Document: NED-3-30-24

Carbon gain in seedlings and sprouts of northern hardwood forest after deer removal.

FETCHER, N.*, M.CAUCCI and D.TOWNSEND

University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, U.S.A. ¹

Abstract:
In 1994, an exclosure for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was installed in Lacawac Sanctuary in northeast Pennsylvania. At present, seedlings and sprouts of red oak (Quercus rubra) and witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) are common in the understory inside the exclosure but absent outside. Sprouts of both species are considerably taller (54 9.2 cm) than seedlings (11 0.9 cm) in spite of having had approximately the same amount of time to become established. In late summer of 1999, we estimated aboveground carbon gain for 5-7 representatives of each category. Mean daily photosynthetic photon flux densities were similar for each group (1.15-1.37 mol m^-2 d^-1) as was carbon gain per unit leaf area. There was little difference between species. Because of the greater leaf area of the sprouts, they had much higher carbon gains per plant than the seedlings (3.3 mmol C d^-1 vs. 0.36 mmol C d^-1). If this trend continues, it appears likely that sprouts will be responsible for much of the regrowth in the exclosure.

Keywords: carbon balance, understory regeneration,red oak,white-tailed deer, eastern deciduous forest

This abstract is being presented at: 4:45 PM in session:
Oral Session #50: Plant Gas Exchange.