Economic and tree diversity trade-offs in managed northern hardwoods

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1807-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Neal Niese ◽  
Terry F. Strong
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwoods ◽  
Tree Species Diversity ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Northern Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwood ◽  
Shannon’S Index ◽  
Trade Offs

Forest ecologists have long believed that greater tree species diversity in hardwood forests reduces biological risk, but researchers have not yet linked diversification with economic returns for managed hardwood forests. This paper shows how management of northern hardwood forests affects tree species diversity and economic returns. Shannon's index is used to measure regeneration diversity for eight even- and uneven-aged cutting methods from a 40-year study on the Argonne Experimental Forest. These indices of tree species diversity are compared with the potential economic returns for the research sites.

scholarly journals Preferences for Northern Hardwood Silviculture among Family Forest Owners in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander C Helman ◽  
Matthew C Kelly ◽  
Mark D Rouleau ◽  
Yvette L Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Family Forest Owners ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Upper Peninsula ◽  
Northern Hardwood Forests ◽  
Family Forest ◽  
Northern Hardwood ◽  
Single Tree ◽  
Single Tree Selection

Abstract Managing northern hardwood forests using high-frequency, low-intensity regimes, such as single-tree selection, favors shade-tolerant species and can reduce tree species diversity. Management decisions among family forest owners (FFO) can collectively affect species and structural diversity within northern hardwood forests at regional scales. We surveyed FFOs in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan to understand likely future use of three silvicultural treatments—single-tree selection, shelterwood, and clearcut. Our results indicate that FFOs were most likely to implement single-tree selection and least likely to implement clearcut within the next 10 years. According to logistic regression, prior use of a treatment and perceived financial benefits significantly increased the odds for likely use for all three treatments. Having received professional forestry assistance increased likely use of single-tree selection but decreased likely use of shelterwood. We discuss these results within the context of species diversity among northern hardwood forests throughout the region.

Forest age and management effects on epiphytic bryophyte communities in Adirondack northern hardwood forests, New York, U.S.A.

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1562-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory G McGee ◽  
Robin W Kimmerer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Large Diameter ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Host Tree ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Northern Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwood ◽  
Host Tree Species

The objective of this study was to assess the influence of substrate heterogeneity on epiphytic bryophyte communities in northern hardwood forests of varying disturbance histories. Specifically, we compared bryophyte abundance (m2·ha–1) and community composition among partially cut; maturing, 90- to 100-year-old, even-aged; and old-growth northern hardwood stands in Adirondack Park, New York, U.S.A. Total bryophyte cover from 0 to 1.5 m above ground level on trees [Formula: see text]10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) did not differ among the three stand types. However, bryophyte community composition differed among host tree species and among stand types. Communities in partially cut and maturing stands were dominated by xerophytic bryophytes (Platygyrium repens, Frullania eboracensis, Hypnum pallescens, Brachythecium reflexum, Ulota crispa), while old-growth stands contained a greater representation of calcicoles and mesophytic species (Brachythecium oxycladon, Anomodon rugelii, Porella platyphylloidea, Anomodon attenuatus, Leucodon brachypus, Neckera pennata). This mesophyte-calcicole assemblage occurred in all stand types but was limited by the abundance of large-diameter (>50 cm DBH), thick-barked, hardwood host trees (Acer saccharum Marsh., Tilia americana L., Fraxinus americana L.). This study suggested that epiphytic bryophyte diversity can be sustained and enhanced in managed northern hardwood forests by maintaining host tree species diversity and retaining large or old, thick-barked residual hardwood stems when applying even-aged and uneven-aged silviculture systems.

scholarly journals Regeneración natural y diversidad de especies arbóreas en selvas húmedas

2017 ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Martínez-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forest ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Tree Species Diversity ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Advanced Regeneration ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Tree Falls

One of the major biological mysteries still to be explained is the maintenance of the enormous local tree species diversity in tropical rain forests .This review explores the relationship between the dynamics of natural regeneration and the evolutionary and ecological processes and mechanisms involved in the origin and maintenance of such extraordinary diversity. First, 1 review ideas on the origin of tree species diversity in the tropics. This review suggests that: i) historical, evolutionary and biogeographical phenomena have a paramount influence on local species richness, and ii) tropical rain forest tree communities are species unsaturated, suggesting that newly originated species may freely migrate across a regional landscape. Second, I describe the forest regeneration process. Gap dynamics, promoted by branch and tree falls, is a fundamental component of the forest canopy renewal. Small gaps (caused by branch falls) facilitate the establishment and survival of seedlings and saplings in the shaded understory (advanced regeneration), whereas large gaps (caused by tree falls) enable trees to reach mature sizes. Gap creation and tree maturation are the extremes of a process of tree and species replacement in the forest canopy. Third, I explore relationships between the tree replacement process and the population and community mechanisms that facilitate maintenance of species diversity at a local scale of a few hectares. I argue and document that factors that promote high species diversity in the advanced regeneration favor high probabilities of heterospecific replacements among canopy trees. Hence, these factors facilitate the maintenance of species diversity in the forest canopy. Frugivores, by promoting diversity in the seed rain community, and biotic agents of seed, seedling and sapling mortality by operating mainly on abundant species, are key factors in facilitating diversity. Furthermore, the existence of trade offs in tree life history attributes (such as seed dispersal capacity, survivorship in the shade and growth under gap conditions) contributes to diversity maintenance by promoting heterospecific replacements. This review does not support ú1e idea that maintenance of tree species diversity in tropical rain forest depends on random processes, as some authors have claimed. instead, I conclude that ecological phenomena have a paran1ounl role on the possibility that a species gains a membresy in such highly diverse forests.

Cavity trees and coarse woody debris in old-growth and managed northern hardwood forests in Wisconsin and Michigan

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M Goodburn ◽  
Craig G Lorimer
Keyword(s):  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Large Diameter ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwoods ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Northern Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwood ◽  
Tree Retention ◽  
Cavity Tree

The effects of uneven-aged management on the availability of coarse woody debris habitat were examined in northern hardwood forests (with and without a hemlock component) in north-central Wisconsin and adjacent western Upper Michigan. Snags, cavity trees, fallen wood, and recent tip-up mounds in 15 managed uneven-aged (selection) stands were compared with levels in 10 old-growth stands and six unmanaged even-aged second-growth stands. Amounts of coarse woody debris in selection stands were generally intermediate between old-growth and even-aged stands. Density of snags >30 cm DBH in northern hardwood selection stands averaged 12/ha, approximately double that found in even-aged northern hardwoods, but only 54% of the level in old-growth northern hardwoods. Highest densities of snags >30 cm DBH occurred in old-growth hemlock-hardwood stands, averaging over 40 snags/ha. For combined forest types, the volume of fallen wood (>10 cm in diameter) was significantly lower in selection stands (60 m3/ha) and even-aged stands (25 m3/ha) than in old-growth stands (99 m3/ha). Volume differences were even more pronounced for large-diameter debris (>40 cm). Cavity tree density in selection stands averaged 11 trees/ha, 65% of the mean number in old-growth stands. Densities of snags (>30 cm DBH) and large-diameter cavity trees (>45 cm) present in selection stands exceeded current guidelines for wildlife tree retention on public forests.

scholarly journals Seed production of sugar maple and American beech in northern hardwood forests, New Hampshire, USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 985-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie L. Cleavitt ◽  
Timothy J. Fahey
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Mast Seeding ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
American Beech ◽  
Northern Hardwood Forests ◽  
Northern Hardwood ◽  
Seed Crops

Mast seeding is the synchronous production of large seed crops in plant populations and for many tree species is known to be determined by the interaction between weather cues and internal plant resources. We use a 24-year record of seedfall for sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) across a northern hardwood forest landscape to quantify their masting patterns and explore the relationship between mast years, resources, and weather cues, particularly the difference between summer temperatures in the two years prior to the seedfall year (ΔT). We found clear evidence of masting in these species, and mast years were often coincident in the two species; masting was best predicted by ΔT or ΔT plus previous-year seedfall. We saw no evidence for correspondence of masting in these trees to precipitation cues. A soil calcium addition modified elevation effects on seed production. Clarification of the controls on mast seeding for these important tree species will aid in predicting such resources as mast for wildlife and maple sugar production in northern hardwood forests.

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