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Vegetation Dynamics of an Old-growth Mixed Mesophytic Forest in Southeastern Ohio, USA

Murphy, Stephen J.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8679-2851
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1350941088

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Environmental and Plant Biology (Arts and Sciences).
Documenting change in the composition and structure of forest communities is important for understanding the distribution and abundances of natural resources, carbon pools, and species. Here, results are presented from the second sampling effort at Dysart Woods, an old-growth, mixed-mesophytic remnant tract in southeastern Ohio. In 2011, trees, saplings, shrubs, herbs, and soils were sampled in permanent plots established in 1996, allowing a direct fifteen–year comparison. Mortality and recruitment rates revealed that while most species at Dysart Woods are decreasing in abundance, sugar maple and American beech are rapidly increasing in importance, as is the invasive Alliaria petiolata. This shift in composition may be due to beech and sugar maple showing little negative responses to neighbors, and/or reflect increasing pressures that old-growth forests face from invasives. Such findings have considerable implications for the future of Dysart Woods, and developing appropriate management techniques may be required to preserve its integrity.
Brian McCarthy, PhD (Advisor)
Glenn Matlack, PhD (Committee Member)
Jared DeForest, PhD (Committee Member)
130 p.
Botany; Ecology; Forestry
Dysart Woods; old-growth forest; long-term monitoring; Fagus grandifolia; Acer saccharum; Logistic Regression; Ripley's K

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Murphy, S. J. (2012). Vegetation Dynamics of an Old-growth Mixed Mesophytic Forest in Southeastern Ohio, USA [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1350941088

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Murphy, Stephen. Vegetation Dynamics of an Old-growth Mixed Mesophytic Forest in Southeastern Ohio, USA. 2012. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1350941088.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Murphy, Stephen. "Vegetation Dynamics of an Old-growth Mixed Mesophytic Forest in Southeastern Ohio, USA." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1350941088

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1350941088
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.