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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2006
- Title: The Flora of Harvard Forest
- Primary Author: Jerry Jenkins (Wildlife Conservation Society)
- Additional Authors: Kirsten McKnight (Brigham Young University); Glenn Motzkin (University of Massachusetts - Amherst )
- Abstract:
For nearly a century, Harvard Forest has been the focus of a wide range of ecological investigations, with a strong emphasis on studies of vegetation, disturbance history, and stand dynamics. However, there have been few attempts to document the flora of Harvard Forest at specific time periods, and no previous attempt to evaluate changes in the flora over time. Little is known of the local flora prior to the establishment of Harvard Forest in 1907. Hugh Raup developed the first checklist of vascular plants of Petersham, MA, based on his extensive collections in the early 1930s (Raup 1938). Subsequently, C. Earle Smith Jr. (Smith 1948, 1949) summarized what was known of the vascular flora of Petersham, based on the collections of Dr. I. M. Johnson and others in 1947 as well as a review of specimens in the Harvard Forest and New England Botanical Club herbaria. Smith (1948, 1949) also noted species recorded by Raup (1938) for which no herbarium specimens were located. However, after rather intensive botanical investigations in the 1930s and 1940s, there has been little attempt to document the flora of Harvard Forest or Petersham, MA in more recent decades. As a result, of ~2,000-2,500 specimens of vascular plants currently found in the Harvard Forest Herbarium, ~80% were collected in the 1930s and 1940s, with very few specimens added in recent decades. Not unexpectedly, even less attention has been paid to documenting the non-vascular flora over time.
In 2004 and 2005, we conducted field inventories across Harvard Forest properties, recording species lists and noting abundances in broad categories within each compartment in order to map species distributions and general abundances. We also reviewed herbarium records, databases, and relevant literature which enable us to determine which species have previously been found at Harvard Forest and where they were found. Specimen collections were made to determine species that have not previously been documented from Harvard Forest, are uncommon, or are of interest for other reasons. Our primarily analysis indicates that Harvard Forest currently supports approximately 700 species of vascular plants. In addition, approximately 100 species that were previously documented from Harvard Forest have not been relocated in this survey. In 2006, we will initiate comparable surveys of the bryophyte flora. Once complete, this three-year study of the vascular and bryophyte flora will: 1) document the current flora of Harvard Forest, including detailed information on the distribution and abundance of locally and regionally uncommon species and invasive species; 2) enable a broad evaluation of changes in the flora of Harvard Forest over the past century and a detailed evaluation of changes in the flora over the past 50-60 years by comparing our results with those of Raup (1938) and Smith (1948, 1949); 3) serve as a baseline for documenting future changes in the flora.
- Research Category: Historical and Retrospective Studies
