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Gap Regeneration in Some Old‐growth Forests of the Eastern United States
Author(s) -
Runkle James Reade
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1937003
Subject(s) - beech , canopy , ecology , regeneration (biology) , composition (language) , tree canopy , yellow birch , old growth forest , stand development , species diversity , geography , forestry , maple , biology , linguistics , philosophy , microbiology and biotechnology
Tree replacement in gaps was studied in old—growth mesic forest stands in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the southern Appalachian Mountains. Predictions of future overstory composition, based on sapling composition in small gaps (average 200 m 2 ), were compared to current canopy composition. Both Markov analyses and simple average sapling composition of gaps support the hypotheses that regeneration in small gaps was sufficient to perpetuate the current canopy species composition of the stands studied. In some cases the saplings most likely to replace a dead canopy tree were of the same species. In other cases, especially low—diversity beech—sugar maple stands, each species seemed to enhance significantly the success of the other species.