Riparian vegetation in the southern Appalachian mountains (USA) following chestnut blight

Vandermast, David B.; Lear, David H. Van

doi:10.1016/s0378-1127(01)00550-3

Cited by 41 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…regeneration, with scattered Pinus strobus L. and Tsuga canadensis. Although often abundant in southern Appalachian riparian areas (Vandermast and Van Lear, 2002), very few evergreen shrubs (Rhododendron maximum L. and Kalmia latifolia L.) were present on the study sites (see Clinton et al, 2010 for detailed description of pretreatment conditions).…”

Section: Site Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of riparian zone buffer widths on vegetation diversity in southern Appalachian headwater catchments

Elliott

Vose

2016

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tIn mountainous areas such as the southern Appalachians USA, riparian zones are difficult to define. Vegetation is a commonly used riparian indicator and plays a key role in protecting water resources, but adequate knowledge of floristic responses to riparian disturbances is lacking. Our objective was to quantify changes in stand-level floristic diversity of riparian plant communities before (2004) and two, three, and seven years after shelterwood harvest using highlead cable-yarding and with differing nocut buffer widths of 0 m, 10 m, and 30 m distance from the stream edge. An unharvested reference stand was also studied for comparison. We examined: (1) differences among treatment sites using a mixed linear model with repeated measures; (2) multivariate relationships between ground-layer species composition and environmental variables (soil water content, light transmittance, tree basal area, shrub density, and distance from stream) using nonmetric multidimensional scaling; and (3) changes in species composition over time using a multi-response permutation procedure. We hypothesized that vegetation responses (i.e., changes in density, species composition, and diversity across the hillslope) will be greatest on harvest sites with an intermediate buffer width (10-m buffer) compared to more extreme (0-m buffer) and less extreme (30-m buffer and no-harvest reference) disturbance intensities. Harvesting initially reduced overstory density and basal area by 83% and 65%, respectively, in the 0-m buffer site; reduced by 50% and 74% in the 10-m buffer site; and reduced by 45% and 29% in the 30-m buffer site. Both the 0-m and 10-m buffer sites showed increased incident light variability across the hillslope after harvesting; whereas, there was no change in the 30-m and reference sites over time. We found significant changes in midstory and ground-layer vegetation in response to harvesting with the greatest responses on the 10-m buffer site, supporting our hypotheses that responses will be greatest on sites with intermediate disturbance. Ground-layer species composition differed significantly over time in the 0-m buffer and 10-m buffer sites (both P < 0.0001), but did not change in the 30-m buffer and reference sites (both P > 0.100). Average compositional dissimilarity increased after seven years, indicating greater withinstand heterogeneity (species diversity) after harvesting. These vegetation recovery patterns provide useful information for evaluating management options in riparian zones in the southern Appalachians.Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Section: Site Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of riparian zone buffer widths on vegetation diversity in southern Appalachian headwater catchments

Elliott

Vose

2016

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…In both eastern and west-central Kentucky, chestnut was concentrated on ridge-top and south-facing upper topographic positions with sandstone parent material (Braun, 1935(Braun, , 1950Hussey, 1884;McEwan et al, 2005). However, large-diameter chestnuts also occurred on mesic lower slopes and coves on a variety of soil types (DeFriese, 1884;Braun, 1935;Muller, 2003;Vandermast and Van Lear, 2002). Experimental trials will help determine which portions of the southern Appalachian landscape are best-suited for chestnut reintroduction (Fei et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of silvicultural treatments and site conditions on American chestnut (Castanea dentata) seedling establishment in eastern Kentucky, USA

Rhoades

Loftis

Lewis

et al. 2009

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriè re; Pinales: Pinaceae) is a coniferous foundation species of eastern North American forests, and is a prominent component of riparian vegetation in Central Appalachia [1][2][3]. Foundation species, such as eastern hemlock, define much of the structure and function within a community by exerting a disproportionate influence on their surrounding environment, generating locally stable conditions and stabilizing fundamental ecosystem processes [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic Collector and Grazer Communities Are Threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid-Induced Eastern Hemlock Loss

Adkins

Rieske

2015

Forests

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Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) is a foundation species in easternNorth America where it is under threat from the highly invasive, exotic hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). Eastern hemlock is especially important in riparian areas of Central and Southern Appalachia, so we compared the spatial and temporal composition of benthic collector-gatherers, collector-filterers, and grazers in headwater streams with hemlock-dominated riparian vegetation to those with deciduous tree-dominated riparian vegetation to evaluate the extent to which adelgid-induced hemlock loss could influence composition and abundance of these two functional feeding groups. We found differences in benthic invertebrate abundance and family-level diversity based on riparian vegetation and sampling approach, and, often, riparian vegetation significantly interacted with location or season. Collector-gatherers and grazers were more abundant in eastern hemlock streams in the summer, when hemlock litter is readily available and deciduous litter is relatively sparse. Riparian eastern hemlock appears to exert considerable influence on benthic invertebrate functional feeding group composition in headwater stream communities, as expected with a foundation species. With the loss of eastern hemlock due to adelgid-induced mortality, we should expect to see alterations in spatial and temporal patterns of benthic invertebrate abundance and diversity, with potential consequences to both benthic and terrestrial ecosystem function. OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 2720

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Riparian vegetation in the southern Appalachian mountains (USA) following chestnut blight

Cited by 41 publications

References 25 publications

Effects of riparian zone buffer widths on vegetation diversity in southern Appalachian headwater catchments

Effects of riparian zone buffer widths on vegetation diversity in southern Appalachian headwater catchments

The influence of silvicultural treatments and site conditions on American chestnut (Castanea dentata) seedling establishment in eastern Kentucky, USA

Benthic Collector and Grazer Communities Are Threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid-Induced Eastern Hemlock Loss

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