Dendrocronology

Dendrochronological Analysis of the Canopy History of Two Ohio Old-Growth Forests Author(s): Do-Soon Cho and R. E. J. Boerner Reviewed work(s): Source: Vegetatio, Vol. 120, No. 2 (Oct., 1995), pp. 173-183 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20046647 . Accessed: 22/08/2012 19:06
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120: Vegetatio 1995 Kluwer

173-183, Academic

1995.

173 Printed in Belgium.

Publishers.

Dendrochronological
forests
Do-Soon

analysis of the canopy history of two Ohio old-growth

Cho1 & R. E. J. Boerner Department of Plant Biology,Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43 210, USA (address for Address: Department of Biology, Catholic University, Puchon, Kyonggi-do, 422-743, correspondence);lpresent
Korea

Accepted

19May

1995

Key words: Acer, Canopy

gaps, Dendrochronology,

Disturbance,

Forest succession, Fraxinus,

Quercus

Abstract This study examined the temporal patterns ofestablishment, suppression, and release of major tree species in two old-growth Ohio forest remnants as a means to determine the past disturbance history of these forests. Increment cores were taken from a total of 154 trees from two well-drained, upland plots and two poorly-drained, bottomland plots in each of the two forested areas. Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia exhibited multiple episodes ofsuppression and release prior to becoming canopy trees, and could tolerate suppressions as long as 84 years. In Prunus ser?tina, and Acer saccharinum rarely exhibited any contrast, Quercus macrocarpa, Q. muehlenbergii, tolerance to suppression and appeared to have entered the canopy after single disturbances had opened large areas of canopy. There was clear synchrony in the temporal pattern ofestablishment and final release from suppression among trees from bottomland plots scattered throughout the stands, indicating that relatively large disturbances were important in these poorly- drained areas. In contrast, there was little synchrony among trees from well-drained upland plots, except in a single instance where selective cutting of Quercus trees opened the canopy. Thus, the canopy ofupland site was likely subjected only to small disturbances resulting from the death of one or a few trees. At the whole of forest level, there was evidence of episodic recruitment of canopy trees in both forests. Establishment of Fraxinus spp. and Quercus spp. were particularly episodic, and few Fraxinus or Quercus trees alive today established during the last century. These data suggest that largedisturbances have affected canopy dynamics of both upland and bottomland areas prior to 1900 and in bottomland forests through this century. In contrast, disturbances in upland areas during this century have been restricted to small, treefall-generated canopy
gaps.

Introduction The species composition and relative abundances of tree species in forest stands may reflect static prop erties, suchas environmental gradients, and dynamic properties, such as the prevailing disturbance regime. Different types, frequencies and intensities of natural disturbances result in different effects on plant com munities, and a given area may be subject to a number of types of disturbances at various frequencies (Pickett & White 1985). tree rings retain a record of the growth Because
rates and...