Interference to Hardwood Regeneration in Northeastern North America: Controlling Effects of American Beech, Striped Maple, and Hobblebush

Nyland, Ralph D.; Bashant, Amy L.; Bohn, Kimberly K.; Verostek, Jane

doi:10.1093/njaf/23.2.122

Cited by 52 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Due to widespread forest health and management concerns related to beech bark disease and associated thickets (Nyland et al. , Wagner et al. , Giencke et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Meigs

Keeton

2018

Ecological Applications

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Wind is one of the most important natural disturbances influencing forest structure, ecosystem function, and successional processes worldwide. This study quantifies the stand-scale effects of intermediate-severity windstorms (i.e., blowdowns) on (1) live and dead legacy structure, (2) aboveground carbon storage, and (3) tree regeneration and associated stand dynamics at four mature, mixed hardwood-conifer forest sites in the northeastern United States. We compare wind-affected forests to adjacent reference conditions (i.e., undisturbed portions of the same stands) 0-8 yr post-blowdown using parametric (ANOVA) and nonparametric (NMS ordination) analyses. We supplement inventory plots and downed coarse woody detritus (DCWD) transects with hemispherical photography to capture spatial variation in the light environment. Although recent blowdowns transferred a substantial proportion of live overstory trees to DCWD, residual live tree basal area was high (19-59% of reference areas). On average, the initial post-blowdown ratio of DCWD carbon to standing live tree carbon was 2.72 in blowdown stands and 0.18 in reference stands, indicating a large carbon transfer from live to dead pools. Despite these dramatic changes, structural complexity remained high in blowdown areas, as indicated by the size and species distributions of overstory trees, abundance of sound and rotten downed wood, spatial patterns of light availability, and variability of understory vegetation. Furthermore, tree species composition was similar between blowdown and reference areas at each site, with generally shade-tolerant species dominating across multiple canopy strata. Community response to intermediate-severity blowdown at these sites suggests a dynamic in which disturbance maintains late-successional species composition rather than providing a regeneration opportunity for shade-intolerant, pioneer species. Our findings suggest that intermediate-severity wind disturbances can contribute to stand-scale structural complexity as well as development toward late-successional species composition, at least when shade-tolerant regeneration is present pre-blowdown. Advance regeneration thus enhances structural and compositional resilience to this type of disturbance. This study provides a baseline for multi-cohort silvicultural systems designed to restore heterogeneity associated with natural disturbance dynamics.

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“…Due to widespread forest health and management concerns related to beech bark disease and associated thickets (Nyland et al. , Wagner et al. , Giencke et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Meigs

Keeton

2018

Ecological Applications

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“…Negative interaction (competitive exclusion) generally occurs when multiple species compete for resources (Chase & Leibold 2003). In the forests of north-eastern USA, several factors have been reported as beneficial to beech with respect to competition with sugar maple, red maple and birch, namely: (i) beech is more shade tolerant than the three other studied species (Canham 1989), therefore, small-scale overstorey openings that occur by natural mortality due to beech-bark disease, self-thinning and senescence, and by selection harvest are more beneficial to beech saplings than other species, (ii) unlike the three other species, beech is able to regenerate vegetatively from root suckers, which is often promoted by the beech-bark disease and root injuries during harvesting (Houston 2001;Nyland et al 2006). Beech seedlings originated from suckering have shown a higher rate of growth and survivability than beech seedlings originated from seed (Beaudet & Messier 2008), (iii) beech is a less palatable species for browsers (Tripler et al 2005), and (iv) beech forms an interconnected root system, which effectively generates higher survivability of beech regeneration than other hardwood species (Nyland et al 2006).…”

Section: A S S O C I a T E D F A C T O R S O F T H E D I S T R I B U mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, forest managers will need to incorporate these changes into their long-term management planning. Where beech has become dense in the understorey of northern hardwood forests, no canopy light manipulation strategy by harvesting will succeed in establishing regeneration of desirable species (Nyland et al 2006). Under such situations, regeneration control treatments (e.g.…”

Section: L I M a T E C H A N G E B E E C H E X P A N S I O N A mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The choice of regeneration control treatments can be based on the magnitude of beech presence (stems per ha), the size of the area and the associated costs. For example, stem girdling can be used in stands have relatively lower abundance of beech (e.g.~1000 stems per ha), while herbicide spray can be used in stands with greater abundance of beech (>1000 stems per ha) (Nyland et al 2006). In addition, protecting a regeneration area from browsing and conducting logging in winter (when the soil is covered by snow) to minimize root injury induced beech suckering will benefit the regeneration of desirable species (i.e.…”

Section: L I M a T E C H A N G E B E E C H E X P A N S I O N A mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…beech-bark disease) (Wagner et al 2010). In these forests, diseased beech has low commercial value than other deciduous species, including sugar maple, red maple and birch species (Nyland et al 2006). Therefore, the increasing beech dominance may significantly reduce the future diversity, productivity and value of northern hardwood forest stands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A three decade assessment of climate‐associated changes in forest composition across the north‐eastern USA

Bose

Weiskittel

Wagner

2017

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Climate-associated changes in forest composition have been widely reported, particularly where changes in abiotic conditions have resulted in high mortality of sensitive species and have disproportionately favoured certain species better adapted to these newer conditions. In the north-eastern USA and south-eastern Canada, few studies have examined climate-related influences associated with forest composition, and none have considered broad-scale changes over a long temporal (>25 years) period. 2. We used US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data from 1983 to 2014 across four north-eastern states (Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont) to assess temporal and spatial changes in the occurrence and abundance of American beech Fagus grandifolia Ehrh, sugar maple Acer saccharum L., red maple Acer rubrum L. and birch Betula spp. saplings. We also tested the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of the four studied deciduous species over the entire period examined. 3. Occurrence and abundance of American beech have increased substantially over the past three decades, whereas the occurrence and abundance of three other deciduous species have decreased in all ecological provinces of the north-eastern USA, except the Midwest Broadleaf ecological province. Consequently, a clear shift in species composition is currently underway in the beech-maple-birch (BMB) forests of the north-eastern USA, with uncertain consequences for future ecosystem structure and function. 4. In the studied region and over the entire period examined, the distribution of increased occurrence and abundance of beech relative to the three other deciduous species were associated with higher temperature and precipitation as well as higher conspecific basal area and dead tree basal area. 5. Synthesis and applications. The change from beech-maple-birch forests to more beech-dominated forests with beech encroachment to new forest areas across the north-eastern USA may continue if higher intensity harvesting and disturbances (i.e. large-scale canopy openings) do not occur. This would be a significant management concern as beech is associated with a widespread bark disease, is commercially less desirable, and can limit natural regeneration from other species. Our results emphasize the need for management strategies such as higher intensity harvesting methods, vegetation control and limiting browsing pressure to reduce beech dominance.

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Retrieval of seasonal dynamics of forest understory reflectance from semiarid to boreal forests using MODIS BRDF data

et al. 2016

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Spatial and temporal patterns of forest background (understory) reflectance are crucial for retrieving biophysical parameters of forest canopies (overstory) and subsequently for ecosystem modeling. In this communication, we retrieved seasonal courses of understory normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from multiangular Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer bidirectional reflectance distribution function (MODIS BRDF)/albedo data. We compared satellite‐based seasonal courses of understory NDVI to understory NDVI values measured in different types of forests distributed along a wide latitudinal gradient (65.12°N–31.35°N). Our results indicated that the retrieval method performs well particularly over open forests of different types. We also demonstrated the limitations of the method for closed canopies, where the understory signal retrieval is much attenuated.

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Interference to Hardwood Regeneration in Northeastern North America: Controlling Effects of American Beech, Striped Maple, and Hobblebush

Cited by 52 publications

References 43 publications

Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

A three decade assessment of climate‐associated changes in forest composition across the north‐eastern USA

Retrieval of seasonal dynamics of forest understory reflectance from semiarid to boreal forests using MODIS BRDF data

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