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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2007
- Title: The Role of Environmental and Historical Factors in Controlling the Abundance and Distribution of Forest Vegetation and Invasive Plants in Redding, CT
- Primary Author: Edward Faison (Highstead, Inc.)
- Additional Authors: David Foster (Harvard University); Brian Hall (Harvard Forest); Betsy Von Holle (Harvard Forest)
- Abstract:
Invasive plants are a major concern to conservationists, ecologists, natural resource managers, and land owners because of their potential to displace native species, alter habitat conditions, change ecosystem patterns and processes, and interfere with land management objectives. Despite considerable study of exotic plant species in diverse habitats, many basic questions remain unanswered regarding the factors controlling their distribution and dynamics. Most notably, there is major uncertainty regarding the contribution of environmental, site, and disturbance factors in rendering a particular forest or landscape susceptible to the establishment and expansion of populations of invasive plants.
During the summers of 2004 and 2006, we sampled the vegetation, environmental, and historical features of 160 20x20 meter plots at a topographically diverse site in Redding, CT: Highstead Reserve and abutting Redding Land Trust, Town of Redding, and Nature Conservancy properties. These properties encompass an unusually broad range of physiographic features, soil types, and historical land uses for a study area of this size (~100 hectares), presenting an ideal location to examine the processes driving the distribution and abundance of native and invasive forest vegetation. Preliminary community classification analyses have revealed five major forest types: historically forested Quercus coccinea-Quercus prinus-Kalmia latifolia and Quercus rubra-Kalmia latifolia forests that occur on thin, rocky soils; historically forested Acer rubrum-Symplocarpus foetidus forests that occur on poorly drained muck soils; historically cleared Acer rubrum-Fraxinus americana forests that occur on fine grained, loamy soils; and Quercus-Betula-Acer forests that occur on rocky soils and were either historically cleared or continuously forested. Invasive, exotic species are strongly associated with the fine-grained soils of the historically cleared Acer rubrum-Fraxinus americana forests and the rocky, coarse-grained soils of the historically cleared Quercus-Betula-Acer types. These preliminary results suggest that land use history may be a more important driver of invasive species distribution and abundance than soil characteristics in this study area.
- Research Category: Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens
