PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #48: Vegetation Change and Response.
Presiding: D. Zobel
Tuesday, August 6. 1:00 PM to 4:45 PM. Mesquite Room, Radisson.

Vegetation and soil response to timber thinning operations: a chronosequence study.

Archer, Jessica^*,1, Miller, Deborah², ¹ University of Florida, Gainesville, FL² University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

ABSTRACT- The objective of restoration ecology can be generalized as the effort to create or stimulate habitats into their natural, undisturbed state. In much of the southeastern United States, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities have been subjected to anthropogenic disturbance to an extent where they are considered endangered (Noss et al. 1992). This study focuses on understory vegetation composition and soil compaction responses to site disturbances associated with timber thinning operations in upland pine stands. A chronosequence of thinned sites covering the past 30 years' was established from forest operations records at Ft. Benning military installation, Columbus, GA. Sixteen pine stands in each of two soil types, sandy and loamy, were selected for a total of 32 sites. Within each soil type, 4 sites were selected from each of the following categories representing time since last clear-cut: 0-3 years, 8-10 years, 15-20 years and >30 years. Canonical correlation analysis was performed to determine the degrees of influence that the age of the stands and the type of soil had on vegetation composition. Herbaceous species occurrence was determined more by stand age than soil type. Diversity peaked at 15-20 years. The analyses also revealed that certain species may have thresholds of disturbance. It is likely these results will help to guide better management practices and insight into restoration activiy. If the impacts of logging are clearly understood and recovery times are better understood, then clearer management goals can be determined in a disturbed forest habitat.

KEY WORDS: disturbance, logging, chronosequence, management