Physiographic position, disturbance and species composition in North Carolina coastal plain forests

Relations among physiographic heterogeneity, disturbance and temporal change in forest composition were analyzed on 765 forest stands in the southern coastal plain of North Carolina. Physiographic position strongly restricted the species composition of forest stands, though broad overlap of some phy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest ecology and management 1991, Vol.41 (1), p.1-19
Main Authors: Wyant, James G., Alig, Ralph J., Bechtold, William A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
Forest management. Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration
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Summary:Relations among physiographic heterogeneity, disturbance and temporal change in forest composition were analyzed on 765 forest stands in the southern coastal plain of North Carolina. Physiographic position strongly restricted the species composition of forest stands, though broad overlap of some physiographic classes was noted. Forest stands in different physiographic positions experienced significantly different disturbance regimes. Temporal dynamics were represented as displacement vectors in an ordination space. The distance and direction of displacement over time were analyzed to determine the impact of disturbance on vegetation composition. After removing the effects of physiographic position and initial state of the vegetation, three general pathways were identified. Wildfire, insect and harvest disturbance types induce stand dynamics that are directionally opposite to undisturbed stands′ development trends. Prescribed burning induced compositional dynamics unlike those observed for any other disturbance types, while other disturbance types, including weather, disease and non-harvest cutting, do not substantially differ from undisturbed stands in the overall direction of their displacement in the ordination space. Only harvesting and prescribed fires induce displacements in the ordination space that are very much different in magnitude from undisturbed stands.
ISSN:0378-1127
1872-7042
DOI:10.1016/0378-1127(91)90116-D