PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #29: Spatial Ecology and Disturbance Ecology.
Presiding: J. Ludwig
Tuesday, August 6. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Coconino Meeting Room, TCC.
Ecological land classification in fire disturbed ecosystems.
Carter, Robert*,1, MacKenzie, Mark2, Gjerstad, Dean2, 1 Department of Forestry, Mississippi State, MS2 School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn, AL
ABSTRACT- Ecological Land Classification (ELC) was applied in fire disturbed longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of the southeastern Coastal Plain, USA. Though a six-step process, land units were identified with ordination and classification techniques and statistical analysis. This was done with data collected from longleaf pine forests lacking stady state or climax conditions. The longleaf pine forests are conditioned by disturbance and the response of the species to the disturbance and reach a non-equilibirum coexistence rather than a climax or steady state condition. The definition of steady state forests needs to be redefined for the southern USA where disturbance is common and widespread. Due to frequent disturbances, the undersory of seral and mature longleaf pine forests on the same land unit differ in physiognomy, but there are few species composition differences. To apply ELC in disturbed systems, the understory species that are diagnostic for a land unit must be identified and combined with soil and landform variables.
KEY WORDS: longleaf pine, disturbance, fire, steady state