Three hundred years of forest and land‐use change in Massachusetts, USA

Hall, Brian; Motzkin, Glenn; Foster, David R.; Syfert, Mindy M.; Burk, John

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00790.x

Cited by 253 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Using witness tree data in the state of Massachusetts (northeastern United States), Hall et al (38) found that historical land-use change led to an abundance of early successional trees with longlasting legacy effects (39) on forest structure. Also in the eastern Fig.…”

Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global change and terrestrial plant community dynamics

Franklin

Serra‐Diaz

Syphard

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

333

225

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This contribution is part of a special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2014.Contributed by Janet Franklin, February 2, 2016 (sent for review October 8, 2015; reviewed by Gregory P. Asner, Monica G. Turner, and Peter M. Vitousek)Anthropogenic drivers of global change include rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses and resulting changes in the climate, as well as nitrogen deposition, biotic invasions, altered disturbance regimes, and land-use change. Predicting the effects of global change on terrestrial plant communities is crucial because of the ecosystem services vegetation provides, from climate regulation to forest products. In this paper, we present a framework for detecting vegetation changes and attributing them to global change drivers that incorporates multiple lines of evidence from spatially extensive monitoring networks, distributed experiments, remotely sensed data, and historical records. Based on a literature review, we summarize observed changes and then describe modeling tools that can forecast the impacts of multiple drivers on plant communities in an era of rapid change. Observed responses to changes in temperature, water, nutrients, land use, and disturbance show strong sensitivity of ecosystem productivity and plant population dynamics to water balance and long-lasting effects of disturbance on plant community dynamics. Persistent effects of land-use change and human-altered fire regimes on vegetation can overshadow or interact with climate change impacts. Models forecasting plant community responses to global change incorporate shifting ecological niches, population dynamics, species interactions, spatially explicit disturbance, ecosystem processes, and plant functional responses. Monitoring, experiments, and models evaluating multiple change drivers are needed to detect and predict vegetation changes in response to 21st century global change.climate change | drought | forests | global change | land-use change T errestrial plant communities include forests, woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands; they support economic activities including forestry and grazing and provide other ecosystem services (1) such as carbon sequestration and water delivery. Plant communities play a key role in global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, oxygen, water, and nitrogen, with feedbacks to the oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The distribution of animals on land is often influenced by the distribution of vegetation, and therefore, plant community dynamics affect biodiversity. Changes in the Earth's vegetation in response to climate change, and associated faunal changes, may have played a role in the evolution of the human lineage (2, 3). Thus, human populations have a vested interest in understanding rapid global change effects on terrestrial plant communities.Anthropogenic drivers of global change include rising atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and other greenhouse gasses and associated changes in the climate, as well...

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Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global change and terrestrial plant community dynamics

Franklin

Serra‐Diaz

Syphard

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

333

225

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The tree species present are the same today as in pre-colonial time, but species' abundances and distributions changed significantly (Table 4 in Fuller et al, 1998;Cogbill et al, 2002;Hall et al, 2002). The species combinations of today's forests differ from those in colonial forests (Foster et al, 1997), reflecting a landscape undergoing continuous human disturbance (Foster, 1992;.…”

Section: Is Puerto Rico's Experience With New Forests Unique?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging forests on abandoned land: Puerto Rico’s new forests

Lugo

Helmer

2004

Forest Ecology and Management

282

233

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The species composition of forests change continuously as the earth's biota evolves and adjusts to environmental change. Humans are accelerating the rate of species turnover by moving species around the planet and dramatically changing environmental conditions. Our focus is on new forests in Puerto Rico that emerge naturally on abandoned lands previously converted to agriculture and degraded. These forest stands have combinations of species that are new to the island's landscapes. New forests exhibit high species dominance during forest establishment, which includes dominance by alien tree species. These alien tree species establish and maintain forest cover, which may facilitate regeneration of native tree species. Landscape analysis and literature review revealed that these emerging stands are highly fragmented (60% were <1 ha in 1991), function as refugia for native organisms, and at 60-80 years old have similar species richness and structural features as native stands of similar age. However, the island's new forests exhibit important differences from mature native forests on unconverted forestlands. New forests have fewer endemic species and fewer large trees (!55 cm dbh) than mature native forests; they have higher soil bulk density and lower soil carbon and litter stocks; and they accumulate aboveground biomass, basal area, and soil carbon more slowly than native forests of similar age. We suggest that new forests will become increasingly prevalent in the biosphere in response to novel environmental conditions introduced to the planet by humans. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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“…Conservationists should also be aware of the possibility that tree species such as yellow birch and eastern hemlock may be disproportionately important for some species of birds even when these tree species are not dominant components of the vegetation. The potential importance of the diversity and composition of woody plants is particularly important in light of widespread homogenization of tree species composition in eastern deciduous forest because of such factors as fire suppression, intense browsing of tree seedlings by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and the decline of particular species of trees after insect pests and pathogens have been introduced (Abrams 1998, Hall et al 2002.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%