| Type of Document |
Master's Thesis |
| Author |
Hood, Sharon M.
|
| URN |
etd-05292001-140004 |
| Title |
Vegetation Responses to Seven Silvicultural Treatments in the Southern Appalachians One-Year After Harvesting |
| Degree |
Master of Science |
| Department |
Forestry |
| Advisory Committee |
| Advisor Name |
Title |
| Zedaker, Shepard M. |
Committee Co-Chair |
| Aust, Wallace Michael |
Committee Member |
| Jones, Robert H. |
Committee Member |
| Smith, David William |
Committee Member |
|
| Keywords |
- diversity-stability hypothesis
- detrended correspondence analysis
- canonical correspondence analysis
- shelterwood
- plant community
- multidimensional scaling
- leave-tree
- species diversity
- Appalachian hardwoods
- clearcut
- herbicide
- group selection
|
| Date of Defense |
2001-04-25 |
| Availability |
unrestricted |
Abstract
The vegetation responses to seven silvicultural treatments one growing season after harvesting were examined on seven sites in the southern Appalachian mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. Treatments included: 1) control, 2) understory control by herbicide, 3) group selection, 4) high-leave shelterwood, 5) low-leave shelterwood, 6) leave tree, and 7) clearcut. The effects of harvesting were compared between treatments and between pre-harvest and post-harvest samplings. Species richness, percent cover, and local species extinctions were calculated for sample plots ranging in size from 1m2 to 2 ha. Vegetation richness and cover increased with increasing harvest intensity. Local species extinctions were similar in the control and disturbed treatments. Additional analyses were performed using the control, high-leave shelterwood, and clearcut on five of the seven sites to determine the relationships between soil, litter, and other environmental characteristics and vegetation in the herbaceous layer (<1 m in height). Multivariate analysis techniques were used to analyze average differences in species abundance between pre-harvest and post-harvest and to relate post-harvest vegetation to microsite characteristics. Regional-scale differences in site location were more important in explaining the presence of a species than were environmental characteristics. Within a region, species primarily were distributed along a light/litter weight gradient and secondarily along a soil properties and nutrient gradient.
|
| Files |
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Size |
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56K Modem |
ISDN (64 Kb) |
ISDN (128 Kb) |
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394.61 Kb |
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