Ground Vegetation Patterns of the Spruce-Fir Area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-1957 Ground Vegetation Patterns of the Spruce-Fir Area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dorothy Louise Crandall University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Botany Commons Recommended Citation Crandall, Dorothy Louise, "Ground Vegetation Patterns of the Spruce-Fir Area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1957. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1624 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dorothy Louise Crandall entitled "Ground Vegetation Patterns of the Spruce-Fir Area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Botany. Royal E. Shanks, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: James T. Tanner, Fred H. Norris, A. J. Sharp, Lloyd F. Seatz Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) December 11, 19)7 To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by DorothY Louise Crandall entitled "Ground Vegetation Patterns of the Spruce-Fir Area of the Great Smoky Hountains National Park." I recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Botany. !¢�i Ma-r Professor� We have read this thesis and recownend its acceptance: C)�- ----- -------" 1 .J � :�'Jill � Accepted for the Council: '/' GROill'm VEGETATION PATTERNS OF THE SPRUCE-J:i'ffi AREA OF THE GREAT S}lOKY HOUNTAINS NATION PARK AL A THESIS Submitted to The Graduate Council of The University of Tennessee in Partial Fulfillment of the Hequirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Dorothy Louise Crandall December 1957 The author expresses her appreciation tc 1-toyal Shanks, Dr. 2. Department cf Botany, The University of Tennessee, for helpful his critic is s anc1 patient guidance; Stupka, Park Naturalist the m �thur of Great Smoky hountains National for his assistance; Dr. Naxwell Park E. Springer, Associate Agronomist, Agricultural ;:!,Xperiuent Station, The University of Tennessee, for field assistance anc information on soils. '_"he author is p·ateful Southern Followsh.ips Fund, an agency of tc the the Council of Southern Universities, Inc., for generous fellowship a for the yea r 1955-1956. TABLE CF GCNTENTS PAGE INTRGDUCTICl� 1 LITERATUHE 2 l'l.ETHCDS 8 CF STUDY T1ESCRIPTICN 12 GEFE2.Al, Vegetation 12 Climate 14 Soils 17 OUTLINE SITE • 20 OF TYPES Fir Site Types 20 Spruce-Fir Site Types 38 Spruce Site Types 53 Spruce-Hardwoods Site Types 63 'Jeech-Birch Gap ite Types 73 S S?ECIES ALTITVDE 81 JD•'T) SVCCESSICN 84 of Spruce Fir Seedlings 84 Germination and Survival and and Breakage 85 Windthrow Effect of �sturbance upon Lower Strata • 87 Cyclic Nature of Fir Stands 90 Succession Following Fire 92 Succession on Hocks 97 ...,ISCLSSION 100 iv PAGE SUIJ1l&'-?.Y 106 BIBLIOGHAPHY 109 APPENDIX 113 LIST TABLES CF PAGE 'l'A3LE Fir Site Types •.. ..... ... 21 I. II. Fir Site 'rypes-Cancpy anc Gnclerstory rees • • 23 T III. Percentage Distribution of 3asal .i.rea by Diameter Classes in Fir Site Types . 24 IV. Spruce-:•'ir Site Types 40 Spruce-Fir Site Types-Canop,y n erstory Trees 41 V. anc U d 7I. Percentage Distribution cf Basal Area Diameter Classes in Spruce-F'ir Site ypes • T 43 VII. Spruce Site Types 54 VIII. Spruce Site Types-C anop understory Trees .r and 55 Percentage Distributi on c Basal Area by Diameter IX. f Classes in Spruce Site Types . 56 Spruce-Hardwoods Site Types 65 x. Spruce-Hardwoods Site rypes-Canopy and Understcr.t rees 66 xr. T Percentabe Distribution of asa lu·ea by Diameter Classes XII. B l in Spruce-Hard"l'l'oods Site Types . 67 . 33ech-Birch Site Types . 75 ;�ri. Gap XIV. !Jeech-Birch Jap Site I'ypes-Canopy and Cnderstory Trees 79 Percentage Distribution of ='asal ea Diameter 1.'V. Ar by Classes in Beech-Birch '}ap Site Types 80 XVI. Number cf Herbaceous Spec ie s by .Altitude .:,crest Type • 82 an:� Percentage ove ra e of lierbaceous Species by XVII. C g -�titude and Forest Type ••••.•..• vi COinparison Disturbed and Areas on XVIII. of Undisturbed 88 x:::x. Sw'11.lnary of Types 101 Site LIST C. F FIG1Ji{ES FIGrRE PAGE Spruce-fir distribution the ;_1reat S:,lOky .Lountains l. in . 9 ') ' . 3ark of red spruce, Pice a rubens Sare:. 15 3. of .\bies fraseri ( Pursh ) Poir., heavily encrustecl Jark lichens, mosses and liverworts "fr'ith 16 4. C:rcun0 ccver pattern in Oxalis-P..ylocomiurn site ty_:Je shm.;ing Clintonia borealis (Ait.) 3.af., Gxalis montana Haf. anc1 mos2 Eylocomium splendens 26 the Hedv-r. 5. Oxalis-:·Iylocomium fir site tyl)e en Nt. Le CCJnte 27 6. Cxalis-1J'ryopteris fir r·ite en Clln,,J:;ans Dome 30 ty-�e 7. Chelone lyoni Pursh ar/ filix-femina (L.) J.t:b.yrium ·l.oth in fir site t;}'}le 3 1 0- D JiburnUJr•-Vaccinium-Dryopteris fir site tyre on slope 2. of Conte 34 I·:t. 12 Senecio rugelia Gray in Senecio fir site t;y"Pe on 0. A. t..rest Clingmans • 3 slc�e o: Dcm.e 5 10. :Deformed fir spruce trees en fog enshrouded slcpes ancl r-;yrtle Point, ht. Le Conte 37 cf ll. Cxalis-Hylocomiur:i spruce-fir site type en Su6arlc..nd 1-:ountain • • . 45 Luxuriant ground cover of Oxalis montana Raf. in 12. 0-H spruce-fir site type ••• 46 13. 3ase fir tree extensive n,cntana [l.af. cf and Cxalis crcund ccver spruce-fir site type • • • • • • • • 47 inC-H vi ii 14. ViLn.crnur.1- �-accinima-Dryopteris spruce-fir site on t. Co llins 50 1. 1). 'libnrnu.ni-!acciniwll-Lycopocium spnce .::ite type �vith ru[;elia (,ray and Cxalis montana sea ttered Senecic .b.. haf. anc: bare ;:;round, on 1in 6G Ht. ! gus l.c), Rhofoc'enfron s : ce alont; Trillium uap p cu site type '•'rail on Et. Le Conte 62 Birch t;a}) th cor.tplete understor.>' of 17. site v.d. P;ydr·angea arborescens . 77 1. 13. :=irch site ;,erbaceous ;::;round cover of t,ap 1>-Titil Ancelica triquinata 1-·'lich.x., Rudbeckia laciniata .w. Diphylleia cymesa Eichx. 8 and 7 19. r ted spruce tree on Collins . 86 Lp oo Et. 91 . 21. Succe s onal stage in development fir stand on ht. s i of Le Conte. Ground Cl.Ver of needles twiss 9 and 3 22. Fire scars on slopes of i•'orney llidge 94 • Growth srxubs and weedy herbaceous plants 2.3 o:.. following fire on slope of l,'crney l'1idge 95 ?4. Characteristic e et tion on steep s lopes below v g a Nyrtle Point . 98 . INTRODUCTION Although the spruce-fir area of the Southern Appalachians has interested several investigators, there have been few studies of the herbaceous plants in relation to the canopy and none with this rela- tionship as the primary objective. Ecological surveys have been made by Cain (1931, 1935), Oosting and Billings (1951), and Whittaker (1956), but their papers do not report details in reference to site types and include rather limited material on the ground cover. Possible site types were mentioned by 'iJhittaker but were not described and few sup- porting data of an objective nature were included. Cain in his 1935 paper on Ecological Studies of the Vegetation of the Great Smoky Eountains wrote To employ all layers in the characterization of forest types would confuse matters too greatly for applied science, yet to construct a forest type and site system on the tree layer alone is inadequate. He, too, will undoubtedly find the characterization at least of site classes within the forest types conveniently made on a basis cf certain critical species of the inferior layers. That is, we will find that site classes are indicated by certain species or species combina tions of herbs, shrubs, mosses, lichens, etc. as already demonstrated for northwestern America by Ilvessalo (1929), and for the Adirondack region by Heimburger (1934). Because the forest-site concept has never been specifically applied to the Southern Appalachian coniferous forests, an intensive study of the spruce-fir areas in the Great Smoky hountains National Park has been made with particular emphasis on the herbaceous and shrubby plant cover. This thesis will propose and describe such forest site types and will discuss ott�r interrelationships of the lower and upper strata of these forests. LITEfu\.TUHE The committee on Forest Terminology of the Society of American Foresters defines site as "An area considered as to its ecological factors with reference to capacity to produce forests or other vegeta tion, the combination of biotic, climatic and soil conditions •11 This corresponds to the ecologist's term habitat. In characterizing and classifying forest sites different investigators have used either char acteristics of the forest stand itself or environmental factors. Many of these attempts have used a single factor such as moisture, land form or chemical soil analysis, but no single criterion can in itself ade quately describe a site since the site type depends upon the interaction of all the edaphic, climatic and biotic factors.