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- Title
Species diversity and small-scale disturbance in an old-growth temperate forest: a consideration of gap partitioning concepts.
- Authors
White, P. S.
- Abstract
The importance of spatial partitioning of gap resources in the maintenance of tree species diversity was studied in an Appalachian old-growth forest. We established three 1-ha plots, subdivided into contiguous 10 x 10 m subplots, in a mesic cove forest with a disturbance regime characterized by small canopy gaps (<0.1 ha). For tests of partitioning along the gradient from gap interior to the shaded understory,canopy cover of each subplot was classified as gap, gap border, or non-gap. For tests of gap-size partitioning, gap and gap border subplots were classed by gap size. Species-accumulation curves for the regeneration stratum (stems > 1.37 m tall and </= 10 cm DBH) based on: (1) species per unit area, and (2) species per individual were plotted for each of the canopy cover classes and for all subplots combined. The species-area curve for gaps was steeper than the all-subplots curve that represented the entire gradient from gap centers to the shadedunderstory. By contrast, all of the species-individuals curves were similar. Sorrenson's indices showed that only gap subplots, particularly those associated with large gaps, had highly self-similar speciescomposition. Furthermore, the relative abundance of most species wassimilar between gaps and the shaded understory. However, intolerant species often had higher relative abundance in gaps, especially in gaps >/= 0.04 ha in size. We concluded that gap partitioning hypothesesapplied to some intolerants, but not to tolerants. The density hypothesis, a null model attributing species richness levels to stem density levels, largely explained the richness patterns in our study forest.
- Subjects
PLANT ecology; FORESTS &; forestry
- Publication
Oikos, 1997, Vol 78, Issue 3, p562
- ISSN
0030-1299
- Publication type
Article