PARENT SESSION
Friday, August 11, 8:00-10:30 am
Poster Session 26 - Latebreaking and newsworthy posters
Exhibit Hall, Ballroom Level, Cook Convention Center
How long do lianas live and how fast do they grow in a temperate floodplain forests?
Allen, Bruce 1, Goebel, P. Charles1, Sharitz, Rebecca2, 1 School of Evironment and Natural Resources, Wooster, Ohio2 Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina
ABSTRACT- Large-scale natural disturbances such as hurricanes that create forest canopy gaps, and forest management activities such as thinning, provide establishment and growth opportunities for lianas. Although lianas are a major component of many temperate bottomland hardwood forests, few studies have examined their growth dynamics and their ages are usually not known. The application of dendroecological techniques to lianas provides an opportunity to understand growth responses and longevity of this poorly understood component of temperate forests. Floodplain forests in the Congaree National Park, South Carolina, have a wide variety of stand ages and disturbance histories and are ideal for studying lianas. Information on liana ages and long term diameter growth rates will provide insight into how forests are changing through time and responding to different types of disturbance. In the winter of 2005-6, we collected 100 increment cores each from each of two dominant liana species, Toxicodendron radicans and Campsis radicans , across a range of forest ages and disturbance histories. T. radicans reached 13.5 cm in diameter and up to 58 years in age. C. radicans grew to much larger sizes, up to 40 cm in diameter, but was susceptible to heart rot. Sound stems >14 cm were as old as 38 years. Diameter growth responses were diverse, reflecting both species and damage level. For example, high damage areas appear to be different from those areas that were logged, or experienced low and moderate damage from Hurricane Hugo. These results suggest that large vines are long-lived in these old-growth floodplain forests and experience periods of release and suppression similar to other mid-tolerant canopy species.
Key words: lianas, woody vines, southeastern floodplain forests