Temperate deciduous forests PowerPoint Presentation

Slide 1 -

Temperate deciduous (mesophytic) forests Distribution Climate Soils Forest types and structure Plant ecophysiology Fauna History (Tertiary - PD) Disturbance Forest clearance Succession

Slide 2 -

Global distribution of the biome Deciduous forests

Slide 3 -

North American distribution of the TDF and representative climate stations Boston Atlanta Little Rock Madison

Slide 4 -

Climate - monthly temperatures

Slide 5 -

Climate - precipitation regimes

Slide 6 -

Soil types of the temperate deciduous forest Alfisols Ultisols (Inceptisols)

Slide 7 -

Soil profiles and soil-forming processes Cool temperate areas: Alfisols/Luvisols/Brown Earths Warm temperate areas: Ultisols

Slide 8 -

Soil formation Alfisols (etc.) - the broadleaf deciduous trees exert a greater demand on soil nutrient resources than the conifers of the boreal forest, and their leaves are more base-rich. Incorporation of litter into the soil by earthworms produces humus-rich A and B horizons. Iron and aluminium are not mobilized, but clay particles, which tend to be dispersed in base-rich soils, are transported down to form a clay-rich B horizon. Ultisols replace alfisols in warm temperate areas as a result of more advanced weathering. Generally less fertile; often degraded in the southeastern USA by plantation agriculture.

Slide 9 -

What controls the distribution of the dominant tree species of the TDF? Clockwise, from top left: Acer saccharum, Tilia americana, Ostrya virginiana, Ulmus americana, Ulmus rubra, and Quercus rubra

Slide 10 -

Temperate forest trees: similar western limits = similar drought intolerance? American beech red oak red maple (plus white oak, black oak, 2 hickories . . . . )

Slide 11 -

Airmass climatology - biome boundaries

Slide 12 -

D = R / (L x P) where D = dryness ratio; R = mean ann. net radiation; P = mean ann. precipitation; L = latent heat of vaporization of water Budyko-Lettau dryness ratio

Slide 13 -

The forest- prairie boundary Budyko suggested that the forest - grassland boundary in the midwest corresponds with a dryness ratio of 1.1 -1.2 (=dotted line) Budyko dryness ratio values, N. America Hare (1980) Atmos.-Ocean 18, 127-153.

Slide 14 -

Tree species diversity ++++++++ Is reduced diversity to northwest a result of the harsher climate?

Slide 15 -

Temperate forest trees: common northern limits = similar limiting temperatures? American beech red oak red maple (plus white oak, black oak, 2 hickories . . . . )

Slide 16 -

Airmass climatology - biome boundaries

Slide 17 -

Thermal limits and optima

Slide 18 -

Cold injury

Slide 19 -

Probability of temperatures falling below -40°C A = common B = rare C = never American beech

Slide 20 -

Winter-summer phases

Slide 21 -

Daily irradiance*: Liriodendron stand, Tennessee Photosynthetic activity Trees Vernal ephemerals Summer herbs Evergreens (sun plants) (shade plants) * values are langleys/day

Slide 22 -

Shade tolerance of N. American TDF trees

Slide 23 -

Periodicity of acorn production (note variable behaviour within and between oaks) Black oak White oak

Slide 24 -

Old-field succession (Northern hardwoods) Pioneer phase - 20 yr old stand of pin cherry (Prunus sp.) in S. Ontario. Bird dispersal.

Slide 25 -

Fire / old-field succession (mixed forests of the southeast) Oak - hickory (tulip tree, magnolia, dogwood) Pine (shortleaf/longleaf) weedy herbs Year 50 5

Slide 26 -

Modern forest fauna (N. America) Characteristic animals are now either herbivores (predominantly seed eaters) or omnivores. Herbivores: white-tailed deer, gray squirrel, chipmunk, blue jay (passenger pigeon - extinct). Omnivores: raccoon, opossum, skunk, black bear. Carnivores: (wolf, cougar, bobcat - all largely eliminated by hunting and habitat destruction; replaced by coyote)

Slide 27 -

Many northern temperate forest tree genera are widespread Quercus (oak) Acer (maple) Fagus (beech) Castanea (chestnut) Carya (hickory) Ulmus (elm) Tilia (basswood/linden) Juglans (walnut) Liquidambar (sweet gum) Liriodendron (yellow poplar) E N Am Europe E Asia X X X X X X X X X X X X X F X X X X X X X X X X X F X X F X X = extant; F = fossil

Slide 28 -

Biomes of the early Tertiary (~60 Ma)

Slide 29 -

Eureka Sound formation: Ellesmere Is*. Gymnosperms: Cedrus, Picea, Pinus, Tsuga Angiosperms: Acer, Betula, Carya, Corylus, Castanea, Fagus, Quercus Fauna: turtles, alligators, boid snakes, salamanders, tortoises *

Slide 30 -

Tertiary cooling and the temperate mesophytic forest southward retreat expansion fragmentation

Slide 31 -

Eurasian - North American temperate forest divergence (from genetic evidence) Xiang et al., 2000. Mol. Phylogenet. and Evol. 15, 462-472. Liriodendron chinense Liriodendron tulipifera (Magnoliaceae)

Slide 32 -

Pliocene fragmentation

Slide 33 -

Full-glacial refuges (R) and Holocene migrations R? R? R? R? White pine E. hemlock Oaks Elms

Slide 34 -

(=a x b) (a) (b) (c) (=a x c)

Slide 35 -

Rapid post-glacial migration: are seed-caching birds responsible? What role do they play in long-distance dispersal at present? Fagus grandiflora Quercus macrocarpa blue jay passenger pigeon

Slide 36 -

Postglacial fossil finds: passenger pigeon (dots) and blue jay (triangles )

Slide 37 -

Why is the European TDF depauperate? Quercus (oak) Acer (maple) Fagus (beech) Castanea (chestnut) Carya (hickory) Ulmus (elm) Tilia (basswood) Juglans (walnut) Liquidambar (sweet gum) Nyssa (sour gum) E N Am Europe E Asia X X X X X X X X X X X X X F X X X X X X X X X X X F X X F X X = extant; F = fossil

Slide 38 -

Late Quaternary dynamics (Europe) 13 000 yrs BP present

Slide 39 -

Recent species fluctuations: pest-pathogen effects on species dynamics (+ Dutch elm) Chestnut blight (1920-30) (Endothia parasitica) Hemlock looper? (Lamdina fiscellaria) What effects do these die-outs have on the success of competitors?

Slide 40 -

ppt slide no 40 content not found

Slide 41 -

Plant community structure as a function of topography and elevation in the Great Smoky Mountains

Slide 42 -

Plant community structure as a function of topography, substrate and disturbance frequency in Michigan

Slide 43 -

Disturbance and ecological succession Fire Wind Anthropogenic (forest clearance) Examine the roles of:

Slide 44 -

Natural disturbance: lightning-strike fires

Slide 45 -

Natural fire recurrence “from 1955 to 1994 only 5 years had records of lightning-set fire, with an average of 7 years between fires. Lightning strikes occurred on ridge tops and along xeric upper hillslopes (and) did not spread into lower sheltered coves or stream valleys.” Delcourt, H.R. & Delcourt, P.A. 1997. Conservation Biol., 11, p. 1010.

Slide 46 -

Natural disturbance: hurricane windthrow Erin (160) Dean (70) Alison (120) Jerry (65) Paths of tropical storms in 1995, and their maximum wind speed in km/h.

Slide 47 -

Natural disturbance: tornado windthrow Paths of F3-F5 tornadoes in USA: 1950-2005 Graphic: www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/

Slide 48 -

Windstorm disturbance: local and regional Tornado path (above: satellite image) and forest damage (below) in Menominee Reservation, Wisconsin, June 2007 Great Storm of 1987: 15 million trees blown over in southern Britain 90 knots = 170 km/h

Slide 49 -

Anthropogenic disturbance: agricultural clearance Intensive cultivation Extensive cultivation Woodland landscape (local disturbance) Woodland landscape (little disturbance) W Europe China N America Archaic (hunting, fire, nuts) Woodland (shifting cultivation) Mississippian European

Slide 50 -

Anthropogenic disturbance and forest remnants (Europe) Forest patches on steeper slopes and distant from villages

Slide 51 -

Clearing the forest primeval: northern England Roman Mesolithic (2000 BP) (8000 BP) Medieval Late Bronze Age (6000 BP) (4500 BP) www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/archaeologyandheritage/

Slide 52 -

Forest management: coppicing and charcoal production ~10,000 poles/acre baskets, farm implements, barrels, soap (from ash) Dried poles

Slide 53 -

Forest management: animal husbandry Pannage Right to feed pigs in the forest acorns, beechmast, sweet chestnuts

Slide 54 -

Or was the primeval forest “open”? Vera (2000) argues that the early forest was “open”, primarily based on these lines of evidence: palynology (lots of hazel pollen) abundance of oak (mid-successional species) presence of large herbivores (aurochs, bison, horses, etc.) Classical and medieval descriptions of “forestis”

Slide 55 -

Late Quaternary forest fauna (Europe)

Slide 56 -

The Vera hypothesis Should large grazers be re-introduced as a tool of forest management? Graphic: Mitchell, F.J.G. 2005. J. Ecol., 93, 168-177.

Slide 57 -

Testing the Vera hypothesis: distribution of European herbivores in early Holocene Mitchell, F.J.G. 2005. J. Ecol., 93, 168-177.

Slide 58 -

Testing the Vera hypothesis: pollen in small forest hollows Percent (mean ±1s) tree pollen in modern “forest-parkland” Ireland S. Sweden Mitchell, F.J.G. 2005. J. Ecol., 93, 168-177.

Slide 59 -

Fire regimes? Clark et al., 1989. J. Ecol., 97, 897-922. Data from southwestern Germany * *”Atlantic” in the Blytt-Sernander sequence Fires in mid-Holocene at ~250-yr intervals; successional sequence: Corylus avellana Ulmus (elm) (hazel) >> Quercus (oak) >> >> Fagus (beech) Fraxinus excelsior Tilia (lime) (ash)

Slide 60 -

If oak is a mid-successional tree, and natural fire is rare, why are oaks a dominant species in the TDF of the eastern USA? Source: Copenheaver, C.A., et al., 2006. Northeastern Naturalist, 13, 477-494. Tree and sapling diameters, Watertower stand, Fishburn Forest, VA Tree and sapling diameters, Radio Tower stand, Fishburn Forest, VA

Slide 61 -

Forest constancy because of anthropogenic fire? Delcourt, H.R. & Delcourt, P.A. 1997. Conservation Biol., 11, p. 1010. oak 4000 BP chestnut Euro-settlement Macon Co., N. Carolina

Slide 62 -

Indians as ecological agents in the forests of northeastern America In 1669 Galinée visited a Seneca village (in modern NY State). The village was in an agricultural clearing about 6km wide; Village sites were abandoned every 10-20 years as the soil became exhausted Forests near villages were burned each spring and fall to remove undergrowth and improve grazing for deer and elk. An Algonkian village Abstracted from: Day, G.M. 1953. Ecology, 34, 329-346.