Chapter 5 Structure and Species Composition of Upland Hardwood Communities After Regeneration Treatents Across Environmental Gradients.
| Authors: | David Loftis, Callie Schweitzer, Tara Keyser |
| Year: | 2011 |
| Type: | Book Chapter |
| Station: | Southern Research Station |
| Source: | Sustaining Young Forest Communities: Ecology and Management of Early Successional Habitats in the Central Hardwood Region, USA. Managing Forest Ecosystems Volume 21. |
Abstract
Early successional habitats can be created with a broad array of silvicultural techniques that remove all or most canopy trees in one to several cuttings and small to large patch sizes. Composition and early structural development of the resulting vegetation can be variable. Arborescent species composition is a function of regeneration sources already present and those that arrive during or after the cutting. The suite of species available for regeneration of a site, large or small, is a cumulative effect of disturbances and varies across multiple environmental gradients that include moisture, elevation (temperature), and soil chemistry.