TY - JOUR
T1 - Can’t see the flowers for the trees
T2 - factors driving floral abundance within early-successional forests in the central Appalachian Mountains
AU - Mathis, Codey L.
AU - McNeil, Darin J.
AU - Lee, Monica R.
AU - Grozinger, Christina M.
AU - Otto, Clint R.V.
AU - Larkin, Jeffery L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded through USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (No. 68-7482-12-502) and Indiana University of Penn-sylvania’s School of Graduate Studies and Research. Our funding sponsors had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, report writing, nor the decision to submit the article for publication.
Funding Information:
This research was funded through USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (No. 68-7482-12-502) and Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s School of Graduate Studies and Research. Our funding sponsors had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, report writing, nor the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© Canadian Science Publishing. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Silviculture can be a powerful tool for restoring and enhancing habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. In eastern North America, regenerating timber harvests support abundant wildflowers that provide essential forage for native pollinators. Factors driving floral resource availability within regenerating forests remain almost entirely unstudied. Recent efforts to increase the area of regenerating forests (<10 years old) through overstory removal harvest in the central Appalachian Mountains provide an opportunity to investigate the development of forest wildflower communities following canopy removal. We conducted 1208 surveys of blooming plants across 143 harvests, recording 1 525 245 flowers representing 220 taxa spanning 47 families. The number of flowers within recently harvested stands was negatively associated with fern and sapling cover but positively associated with grass and bramble (Rubus spp.) cover. Early in the growing season, more flowers bloomed in older regenerating stands (e.g., >5 years old), but this pattern reversed by the end of the growing season. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that the abundance of flowers available to pollinators within regenerating hardwood stands varies with factors associated with advancing succession. Recognizing the potential trade-off between woody regeneration (i.e., saplings) and pollinator forage availability may benefit forest managers who intend to provide floral resources to flower-dependent wildlife like pollinators via silviculture.
AB - Silviculture can be a powerful tool for restoring and enhancing habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. In eastern North America, regenerating timber harvests support abundant wildflowers that provide essential forage for native pollinators. Factors driving floral resource availability within regenerating forests remain almost entirely unstudied. Recent efforts to increase the area of regenerating forests (<10 years old) through overstory removal harvest in the central Appalachian Mountains provide an opportunity to investigate the development of forest wildflower communities following canopy removal. We conducted 1208 surveys of blooming plants across 143 harvests, recording 1 525 245 flowers representing 220 taxa spanning 47 families. The number of flowers within recently harvested stands was negatively associated with fern and sapling cover but positively associated with grass and bramble (Rubus spp.) cover. Early in the growing season, more flowers bloomed in older regenerating stands (e.g., >5 years old), but this pattern reversed by the end of the growing season. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that the abundance of flowers available to pollinators within regenerating hardwood stands varies with factors associated with advancing succession. Recognizing the potential trade-off between woody regeneration (i.e., saplings) and pollinator forage availability may benefit forest managers who intend to provide floral resources to flower-dependent wildlife like pollinators via silviculture.
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U2 - 10.1139/cjfr-2022-0014
DO - 10.1139/cjfr-2022-0014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136126751
SN - 0045-5067
VL - 52
SP - 1002
EP - 1013
JO - Canadian Journal of Forest Research
JF - Canadian Journal of Forest Research
IS - 7
ER -