scholarly journals Effects of timber harvest on epigeous fungal fruiting patterns and community structure in a northern hardwood ecosystem

Author(s):  
Benjamin W Borgmann-Winter ◽  
Ryan B Stephens ◽  
Anthony W. D'Amato ◽  
Serita D. Frey ◽  
Rebecca J Rowe

Epigeous fungal fruiting has important impacts on fungal reproduction and ecosystem function. Forest disturbances, such as timber harvest, impact moisture, host availability, and substrate availability, which in turn may drive changes in fungal fruiting patterns and community structure. We surveyed mushrooms in 0.4-ha patch cuts (18 months post-harvest) and adjacent intact hardwood forest in northern New Hampshire, USA, to document the effects of timber harvest on summer fruiting richness, biomass, diversity, and community structure of ectomycorrhizal, parasitic, and saprobic mushroom taxa. Fungal fruiting richness, diversity, and community heterogeneity were greater in intact forests than patch cuts. Among functional groups, ectomycorrhizal fruiting richness, diversity, and biomass were greater in unharvested areas than in the patch cuts, but parasitic and saprobic fruiting did not differ statistically between the two forest conditions. Our findings suggest that timber harvest simplifies fungal fruiting communities shortly after harvest, in particular triggering declines in ectomycorrhizal taxa which are important symbionts facilitating tree establishment and regeneration. Multi-aged silvicultural practices that maintain mature forest conditions adjacent to and throughout harvested areas through deliberate retention of overstory trees and downed woody material may promote fungal fruiting diversity in regenerating stands.

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 160-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B. Leak

Abstract One important concern in the conversion of even-aged stands to an uneven-aged condition through individual-tree or small-group cutting is the growth response throughout the diameter-class distribution, especially of the understory trees. Increment-core sampling of an older, uneven-aged northern hardwood stand in New Hampshire under management for about 50 years established the baseline diameter-growth responses of the sapling, pole, and sawtimber strata. Growth responses of the poletimber and sawtimber in a 70-year-old even-aged stand were comparable to the uneven-aged stand after an initial partial cutting treatment; growth of the understory began approaching comparable rates after the second entry about 25 years after the first cut. North. J. Appl. For. 21(3):160–163.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1766-1775 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Jordan ◽  
M J Ducey ◽  
J H Gove

We present the results of a timed field trial comparing the bias characteristics and relative sampling efficiency of line-intersect, fixed-area, and point relascope sampling for downed coarse woody material. Seven stands in a managed northern hardwood forest in New Hampshire were inventoried. Significant differences were found among estimates in some stands, indicating a potential for difference in bias in field implementation of the methods. In terms of relative sampling efficiency, results for each method varied among stand. However, point relascope sampling had comparable or better time efficiency than the other methods in most stands.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D Lloyd

The breeding range of the Red Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca iliaca) is generally recognized as comprising the boreal forest of Canada. However, recent observations suggest that the species is present during the summer months throughout much of the northeastern U.S., unexpected for a species characterized as a passage migrant in the region. To clarify, I conducted a literature review to document the historical status of the species in the northeastern U.S. and then analyzed observations submitted to eBird to describe its recent and current status in the region. Historical accounts consistently identify Fox Sparrow as a passage migrant through the region during early spring and late fall. Beginning in the early 1980s, observers began noting regular extralimital records of Fox Sparrow in northern Maine. A single nest was discovered in the state in 1983, and another in northern New Hampshire in 1997. Despite the paucity of breeding records, observations submitted to eBird suggest that the southern limit of the breeding range of Fox Sparrow has expanded rapidly to the south and west in recent years. The proportion of complete checklists submitted to eBird that contained at least one observation of Fox Sparrow grew at an annual rate of 18% from 2003-2016 and was independent of observer effort. Fox Sparrow now occurs regularly on mountaintops and in young stands of spruce (Picea spp.) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) during the breeding season throughout northern and western Maine and northern New Hampshire, with occasional records from the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. The cause of this rapid expansion of its breeding range is unknown, but may be related to an increase in the amount of young conifer forest in the northeastern U.S. created by commercial timber harvest.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Fast ◽  
Mark J. Ducey

Abstract Height-diameter equations are important in modeling forest structure and yield. Twenty-seven height-diameter equations were evaluated for eight tree species occurring in the northern hardwood forest of New Hampshire using permanent plot data from the Bartlett Experimental Forest. Selected models with associated coefficients are presented for American beech, eastern hemlock, paper birch, red maple, red spruce, sugar maple, white ash, yellow birch, and all 16 species combined.


1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Leak

Abstract The 61-year results from a study of group/patch selection in New Hampshire (four entries, 0.5 ac average opening size) showed that this system will maintain a continued proportion of about 20% of the basal area in bitches and ash, or about one-third in all intolerant/intermediate species.The diameter distribution closely followed the J-shaped curve typical of unevenaged forests. There was a dead standing component of about 20 trees per acre including 3 sawtimber-sized stems. North. J. Appl. For: 16(3):151-153.


2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B. Leak

Abstract In many northern hardwood stands in New Hampshire and New England, partial cutting or single-tree selection results in understories with a high proportion of beech and other species with low timber values. Patch cutting, using small openings of about 1/4-ac in size or larger coupled with sufficient logging disturbance, has proved to be an effective way to replace understories of beech and other less valuable species with a new stand containing a high proportion of yellow and paper birch in mixture with other deciduous species. Unless present as well-developed advanced regeneration, sugar maple is seldom common in the new stands produced by small patch cutting. However, when these early successional stands reach 40–50 years of age, understories dominated by sugar maple and with lesser proportions of beech frequently develop, possibly due to the rich leaf-fall, lower proportions of beech litter, and/or changed light conditions. Although small patch cutting may not immediately regenerate abundant sugar maple, it appears as though this technique may help over time to maintain sugar maple as a significant component of northern hardwood forests. North. J. Appl. For. 22(1):68–70.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 2498-2500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Reitsma

Experiments using artificial nests to test whether predation varies with nest density were conducted in a northern hardwood forest in New Hampshire in June 1989. Nests were baited with quail eggs and placed at densities similar to and substantially higher than the range of natural nest densities. There was no statistically significant difference in predation levels among densities, but there was a trend for higher predation at the highest density.


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