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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2005
- Title: White pine regeneration in upland forests of Massachusetts depends on specific conditions of land-use, canopy demographics, and harvesting intensity
- Author: Daniel A Breese (Bennington College)
- Abstract:
White pine (Pinus strobus), a dominant, early-successional tree species, has been important to forest harvesting in New England since colonial settlement. However, white pine regeneration in upland forests is often lower in relation to other dominant species even after harvesting. Small canopy gaps created by tree removal typically select for moderately shade-tolerant species (e.g., Acer rubrum) at the expense of white pine. In this study I investigated white pine seedling densities in upland forests of western Massachusetts due to variation in past land-use, canopy demographics, and harvesting intensity. Data were collected in the summer of 2004 in 66 harvested and non-harvested sites across four major geographic regions of the state. Sites formerly cleared for agriculture had greater white pine basal area than sites that were continuously wooded. At the same time, sites with more white pine basal area had greater seedling density. Harvesting intensity had no effect on seedling density as controls were not significantly different than all harvesting levels. Early colonization of abandoned fields most likely explains trends in white pine basal area and seedling densities, as sites with more mature white pine also have more reproductive trees. Lack of a harvesting intensity effect suggests that the small scale winter harvesting of forests in Massachusetts does not simulate the light regime and/or soil disturbance of abandoned fields or storm damage. This result contradicts the belief that more intense harvests will facilitate regeneration of economically valuable early-successional tree species.
- Research Category:
