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Early secondary succession in a southeastern U.S. alluvial floodplain
Author(s) -
Battaglia L.L.,
Keough J.R.,
Pritchett D.W.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.2307/3236390
Subject(s) - ecological succession , detrended correspondence analysis , quadrat , floodplain , ecology , secondary succession , old field , alluvium , biology , geography , ordination , forestry , transect , paleontology
. Species number, turnover and early successional patterns were examined over the first five years of old‐field succession in a former bottomland hardwood forest. Number of species, measured by walk‐through surveys, increased up to Year 3, but decreased in Years 4 and 5. Species turnover in 20 quadrats indicated that species’invasions remained high throughout the study, while losses of species were initially high but declined. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) on species cover in each year showed the existence of a compositional gradient that could be significantly related to relative elevation, an indirect measure of hydrology, in Years 2, 3, 4, and 5. DCA of the pooled five‐year species cover data showed greater compositional changes in lower elevation quadrats, and those higher elevation quadrats dominated by the woody vine, Campsis radicans , remained similar over time.