diversity communities. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 103: 165–172.
Braun, E. L., 1950. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Hafner, New York.
Bray, J. R., 1956. Gap-phase replacement in a maple-basswood forest. Ecology 37: 598–600.
Brewer, R., Merritt, P. G., 1978. Wind throw and tree replacement in a climax beech-maple forest. Oikos 30: 149–152.
Brown, R. T., Curtis, J. T., 1952. The upland conifer-hardwood forests of northern Wisconsin. Ecology 33: 217–234.
Campbell, W. A., 1938. Preliminary report on decay in sprout northern hardwoods in relation to timber stand improvement. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Occasional Paper7. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Upper Darby.
Campbell, W. A., 1938. Preliminary report on decay in sprout northern hardwoods in relation to timber stand improvement. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Occasional Paper7. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Upper Darby.
Connell, J. H., 1970. On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine animals and in rain forest trees. In: P. J. den Boer, G. R. Gradwell(eds.), Proc. Adv. Study Inst. Dynamics of Populations, pp. 298–312. Oosterbeek.
Connell, J. H., Slatyer, R. O., 1977. Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am. Nat. 111: 1119–1144.
Daubenmire, R. F., 1930. The relation of certain ecological factors to the inhibition of forest floor herbs under hemlock. Butler Univ. Bot. Studies 1: 61–76.
Daubenmire, R. F., 1936. The ‘Big Woods’ of Minnesota: its structure, and relation to climate, fire, and soils. Ecol. Monogr. 6: 233–268.
Davis, M. B., 1976. Pleistocene biogeography of temperate deciduous forests. Geoscience and Man 13: 13–26.
Denslow, J. S., 1980. Patterns of plant species diversity during succession under different disturbance regimes. Oecologia 46: 18–21.
Drury, W. H., Nisbet, I. C. T., 1973. Succession. J. Arnold Arboretum 54: 331–368.
Fernald, M. I., 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany, 11th ed. American Book Co., New York.
Forcier, L. K., 1975. Reproductive strategies and co-occurrence of climax tree species. Science 189: 808–810.
Fowells, H. A., 1965. Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States. Agric. Handbook 271. U.S. Gov. Printing Office.
Fox, J. F., 1977. Alternation and coexistence of tree species. Am. Nat. 111: 69–89.
Graham, S. A., 1954. Changes in northern Michigan forests from browsing by deer. Trans. No. Am. Wildl. Confer. 19: 526–531.
Graham, S. A., 1958. Results of deer exclosure experiments in the Ottawa National Forest. Trans. No. Am. Wildl. Confer. 23: 478–490.
Grubb, P. J., 1977. The maintenance of species richness in plant communities. The importance of the regeneration niche. Biol. Rev. 52: 107–145.
Harper, J. L., 1977. Population Biology of Plants. Academic Press, London.
Hicks, D. J., 1981. Intrastand distribution patterns of southern Appalachian cove forest herbaceous species. Am. Midland Nat. 104: 209–233.
Hill, M. O., Gauch, H. G„ 1980. Detrended correspondence analysis: An improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42: 47–58.
Horn, H. S., 1971. The Adaptive Geometry of Trees. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Horn, H. S., 1975. Markovian properties of forest succession. In: M. L. Cody, J. Diamond (eds.), Ecology of Species and Communities, pp. 196–211. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Hough, A. F., 1965. A twenty-year record of understory vegetational change in a virgin Pennsylvania forest. Ecology 46: 370–373.
Janzen, D. H., 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. Am. Nat. 104: 501–527.
Jones, E. W., 1945. The structure and reproduction of the virgin forest of the north temperate zone. New Phytol. 44: 130–148.
Lewin, D. C., 1974. The vegetation of the ravines of the southern Finger Lakes, New York region. Am. Midland. Nat. 91: 315–342.
Lorimer, C. G., 1981. Survival and growth of understory trees in oak forests of the Hudson Highlands, New York. Can. J. For. Res. 11: 689–695.
Marquis, D. A., 1975. The impact of deer browsing on Allegheny hardwood regeneration. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Res. Pap. NE-308.
Mcintosh, R. P., 1972. Forests of the Catskill Mountains, New York. Ecol. Monogr. 42: 143–161.
Moore, W. H., Johnson, F. M., 1967. Nature of deer browsing on hardwood seedlings and sprouts. J. Wildl. Manage. 31: 351–353.
Peterson, C. H., 1976. Measurement of community pattern by indices of local segregation and species diversity. J. Ecol. 64: 157–170.
Pielou, E. C., 1977. Mathematical Ecology. Wiley, New York.
Pigott, C. D., Huntley, J. P., 1978. Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at the northern limits of its geographical range. I. Distribution in northwest England. New Phytol. 81: 429–441.
Rogers, R. S., 1978. Forests dominated by hemlock (Tsuga canadensis): distribution as related to site and postsettlement history. Can. J. Bot. 56: 843 854.
Rogers, R. S., 1980. Hemlock stands from Wisconsin to Nova Scotia: transitions in understory composition along a floristic gradient. Ecology 61: 178193.
Runkle, J. R., 1979. Gap phase dynamics in climax mesic forests. Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Runkle, J. R., 1981. Gap regeneration in some old-growth forests of the eastern U.S. Ecology 62: 1041–1051.
Trimble, G. R., 1970. Twenty years of intensive uneven-aged management: effect on growth, yield, and species of composition in two hardwood stands in West Virginia. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Res. Pap. NE-154.
Tubbs, C. H., 1967. Natural regeneration of yellow birch in the Lake States. In: Birch Symp. Proc. Northeast For. Exp. Sta., Durham, New Hampshire, pp. 74–78.
Tubbs, C. H., 1973. Allelopathic relationship between yellow birch and sugar maple seedlings. Forest Sci. 19: 139–145.
Tubbs, C. H., 1976. Effect of sugar maple root exudate on seedlings of northern conifer species. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Res. NoteNC-213.
Ward, R. T., 1961. Some aspects of the regeneration habits of the American beech. Ecology 42: 828–832.
Webb, W. L., King, R. T., Patric, E. F., 1956. Effect of white-tailed deer on a mature northern hardwood forest. J. Forestry 54: 391–398.
Whittaker, R. H., 1956. Vegetation of the Great Smoky Mountains. Ecol. Monogr. 26: 1–80.
Whittaker, R. H., 1975. The design and stability of plant communities. In: W. H. van Dobben, R. H. Lowe-McConnell (eds.), Unifying Concepts in Ecology, pp. 169–181. Junk, The Hague.
Whittaker, R. H., Levin, S. A., 1977. The role of mosaic phenomena in natural communities. Theor. Pop. Biol. 12: 117–139.
Woods, K. D., 1979. Reciprocal replacement and the maintenance of codominance in a beech-maple forest. Oikos 33: 31–39.
Woods, K. D., Whittaker, R. H., 1981. Canopy-understory interaction and the internal dynamics of mature hardwood and hemlock-hardwood forests. In: D. C. West, H. H. Shugart, D. B. Botkin (eds.), Forest Succession: Concepts and Application, pp. 305–323. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woods, K.D. (1985). Patterns of tree replacement: canopy effects on understory pattern in hemlock - northern hardwood forests. In: Peet, R.K. (eds) Plant community ecology: Papers in honor of Robert H. Whittaker. Advances in vegetation science, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5526-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5526-4_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8939-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5526-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive