SPECIES COMPOSITION AND FOREST STRUCTURE OF MONTE SANO PARK, HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA by CHRISTOPHER LALIBERTE A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in The Department of Biology to The School of Graduate Studies of The University of Alabama in Huntsville HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 2013 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirement s for a master 's degree from The University of Alabama in Huntsville, I agree that the Library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection . I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by my advisor or, in his/her absence, by the Chair of the Department or the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to The University of Alabama in Huntsville in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in this thesis. (student signature) (date) ii THESIS APPROVAL FORM Submitted by Christopher Laliberte in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biological Sciences and accepted on behalf of the Faculty of the School of Graduate Studies by the thesis committee. We, the undersigned members of the Graduate Faculty of The University of Alabama in Huntsville, certify that we have advised and/or supervised the candidate on the work described in this thesis. We further certify that we have reviewed the thesis manuscript and approve it in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biological Sciences. iii ABSTRACT The School of Graduate Studies The University of Alabama in Huntsville Degree__Master of Science ___________College/Dept Biological Sciences_________ Name of Candidate__Christopher Laliberte____________________________________ Title Species Composition and Forest Structure of Monte Sano Park, Huntsville, ______Alabama_________________________________________________________ Monte Sano State Park lies on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau in northern Alabama. The forest is an oak-hickory forest on the tabletop of Monte Sano Mountain, but grades into mixed mesophytic forest along the mid-to-lower escarpment. The landscape was delineated into five categories based on underlying bedrock strata. Several measurements were used to analyze the species composition, diameter breast height (DBH) size class structure, and to determine if discrete communities of trees were present. Species composition varied and was a continuum and the forest was diverse by temperate standards. There were some differences in stand structure in the forest on different bedrock strata, as determined by comparisons of DBH size distributions; however, there were no distinct species associations in the forest. This study provides baseline data on species composition and forest structure for a protected and understudied forest in Madison County, Alabama. iv Acknowledgments There are several people without whom the thesis presented here would not be possible. I would like to thank Dr. Robert Lawton who accepted me into the Biology Department, who guided me though this journey, and without his tireless guidance and advice this project would not be possible. I would like to thank Dr. Callie Schweitzer and her team at the United States Forest Service for their critical assistance and knowledge of the forest and how to identify trees and collect scientific data. I would like to thank Dr. Robert Griffin for his advice in all things GIS. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 5 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 11 METHODS ...................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 19 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................... 46 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 59 A. Supporting Data ..................................................................................................... 59 B. Raw Data ................................................................................................................ 61 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 99 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1. Physiographic provinces of the Appalachian Region (Fenneman and Johnson, 1946) …………………………………………………………………………2 4.1. Suveyed and removed plots color coded by geological bedrock categories within the study area, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama…………………...………21 4.9. Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index calculated by stems ha-1 for all surveyed plots across Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama …………………………………………………………………………………………33 4.11. Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index calculated by basal area for all surveyed plots across Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ………………………………………..35 4.14. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species across all plots, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ………..…………………………………………………………………….…………40 4.15. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species for plots on the Pottsville sandstone formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ……………………………………………………………………………..………….41 4.16. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species for plots on the Pennington formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama………………..………………………………………………………42 4.17. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species for plots on the Bangor formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ………………………………….………………..………………….43 4.18. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species for plots on the Hartselle formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ..……………………………………………………….…………….44 vii 4.19. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination results for all tree species for plots on the Monteagle formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama …………….………………………………………………………..…………………45 A.1 Mean (central bar), median (dot), standard deviation (box), and range (dotted vertical line) for diversity in regards to stems >5.0cm DBH ha-1 for geological bedrock categories within Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama………………………………………………………………………………………….59 A.2. Mean (central bar), median (dot), standard deviation (box), and range (dotted vertical line) for diversity in regards to stems >5.0cm DBH ha-1 for geological bedrock categories within Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama .…………………………………………………………………….………………….60 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1. Size classes and their corresponding DBH ranges in cm, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville Alabama ………………………………………………..……………………………….18 4.2. Percent Basal Area, Percent Stems ha-1 and Relative Importance Value for all species for all plots, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ….……………………………………………………………………………………..22 4.3. Mean basal area in m2 ha-1 and mean stems ha-1 with standard deviation (std), Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama .............................23 4.4. Percent basal area, percent stems ha-1 and relative importance value for all species for plots located on the Pottsville sandstone formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ……………..….…………………………………25 4.5. Percent basal area, percent stems ha-1 and relative importance value for all species for plots located on the Pennington formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama …………………………….…………………………………27 4.6. Percent basal area, percent stems ha-1 and relative importance value for all species for plots located on the Bangor formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama …………………………….…………………………………………28 4.7. Percent basal area, percent stems ha-1 and relative importance value for all species for plots located on the Hartselle formation, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama ………………………………….………………………..………….29 4.8. Percent basal area, percent stems ha-1 and