1. Histories of changing land use and vegetation of a 380-ha forested area in central Massachusetts (Prospect Hill tract of the Harvard Forest) were reconstructed to investigate (i) the environmental controls over land ownership patterns, agricultural practice and logging activity, and (ii) the vegetation response to these land-use factors. 2. Forest clearance and agricultural expansion parallel trends for central New England: increasing rates of deforestation through the late eighteenth century led to a peak in 1820-80 when more than 80% of the land was open. Reforestation on abandoned fields commenced in 1850 and increased progressively through the early twentieth century

/pdf/land-use-history-1730-1990-and-vegetation-dynamics-in-2tf32kd7pj.pdf

Fifty years of management at the Harvard forest.

Land-Use History (1730-1990) and Vegetation Dynamics in Central New England, USA

(1) The effect of catastrophic hurricane wind on forest vegetation in central New England was examined at the species and stand level. (2) Species susceptibility to wind is largely explained by canopy position: fast-growing, pioneer species that form overstorey dominants (Pinus strobus, P. resinosa, Populus spp. and Betula papyrifera) suffered much greater damage than slower growing, or tolerant species occurring primarily in codominant, intermediate and suppressed canopy positions (Carya spp., Acer rubrum, Quercus alba, Q. velutina and Tsuga canadensis). Uprooting was much more important than breakage as the primary form of damage. This result, which contrasts with the findings of most studies of wind damage, may perhaps be explained by the very high levels of precipitation that accompanied the storm, saturating the soil and loosening the roots. (3) Damage to forest stands exhibits a positive, linear relationship with stand age and height and negative relationship with density. Conifer forests are significantly more susceptible than hardwood forests. Pinus strobus and P. resinosa stands are susceptible to wind at 15 years of age and are completely destroyed at 30 years; hardwood stands exhibit increasing damage from age 20 years, but are not completely blown down until age 80-100 years. (4) Within stands, damage shifts progressively from the dominant trees in young stands to include trees in the codominant, intermediate and suppressed layers in older forests. Parallel changes with age in the type of damage include a decline in the number of leaning trees and increase in uprooting. (5) Damage to species and stands from a catastrophic windstorm occurs quite predictably and specifically within the forests studied. This discriminating impact of wind has profound consequences on the vegetation at a range of spatial scales and is largely mediated by historical factors and structural and compositional aspects of the vegetation mosaic.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2260458.pdf

Species and stand response to catastrophic wind in central New England, U.S.A

The effect of catastrophic winds on a forested landscape in central Massachusetts was examined to investigate the factors controlling the geographic pattern of damage. The study area, Tom Swamp Tract, Harvard Forest, comprises a valley and adjoining hillslopes supporting second-growth hardwood and conifer stands. Much of the study used records and maps that were analysed cartographically with a geographic information system (GIS). Areally, forest damage was distributed fairly evenly among different damage classes ranging from no damage to more than 75% of stems broken or uprooted. However, there was a negative exponential size distribution of contiguous areas of the same damage intensity, with a preponderance less than 2 ha; these areas ranged from less than 0.04 ha to more than 35 ha; hurricane damage exhibited a continuum ranging from minor damage of individual trees to extensive blow-down of broad areas of forest (...)

Patterns of forest damage resulting from catastrophic wind in central New England, USA

Throughout the eastern United States, plant species distributions and community patterns have developed in re- sponse to heterogeneous environmental conditions and a wide range of historical factors, including complex histories of natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Despite increased rec- ognition of the importance of disturbance in determining forest composition and structure, few studies have assessed the relative influence of current environment and historical factors on moder vegetation, in part because detailed knowl- edge of prior disturbance is often lacking. In the present study, we investigate moder and historical factors that control veg- etation patterns at Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts, USA. Similar to the forested uplands throughout the north- eastern United States, the site is physiographically heteroge- neous and has a long and complex history of natural and anthropogenic disturbance. However, data on forest composi- tion and disturbance history collected over the past > 90 years allow us to evaluate the importance of historical factors rigor- ously, which is rarely possible on other sites. Soil analyses and historical sources document four catego- ries of historical land use on areas that are all forested today: cultivated fields, improved pastures/mowings, unimproved pastures, and continuously forested woodlots. Ordination and logistic regressions indicate that although species have re- sponded individualistically to a wide range of environmental and disturbance factors, many species are influenced by three factors: soil drainage, land use history, and C:N ratios. Few species vary in accordance with ionic gradients, damage from the 1938 hurricane, or a 1957 fire. Contrary to our expectation that the effects of disturbance will diminish over time, histori- cal land use predicts 1992 vegetation composition better than 1937 composition, perhaps because historical woodlots have become increasingly differentiated from post-agricultural

Vegetation patterns in heterogeneous landscapes: The importance of history and environment

This paper presents a generalization of the classic Faustmann formula for land expectation value. The generalized Faustmann formula allows the harvest age to vary from timber crop to timber crop by...

Fifty years of management at the Harvard forest.

Citations

Land-Use History (1730-1990) and Vegetation Dynamics in Central New England, USA

Species and stand response to catastrophic wind in central New England, U.S.A

Patterns of forest damage resulting from catastrophic wind in central New England, USA

Vegetation patterns in heterogeneous landscapes: The importance of history and environment

A generalized Faustmann model for the determination of optimal harvest age

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