Long-term success of stump sprouts in high-graded baldcypress–water tupelo swamps in the Mississippi delta

Abstract

Regeneration of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.) in swamps of the deltaic plain of the Mississippi River are of major importance for ecosystem sustainability and forest management in the context of regional hydrological changes. Water tupelo often forms prolific sprouts from cut stumps, and baldcypress is one of few conifers to produce stump sprouts capable of becoming full-grown trees. Previous studies have addressed early survival of baldcypress stump sprouts, but have not addressed the likelihood of sprouts becoming an important component of mature stands. We surveyed stands in southeastern Louisiana that were partially logged 10-41 years ago to determine if stump sprouts are an important mechanism of regeneration. At each site we inventoried stumps and measured stump height and diameter, presence and number of sprouts, sprout height, and water depth. We determined age and diameter growth rate for the largest sprout from each stump from increment cores. The majority of stumps did not have surviving sprouts. Baldcypress sprout survival was about the same (median 10%) as previously found for stumps up to 7 years old, so it appears that, although mortality is high soon after sprouting, it is low after age 10. Water tupelo sprouting was rare at our sites but it was not clear whether this may have been because trees were not cut at our sample locations. Baldcypress stump sprouts were more likely to survive on shorter, smaller-diameter stumps, and baldcypress sprout growth was greatest on drier sites with less competition from overstory trees. Surviving baldcypress stump sprouts had high growth rates, but were not regularly spatially distributed within stands and many had advancing decay from stumps into sprouts. #

Effect of stump girth and height on resprouting of Rhododendron arboreum following disturbance in temperate mixed broad leaved forest of Arunachal Pradesh, India

“…nutans. Our results also support the findings of Keim et al (2006) that sprouting was better on smalldiameter stumps. Present observation indicates sprouting is related to stump girth size and visa-vise to age of R. arboreum in both the sites which is in accordance with Blake and Raitanen (1981).…”

Regeneration of Robinia pseudoacacia riparian forests after clear-cutting along the Chikumagawa River in Japan

“…5). As previously reported, clear-cutting promotes new shoot regeneration in many species (Negreros-Castillo and Hall 2000;Keim et al 2006), and the same occurred in the case of R. pseudoacacia in the present plots, with new shoot regeneration by asexual reproduction.…”

“…Many tree species in various forests regenerate asexually by sprouting from cut stumps after logging or thinning (Negreros-Castillo and Hall 2000; Keim et al 2006;O'Hara et al 2007). In addition, cutting R. pseudoacacia trees induces the asexual sprouting of new ramets on their stumps and roots (Boring and Swank 1984;Iwai 1986;Gyokusen et al 1991;Elliott et al 1998;Iliev et al 2005).…”

Fine-scale initiation of non-native Robinia pseudoacacia riparian forests along the Chikumagawa River in central Japan

“…The regeneration of developed R. pseudoacacia riparian forests requires certain stimuli, such as clear-cutting and fallen trees, which appear to trigger the formation of new shoots, as observed for other species (Negreros-Castillo and Hall 2000, Keim et al 2006, O'Hara et al 2007). In addition, most shoots reproduce asexually, when underground disturbance is absent (Kurokochi et al 2010).…”