Fifth Annual Scientific Research Meeting U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - SOUTHEAST REGION GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK JUNE 21-23. 1979 GATLINBURG. TENNESSEE FIFTH ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MEETING NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - SOUTHEAST REGION Great Smoky Mountains National Park Gatlinburg, Tennessee June 21-23, 1979 Editor: Jim Wood Production Assistant: Nancy L. Lewis Cover Illustration: Courtesy U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta, Georgia TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME Merrill D. Beal, Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park 1 SUMMARY OF TOPIC SESSION: Trout Populations and the Assessment of Their Environment 4 ABSTRACTS - BROOK TROUT Spadal Interaction Between Wild Brook Trout, Mottled Sculpin, Blacknose, and Rosy side Dace — Gerard A. Gray and Garland B . Pardue 5 Summary of Three Summers of Electrofishing above Obstructions in Small Headwater Streams, Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Stephen E. Moore 6 Age, Growth, and Comparison of 28 Southeastern United States and Other Selected Brook Trout Populations — Richard Konopacky and R . Don Estes 7 The Occurrence and Characteristics of Cellulase and Chitinase Activity in Brook, Brown, and Rainbow Trout Gastrointestinal Tracts — Tom M. Abbott and John Cairns, Jr. 8 Physical Factors Influencing Trout Biomass in High Gradient, Oligotrophic Streams in the Southern Appalachians — Thomas J . Harshbarger 9 The Impacts of Stocking Hatchery Reared Trout on the Native Brook Trout Populations of Two Streams in Central Virginia — Arthur L. LaRoche, III 10 Southeastern Brook Trout - The Importance of First Order Tributaries and the Life History in a Southwestern Virginia Stream -- Wayne A. Sadowski 11 The Quantitative Importance and Factors Affecting Brook Trout Recruitment in Interrupted Tributaries — Gerard A. Gray 12 Population Responses of Brook Trout Concurrent with Reductions in Numbers of Exotic Trout from Areas of Six Streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- Stephen E. Moore, B.L. Ridley, and Gary Larson 13 Population Structure of Allopatric and Sympatric Rainbow Trout and Brook Trout in Selected Streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Jeff Sweeney, B.L. Ridley, and Gary Larson 14 SUMMARY OF TOPIC SESSION: Impacts of European Wild Boar in Great Smoky Mountains National Park 15 ABSTRACTS - EUROPEAN WILD BOAR A Comparison Among Feral Pigs and European Wild Boar Populations — Francis J. Singer 16 Studies of Rooting Impacts of European Wild Boar on High Elevation Forest Floor in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Francis J . Singer and Edward Clebsch 17 Ecology and Management of European Wild Boar in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Francis J . Singer and Stuart Coleman 18 Rooting Impacts of European Wild Boar on the Vegetation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park During a Year of Mast Failure — Susan P. Bratton, Francis J. Singer, Mark Harmon and Peter White 19 SUMMARY OF TOPIC SESSI.ON: Natural Disturbance in Plant Communities in Great Smoky Mountains National Park 20 ABSTRACTS - VEGETATION MANAGEMENT Impacts of Deer and Cattle on the Vegetation of Cades Cove — Susan P. Bratton 21 Impacts of an Agricultural Area within a Natural Area — Susan P. Bratton, Raymond C. Mathews, Jr., and PeterS. White 21 Phytogeography of the Balsam Mountains and Pisgah Ridge, Southern Appalachian Mountains — J. Dan Pittillo and Garrett A. Smathers 22 Structure and Dynamics of the Plant Communities in a Section of the Obed River Gorge, Cumberland County, Tennessee — Paul S. Schmalzer, H.R. DeSelm, and C. Ross Hinkle 23 Bibliographic and Herbarium Computerization at Great Smoky Mountains National Park — PeterS. White 24 Mapping Major Forest Covers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Computer Processed LANDS AT Imagery — Mark E. Harmon and Jerry S. Olson ............. 24 Replacement Stands Following Infestations of the Southern Pine Bettle in the Great Smoky Mountains — Nat Kuykendall and Edward Buckner 25 Community Composition, Species Diversity, Forest Structure and Dynamics as Affected by Soil and Site Factors and Selective Logging in Savage Gulf, Tennessee — Michael Sherman 26 Tree Replacement in Small Canopy Gap6 of a Tsuga canadensis Forest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Lawrence S . Barden 27 The Distribution and Dynamics of Forest Fuels in the Low Elevation Forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Mark E. Harmon 28 Fire History and Ecology of Western Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Mark E. Harmon 29 Biomass and Nutrient Composition of the Hannah Branch Watershed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — D.A. Weinstein and Mark E. Harmon 30 Type Specimens of Fungi from Great Smoky Mountains National Park — James A. Liebman 31 FloristLcs, Rare Plants, Limestone Flora, and Additions to the Flora of Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Peter S . White 32 After Preservation: Managerial Issues concerning Rare Plants in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Susan P. Bratton and Peter S. White 32 Management of Spruce-Fir Forests — Paul Richard Saunders 33 OTHER PRESENTATIONS: AIR AND WATER QUALITY Great Smoky Mountains Preliminary Study for Biosphere Reserve Pollutant Monitoring — Raymond Herrmann 34 Air Quality in the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks and Related Studies on Impacts to Vegetation — N.T. Stephens 36 Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — David Silsbee, Gary Larson, and Raymond C. Mathews, Jr. 37 Satellite Remote Monitoring Project: A Status Report -- Raymond E. Burge 38 Heavy Metals in the Sediments of Fontana Lake — A.R. Abernathy, Gary Larson, and Raymond C. Mathews, Jr. 39 HUMAN - RESOURCE INTERACTIONS Human-Bear Interactions in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- Jane Tate Eagar 40 Tubers, Waders, and Swimmers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Gary Larson and William E . Hammitt 42 Human Visitation, Undocumented Caves, and Fall Usage by Bats in Caves of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Ben Nottingham and Alan Rabinowitz 43 WILDLIFE Preliminary Report on the Effects of Microhabitat Structure on Centipede Distribution -- Gerald Summers 44 Activity Patterns of the Woodchuck in Cades Cove -- Cathy A. Taylor 44 Some Population Trends of the Cades Cove Deer Herd — Michael J. Kiningham 45 Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of Black Bears in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — John H . Eiler 45 The Systematic Status and Distribution of Jones' Middle-toothed Snail, a Species Proposed for Endangered Status -- FredG. Thompson 46 Status of the Endangered Indiana Bat, Myotis sodalis, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — Alan Rabinowitz and Ben Nottingham 4' Experimental Verification of Interspecific Competition in Terrestrial Salamanders — Nelson G. Hairston 4& The Evolution of Ecological Differences under Competition -- Nelson G. Hairston 4° Reoccupation by Beaver and the Otter Niche in Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- David LaBrode, Lorrie Sprague, and Francis J. Singer 50 WELCOME Merrill D. Beal, Superintendent Great Smoky Mountains National Park It is a distinct pleasure and genuine privilege for me to welcome you to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the occasion of the Fifth Annual Uplands Areas Research meeting. Actually, it is a little incongruous, because I am a new arrival, having reported for duty about six months ago, and many of you have been carrying out scientific investigations here for a long time. However, I do share your interest and enthusiasm concerning the natural resources of this park and region, and personally claim acquaintance with some of them based on a previous tour of duty here from 1969 to 1972. I am pleased to be back here, and gratified by your presence here today. This meeting is a learning and sharing occasion and I know we will benefit from the exchange. Let me briefly outline some of the concerns that park managers have that relate to scientific research. First, we welcome new knowledge and continuing investigations, but must encourage the development of increased professional objectivity. Emphasis must be placed upon identifying alternatives and consequences rather than upon advocacy of specific courses of action or "prescriptions." Humility is required of all of us . Tcday science has better methods , equipment and knowledge than ever before, but we must also remember that the "best" of the past has at times led us astray. Our society and the conservation community have at times: 1. Favored prey species to the detriment (even extirpation or extinction) of predators. 2. Favored introduced or exotic species at the expense of native life forms . 3. Favored visitors and their activities at the price of resource degradation. 4. Utilized persistent pesticides in attempts to save threatened resources, and ended up with a "cure" worse than the threat. Now it is perhaps timely to suggest that we must guard against being so zealous in preservation of resources that we lose sight of the park visitor's needs . The loss of our constituency of park users could ultimately result in the loss of the parks . 1 Balance and perspective are needed in all our programs. Balance that is consistent with our legal (and sometimes conflicting) mandates, and balance which observes dual objectives of preservation and use in the National Park System. We must recognize that scientists can often wait as long as necessary for all the data to come in, and to develop "final" or definitive answers, but policy makers and managers