Abstract
We investigated the effects of total (TR) or partial (PR) removal of the above-ground biomass of the dominant species on early successional trends in two oldfields in central New Jersey, USA. Our objective was to assess the occurrence of facilitation, tolerance, or inhibition as mechanisms of species replacement in the fields studied. In a 2nd-yr oldfield dominated by Ambrosia artemisiifolia, floristic composition and distribution of species cover changed markedly between the 2nd and the 3rd yr, regardless of the removal treatment. In both TR and PR plots and in control plots dominance shifted from an annual (A. artemisiifolia) to a biennial (Erigeron annuus). This indicates that the presence of the annual dominant is not necessary to promote this successional replacement, and therefore facilitation can be ruled out. Most species present in the 3rd-yr community were late summer and fall invaders which were not initially present. In a 7-yr oldfield dominated by Solidago canadensis, a clonal perennial, very little change in the distribution of species cover could be detected between years. Overall physiognomy remained the same, but there was a gradual change in floristic composition. In this field, TR and PR treatments enhanced vegetational change by allowing the increase in cover of suppressed understory species. Both inhibition and tolerance mechanisms may be involved in the pattern of vegetational change in this field. Finally, we stress that the mechanisms of species replacement operating in early secondary succession are dependent on structural and life history characteristics of the species assemblage on a particular site.
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Nomenclature follows Gleason & Cronquist (1963)
We thank S. Collins, R. Forman, B. Palser, J. Quinn and E. Stiles for discussion of the ideas presented here and also for comments on the manuscript. Financial support by Hutcheson Memorial Forest Summer grants, and by a Louis Bevier Fellowship from Rutgers University to J.J.A. is gratefully acknowledged. S.T.A.P. gratefully acknowledges the hospitality and support of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies at the Cary Arboretum of the New York Botanical Garden during revision of this manuscript. We thank C. Fernandez Niemeyer for drafting the figures.
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Armesto, J.J., Pickett, S.T.A. Removal experiments to test mechanisms of plant succession in oldfields. Vegetatio 66, 85–93 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00045498
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00045498