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Habitat heterogeneity and life-history traits influence presettlement distributions of early-successional tree species in a late-successional, hemlock-hardwood landscape

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Abstract

In landscapes dominated by late-successional plant communities, early-successional species may lead a tenuous existence, persisting only as fugitives or relying on refuges in marginal habitats to provide a persistent seed source. The objective of this study was to relate fine-scale distributions of early-successional tree species in hemlock-hardwood forests of northern Wisconsin, USA to potential landscape persistence strategies. A special emphasis was placed on eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), a restoration priority in the region. Witness tree data from nineteenth century US Public Land Survey records (encompassing 40,610 km2 and 106,790 trees) were used with modern environmental data to relate species distributions to habitat characteristics. Early-successional tree species had strong positive associations with marginal habitats such as inclusions of sandy soil and margins of lakes, wetlands, and rivers. Marginal habitats occupied ~44 % of the landscape, which may help account for the abundance of early-successional species in our study area relative to other hemlock-hardwood forests. Populations of early-successional species in marginal habitats could also have provided important seed sources for the upland mesic landscape matrix, as >70 % of the landscape was within 200 m of these habitats. The degree to which early-successional species were limited to marginal habitats largely followed predictions based on species life-history characteristics, except that white pine was more common than expected in upland mesic habitats. These findings illustrate the potential importance of landscape heterogeneity for persistence of early-successional species in late-successional forest landscapes and provide baseline information on habitat associations and landscape dynamics that will be useful in restoration efforts.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this research was provided by the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program, Connor Hardwood Research Fund, Garden Club of America Ecological Restoration Fellowship program, and a grant from the Huron Mountain Wildlife Foundation. We are grateful to Phil Townsend, James Bockheim, Glen Stanosz and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Robert T. Fahey

    Present address: The Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois Rte 53, Lisle, IL, 60532, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 226 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Robert T. Fahey, Craig G. Lorimer & David J. Mladenoff

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  1. Robert T. Fahey
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  2. Craig G. Lorimer
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  3. David J. Mladenoff
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Correspondence to Robert T. Fahey.

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Fahey, R.T., Lorimer, C.G. & Mladenoff, D.J. Habitat heterogeneity and life-history traits influence presettlement distributions of early-successional tree species in a late-successional, hemlock-hardwood landscape. Landscape Ecol 27, 999–1013 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-012-9754-z

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