Characterization of Vascular Plant Species Composition and Relative Abundance in Southern Appalachian Mixed-Oak Forests
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Characterization of Vascular Plant Species Composition and Relative Abundance in Southern Appalachian Mixed-Oak Forests by Daniel N. Hammond Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Forestry Committee: Dr. David Wm. Smith, Chairman Dr. Richard G. Oderwald Dr. Shepard M. Zedaker Dr. Harold E. Burkhart, Head, Dept. of Forestry December 16, 1997, Blacksburg, Virginia Characterization of Vascular Plant Species Composition and Relative Abundance in Southern Appalachian Mixed-Oak Forests by Daniel N. Hammond (Abstract) Eight study sites were established in mid-elevation, south aspect, mixed-oak forests in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia to address questions concerning the variability in species composition, richness, and relative abundance of vascular plant species in those communities. All forest strata were sampled using a nested plot design. Variability in species richness and species composition was found to be high. Total species richness values ranged from 84 to 273, and Sorrenson’s Coefficient of Similarity index values indicated that approximately 46, 38, and 51 percent of the species in the overstory, mid- story, and herb stratum were the same among sites, respectively. However, despite differences in composition and richness, K-S tests revealed significant differences in the distribution of ranked relative abundance only in the mid-story at two sites. Differences did occur in the relative abundance of twelve growth form categories. While tree seedlings and perennial herbs dominated, on average, woody vines and fern species represented substantial coverage on sites in the Allegheny Mountains. Correlations among forest strata were weak. The greatest amount of variation in species richness was attributiable to the standard deviation of a forest site quality index (FSQI), which was thought to represent the variation in microtopography across each site. The lack of correlation and high variability in plant species richness and composition, despite similarities in topographic characteristics, reinforce the inherent weaknesses involved with using the chronosequence approach to studying ecological responses in the Southern Appalachian mixed-oak region. Future remeasurement and long term monitoring of these study sites, following the implementation of silvicultural manipulations, will provide the information needed to make inference on the effects of forest management practices on Southern Appalachian mixed-oak forests. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am ultimately thankful to my wife, Connie, for the understanding and support she has given me throughout my graduate career, I only hope I can be as supportive in her future endeavors. I would like to extend my appreciation to Dave Smith for the opportunity to take on this diversity project and for the guidance and support he has provided. To Shep Zedaker, I thank him for the important role he played in helping to build my understanding of ecological research. Also, a special thanks to Rich Oderwald for always having an open door and being willing to talk about whatever. I am indebted to all of the field technicians who have worked on this project. Without the countless hours of plant counting I would not have had such a broad reaching data set to analyze. Finally, I would like to thank Virginia Tech, Westvaco Corportation, USDA Competitive Grants Program, and the USDA Forest Service Southeastern Experiment Station for the funding and other resources they provided to make this research possible. iii DEDICATION Dedicated to the memory of my mom, Gabrielle Hammond, whom was always supportive and encouraged me to achieve my dreams. iv Preface The conservation of biological diversity has become a major concern for much of society and for many governments and government agencies at all levels. The importance of biological diversity will never be fully known, but the reasons for its conservation are numerous. Humans have relied on the products of nature since the origin of the species. Plant compounds can be found in over two-thirds of modern medicines (Ehrlich 1990) and our reliance on plant taxa for possible agronomic cultivars is endless (McMinn 1991). Perhaps the best reason for conserving biological diversity is our lack of understanding of the complexity and interrelatedness of the ecosystem in which we live. This study was part of a much larger undertaking titled "The impacts of Silviculture on Floral Diversity in the Southern Appalachians"; therefore, plot design and sampling protocol follow that of the parent study. Both studies originated from the need to further develop our understanding of natural systems and the effects that science based forest management practices have on non-target plant communities. With increasing pressures on our nations forests for both timber and non-timber forest resources, we must obtain quantitative evidence to demonstrate the long-term effects of forest management. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Preface v Table of Contents vi List of Tables viii List of Figures ix page Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Southern Appalachian Region 1 Evolution of the National Forest System 2 Objectives 5 Chapter 2 Literature Review 6 Diversity 6 Definition 6 Indices 6 Orderings 8 Species Abundance Models 9 Dominance Curves 10 Evenness as an Attribute 12 Community Stability 13 Diversity as a Societal Value 15 Appalachian Floral Characterizations 17 Chapter 3 Methods 22 Site Descriptions 22 Site Selection 22 Location 22 Topography and Soils 24 Climate 24 Study Design 26 Plot Establishment 26 Measurements 30 Sampling Schedule 31 Data Anaysis 32 vi Chapter 4 Results 39 Site Characteristics 39 Overstory 39 Horizontal Structure 39 Species Composition 42 Mid-story 45 Crown Cover and Rootstock Density 45 Species Compostion 48 Herb Stratum 51 Percent Cover 51 Species Composition 53 Family Dominance 54 Abundance of Vegetative Growth Forms 54 Species Diversity 60 Overall Species Frequency 60 Species Richness 62 Shannon’s Diversity 63 Correlations of Vegetative and Topographic Characteristics to Species 68 Richness Chapter 5 Discussion 70 Comparisons to Other Findings 70 Overstory 70 Mid-story 70 Herb Stratum 70 Distribution of Relative Abundance 72 Species Richness 73 Chapter 6 Conclussion and Summary 75 Literature Cited 77 Appendices 82 Vita 113 vii List of Tables page Table 3.1. Soils and climate informationa for eight study sites in the Ridge and Valley and 25 Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Virginia and West Virginia. Table 4.1. Mean topographical characteristics and associated 95 percent confidence 40 intervals from 21, 576 m2 tree plots at each of eight study sites (n = 15 at WV1) located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. Table 4.2. Meana horizontal structure characteristics of the overstory at eight study sites 41 located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 576 m2 tree plots. Table 4.3. Basal area (m2*ha-1) by species at eight study sites located in the Ridge and 43 Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 576 m2 tree plots. Table 4.4. Mean of Sorenson’s Coefficient of Similarity by site for three vegetation strataa 44 at eight study sites located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 576 m2,108 m2, and 6 m2 tree, shrub, and herb plots, respectively. Means based on 28 pair-wise site comparisons for each stratum. Table 4.5. Meana horizontal structure characteristics of the mid-story at eight study sites 47 located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 108 m2 shrub plots. Table 4.6. Relative percent crown cover by species in the mid-story at eight study sites 49 located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 108 m2 shrub plots. Table 4.7. Herbaceous and woody percent crown cover and total percent crown cover of the 52 herb stratum by site for 21, 6 m2 herb plots at each of eight study sites located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. Table 4.8. Mean percent cover and mean relative percent cover for the twenty most 57 abundant species in the herbaceous stratum at eight study sites located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia, based on measurements taken on 162, 6 m2 herb plots. viii Table 4.9. Percent cover of the top 20 Families present on 21, 6 m2 herb plots at each of 58 eight study sites (n = 15 at WV1) located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of southwest Virginia and West Virginia. Table 4.10. Numbers of species occurring in each of eight frequency classes (numbers of 61 site at which species occurred) at eight study sites located in the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain physiographic provinces of Southwestern Virginia and West Virginia.