PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 14: Forest Ecology.
Wednesday, August 6 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.
Tree composition and soil characteristics of Fall Line sandhill communities.
Madden, Kathryn*,1, Sharitz, Rebecca1, Harper, Steven1, Imm, Donald2, Collins, Beverly1, 1 Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, SC, US2 USDA-FS Savannah River, New Ellenton, SC, US
ABSTRACT- Southeastern Fall Line sandhill communities are often subject to management techniques similar to those used in adjacent or near-by pine communities. To evaluate differences between sandhill community and adjacent forested community types, 15 sandhill woodlands were selected for survey at the Savannah River Site in SC and at Fort Gordon and Fort Benning in GA. Objectives were to identify distinguishing sandhill community level patterns. Tree composition and soil characteristics were measured at 10 random points within each of the 15 sites. In most of the surveyed sites, emerging characteristics include the composition of the tree canopy, which is dominated (56% to 100% of total basal area per site) by a mixture of four species: longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and turkey oak (Quercus laevis), with associations of sandpost oak (Q. margaretta) and bluejack oak (Q. incana). Canopy openness ranges from 20% to 39%. Emerging soil characteristics include high percentage of sand (86% to 96%), low soil moisture, and low soil nutrient content. An analysis of variance/Duncan multirange test was used to determine if tree composition measurements and soil characteristics differ among the 15 sites. The majority of the sites demonstrate a range in composition of the four major tree species although, a few sites were more heavily dominated by other hardwood and pine species. Soil texture and soil nutrients were similar among sites. These data are compared with data collected from near-by non-sandhill forests to aid in distinguishing patterns characteristic of sandhill communities and to aid in evaluating the effects of various management treatments.
Key words: tree composition, sandhill, soil characteristics