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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2005

• Title: Harvard Forest Flora: 1938-2005
• Author: Kirsten R McKnight (Brigham Young University)
• Abstract:

  Kirsten Ward
  
  Abstract 2005 REU
  
  
  
  The Harvard Forest Flora: 1938-2005
  
  
  
  The vascular flora of Petersham was previously examined in the mid-1930’s by Hugh Raup and in the late 1940’s by Earl Smith. The latter study, together with herbarium collections credit 611 species to the Harvard Forest. Over the past two summers vascular plants from the 33 compartments of the Harvard Forest were identified by on-site and laboratory analysis. A total of 676 vascular plant species were identified, 180 of which were not previously attributed to the Harvard Forest (see figure for comparison of the current inventory with the historic flora). Compartment diversities ranged from 48 species, in the most uniform habitats, to 240 species in compartments with greater habitat diversity, including fertile outcrops and extensive wetlands. The historical and current lists of the woodland flora are generally consistent, with a few salient differences. Of the one hundred twenty-five most common species documented in this current survey, only two were not reported previously. One common newly reported species is the invasive Lonicera morrowii, found in 39% of the compartments. The other common newly reported species is a woodland herb Chimaphila maculata, reported in 46% of the compartments. The present abundance of Chimaphila maculata may reflect the changing landscape of Harvard Forest from cleared to extensively reforested lands. Berberis thunbergii, another invasive, is also among the 125 most common species documented in the current survey. The Harvard Forest plant inventory, combined with historical checklists, documents current flora, enables the examination of changes in the flora over the past 80 years and serves as a framework for further ecological and natural history investigations. Examples of such future studies include the analysis of the importance of roadways in the dispersal of plants throughout the landscape, the replacement of native flora by invasive species, and the relative importance of factors such as soil fertility and hydrology, site historical use, herbivory and seed dispersal in controlling species distribution and abundance.
  
  

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