Publication Date:
2005-03-01
Description:
Trees and snags with diameter at breast height (dbh) ≥5 cm were measured in 1983, 1993, and 2003 on 117 plots, each having an area of 200-m2, in an 80-year-old forest in western Massachusetts. In 2003 we measured dead stumps and coarse woody debris (CWD) with diameter ≥10 cm using the line intercept method. Decadal mortality rates were 9.4% and 9.0% per decade (7.1 and 5.0 m3·ha1, respectively). Mortality rates were highest (32%) in low-vigor suppressed trees. Snags with dbh 〉 10 cm occurred on 72% and 62% of plots, respectively, in 1983 and 2003. Snag volume decreased from 13.2 to 8.7 m3·ha1 over the 20-year period. From 1983 to 2003, 88% of a cohort of oak (Quercus spp.) snags, probably killed by gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar L.), had fallen. Decadal fall rates of snags averaged 61% and 66% (6.8 and 4.5 m3·ha1, respectively). CWD logs were measured on 55% of plots and averaged 10.1 m3·ha1. Stumps were on 62% of plots and averaged 0.7 m3·ha1. Seventy percent of stumps, but only 38% of logs, were in the two most decayed classes. Trees cut the previous decade contributed 6% of CWD logs measured. Few snags were cut (1.6 and 0.4 m3·ha1, respectively, in 19831993 and 19932003). Snag production and fall rates were higher than in other forests, but CWD volume was lower.
Print ISSN:
0045-5067
Electronic ISSN:
1208-6037
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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