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Vegetation Response to Climate and Fire in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin
Author(s) -
Kline Virginia M.,
Cottam Grant
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1936853
Subject(s) - ecotone , woodland , vegetation (pathology) , ecology , geography , environmental science , forestry , habitat , biology , medicine , pathology
Quantitative analysis of original land survey data was used to study the presettlement vegetation of a 681—km 2 watershed at a forest—savanna ecotone in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin. Five vegetation types were found: mesic forest, white oak—pine forest, oak—aspen forest, white oak woodland, and oak savanna. Existence of the five types was attributed to gradients of fire and climate, and the discrete boundaries between the types of topographically imposed discontinuities in the gradients. The mesic forest of the study area was at the northern limit of a mesic forest "island" in the extensive oak savannas of southwestern Wisconsin. The mesic forest island is a geologically controlled meteorological island, which experiences a combination of relatively high annual rainfall and cool summer temperatures. The presence of the mesic forest is attributed to this mesoclimate. Structural analysis of the mesic forest data and other evidence suggest a climatic change in the area at °430 BP