TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural forest regeneration-soil relationships in a fire disturbed urban natural area forest
AU - Loeb, Robert E.
AU - Mao, Hui
N1 - Funding Information:
The Pennsylvania State University DuBois Campus, USA provided funding for the nutrient analysis of soil samples and travel but had no role in the study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; writing of the report; and decision to submit the article for publication. We appreciate the support for the research provided by Joan Blaustein and Thomas Witmer of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the permission to use the image in Fig. 1. The preparation of Fig. 1 by Chris Park of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation is appreciated. Thanks are extended to James Best for assistance with setting up the grid of plots and the forest survey in 2014 and Timothy Smith for assistance with recording tree identifications and measurements made by the first author in 2016 and data entry.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier GmbH
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Sustainability for urban natural area forests can be achieved with extensive natural regeneration of the native canopy species. A new urban forest management protocol “SAFE” (Soils Aliens Fire Exclosure) has the goal of increasing natural regeneration through: soil treatments; alien species treatments; fire surveillance; and large herbivores exclosure fencing. This research reports on the initial stages of the iterative process for the SAFE protocol. The soils and fire components of the SAFE protocol were examined for the seedlings and saplings of the seven canopy taxa growing in a loam and an extremely stony loam of the same soil series in the Good Woods, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Comparisons are made with data before and after an arson caused fire in 2015. Before the fire, seedlings for Carya spp., Prunus serotina, Quercus alba, and Quercus rubra and Q. velutina as well as Liriodendron tulipifera saplings had larger populations in the loam. The seedling populations for all seven taxa and saplings for Carya spp., Liriodendron tulipifera, and Prunus serotina were different in the burned and unburned areas of both soils. Post-fire sprouts, which were considered separately, had low survival rates four years after the fire. In the four combinations of soils and burned and unburned areas, pH, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium were deficient except for phosphorus in the burned extremely stony loam. Negative binomial regression equations for seedlings of all seven taxa with the soil nutrients indicate fertilizer treatments to increase phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium would cause no change in natural regeneration. Regression variable estimates indicate increasing the pH would result in forest regeneration decreases for Acer rubrum, Fraxinus americana, and Prunus serotina. The next research steps for SAFE in the Good Woods are to monitor seedling populations changes after: a soil treatment; alien species control; a fire, and large herbivores exclusion.
AB - Sustainability for urban natural area forests can be achieved with extensive natural regeneration of the native canopy species. A new urban forest management protocol “SAFE” (Soils Aliens Fire Exclosure) has the goal of increasing natural regeneration through: soil treatments; alien species treatments; fire surveillance; and large herbivores exclosure fencing. This research reports on the initial stages of the iterative process for the SAFE protocol. The soils and fire components of the SAFE protocol were examined for the seedlings and saplings of the seven canopy taxa growing in a loam and an extremely stony loam of the same soil series in the Good Woods, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Comparisons are made with data before and after an arson caused fire in 2015. Before the fire, seedlings for Carya spp., Prunus serotina, Quercus alba, and Quercus rubra and Q. velutina as well as Liriodendron tulipifera saplings had larger populations in the loam. The seedling populations for all seven taxa and saplings for Carya spp., Liriodendron tulipifera, and Prunus serotina were different in the burned and unburned areas of both soils. Post-fire sprouts, which were considered separately, had low survival rates four years after the fire. In the four combinations of soils and burned and unburned areas, pH, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium were deficient except for phosphorus in the burned extremely stony loam. Negative binomial regression equations for seedlings of all seven taxa with the soil nutrients indicate fertilizer treatments to increase phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium would cause no change in natural regeneration. Regression variable estimates indicate increasing the pH would result in forest regeneration decreases for Acer rubrum, Fraxinus americana, and Prunus serotina. The next research steps for SAFE in the Good Woods are to monitor seedling populations changes after: a soil treatment; alien species control; a fire, and large herbivores exclusion.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100057540&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100057540&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2021.126993
DO - 10.1016/j.ufug.2021.126993
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100057540
SN - 1618-8667
VL - 59
JO - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
JF - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
M1 - 126993
ER -