Spatial pattern in herb diversity and abundance of second growth mixed deciduous-evergreen forest of southern New England, USA

Ellum, David S.; Ashton, Mark S.; Siccama, Thomas G.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.01.011

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Overstorey composition and diversity are also important factors that influence the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation [9,16,44,45]. Overstorey diversity was found to generate positive [19], neutral [33,46,47], and negative [48] effects on overall understorey diversity. Nevertheless, differences in overstorey composition, such as the relative abundance of deciduous broadleaf vs. evergreen coniferous trees might result in distinct abundances and diversities of understorey vascular and non-vascular plants [9,11,49].…”

Section: Overstorey Composition and Diversitymentioning

confidence: 97%

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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Understorey vegetation comprises a major portion of plant diversity and contributes greatly to nutrient cycling and energy flow. This review examines the mechanisms involved in the response of understorey vegetation to stand development and the overstorey canopy following disturbances. The overall abundance and diversity of the understorey is enhanced with the availability and heterogeneity of light, soil nutrients, soil moisture, and substrates. Vascular plants are positively impacted by the availability and heterogeneity of light and soil nutrients, whereas non-vascular vegetation is more strongly influenced by colonization time, soil moisture, and substrates, and is decreased with a higher proportion of broadleaf overstorey. The availability of resources is a prominent driver toward the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation, from the stand initiation to stem exclusion stage under a single-species dominated overstorey. However, resource heterogeneity dominates at the later stages of succession under a mixed overstorey. Climate and site conditions modify resource availability and heterogeneity in the understorey layer, but the extent of their influences requires more investigation. Forest management practices (clearcutting and partial harvesting) tend to increase light availability and heterogeneity, which facilitates the abundance and diversity of understorey vascular plants; however, these factors reduce the occurrence of non-vascular plants. Nevertheless, in the landscape context, anthropogenic disturbances homogenize environmental conditions and reduce beta-diversity, as well, the long-term effects of anthropogenic disturbances on understorey vegetation remain unclear, particularly compared with those in primary forests.

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Section: Overstorey Composition and Diversitymentioning

confidence: 97%

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…Previous studies also found that topographic variables had higher explanatory power than site conditions in terms of understory plant distributions, which were primarily affected by elevation and aspect (Huo, Feng, & Su, ). Potential solar radiation, which is a compound variable derived from slope, aspect, and latitude, has been identified as the most important driver of herb diversity (Ellum, Ashton, & Siccama, ; Sabatini et al, ). In addition, soil properties, such as nutrients, pH, and litter properties, are also likely to affect understory diversity (Ellsworth, Harrington, & Fownes, ; Yu & Sun, ).…”

Section: Uncertaintiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of forest thinning on understory diversity in China: A meta‐analysis

Zhang

et al. 2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Forest management has been widely used to maintain and improve multiple ecosystem services. However, large‐scale synthesis of the effects of forest management on understory diversity, especially regarding the effects of thinning, has not been well represented in China. Therefore, we synthesized 146 peer‐reviewed publications and conducted a meta‐analysis to evaluate the response of understory diversity (species richness) and seven related variables to forest thinning in China. Overall, forest thinning significantly increased shrub diversity by 28% and herb diversity by 24%. Unthinned diversity and recovery time were the two most important drivers of understory diversity. When the unthinned diversity was low, a decline of understory species richness in managed stands could occur, which may be related to the size of the regional species pool. Rather than the recovery time of 1–2 years after forest thinning, the period of 3–5 years after thinning found the greatest diversity improvement. The northern arid and semiarid ecological domains observed the greatest diversity improvement, which may be due to the specific characteristics in this ecological domain. The coniferous forest was more favorable for understory improvement than in the broadleaved forest. Specific mechanisms on how disturbance (thinning intensity) affect understory diversity need to be further explored. No significant influences of stand stage or sampling quadrat area could be identified. Our study provides a synthetic review of the effects of forest thinning on understory diversity in China and may benefit forest management strategies. Future studies should address changes in compositional or functional diversity after thinning.

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“…Herbaceous plant species diversity and composition are affected by forest structure, tree species composition and topographic and environmental variables (Akhtar & Bergmeier, ; Berger & Puettmann, ; Ellum, Ashton, & Siccama, ; Jones et al., ; McKenzie, Halpern, & Nelson, ). In habitats such as light gaps, herbaceous plant species richness or density can be high due to a conducive environment (Qin et al., ; Willie, Petre, Tagg, & Lens, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and community composition of herbaceous plants in different habitat types in south‐east Cameroon

2017

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The composition of herbaceous vegetation was evaluated with the aim of characterizing forests at various ages of stand development. Herb stems were sampled in 250 4-m² square plots distributed within six habitat types. A total of 36 herb species belonging to 15 families were recorded. Species richness did not significantly differ between habitat types. Most herb species occurred in all habitat types and were therefore generalists. However, a few indicator herb species were detected, and the results roughly suggested that herb species of the families Poaceae and Araceae were indicative of late successional forests; Zingiberaceae are indicative of early successional forests; and Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cyperaceae and Marantaceae are indicators of flooded habitats. Species diversity and stem density of herbaceous plants did not change with forest succession as a decrease in abundance and frequency of occurrence of pioneer species in late successional forests was counterbalanced by the presence of generalist and late successional species. However, increasing proportions of dwarf stems in late successional forests translated to changes in the vertical structure of herbaceous plant communities. Herbivory pressure by gorillas did not have a notable effect on herbaceous plant community development. This study contributes to the definition of herbaceous ecological indicators of forest succession in different settings.R esum e: La composition de la v eg etation herbeuse a et e evalu ee afin de caract eriser les diff erents stades de d eveloppement des forêts. Nous avons collect e les pousses d'herbes dans 250 parcelles de 4 m² r eparties dans six types d'habitats. Nous avons enregistr e un total de 36 esp eces d'herbes appartenant a 15 familles. La richesse en esp eces ne diff erait pas significativement selon les types d'habitats. La plupart des esp eces d'herbes se trouvaient dans tous les types d'habitats et etaient donc g en eralistes, mais nous avons d etect e quelques esp eces indicatrices, et nos r esultats sugg erent, en gros, que les herbes des familles des Poaceae et des Araceae indiquent des forêts en fin de cycle de succession, que les Zingiberaceae indiquent des forêts en d ebut de cycle, et que les Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cyperaceae et Marantaceae sont le signe d'habitats inond es. La diversit e d'esp eces et la densit e de pousses de plantes herbac ees ne changeaient pas avec la succession des stades forestiers parce que la diminution de l'abondance et de la fr equence d'occurrence des esp eces pionni eres dans les forêts plus anciennes etait compens ee par la pr esence d'esp eces g en eralistes et/ou caract eristiques de stades post erieurs. Cependant, de plus fortes proportions de

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Spatial pattern in herb diversity and abundance of second growth mixed deciduous-evergreen forest of southern New England, USA

Cited by 22 publications

References 48 publications

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

The effects of forest thinning on understory diversity in China: A meta‐analysis

Diversity and community composition of herbaceous plants in different habitat types in south‐east Cameroon

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