Woody vegetation along Smith Creek before and after outplantings

1
Woody vegetation along Smith Creek before and
after outplantings
Jon Kastendiek Department of Biology, James
Madison University
INTRODUCTION
Species composition of near-stream plantings
We censused the outplanted seedlings
approximately four months after planting. All
seedling were identified to species and numbered.
Those seedlings without leaves were placed in a
tentative dead category. (We recognize that
they may leaf out again and will census them
again this year.) Figure 2 presents the
relative abundance by species of the 1264
seedlings planted in the high diversity reaches
of the stream. With the exception of a higher
abundance of Red oak, there was a generally even
distribution among the species. The numbers of
seedlings ranged from 108 White Oak to 283 Red
Oak. Just less than 10 of the seedlings were
dead. Figure 3 presents the relative
abundance by species of the 1547 seedlings
planted in the low diversity reaches of the
stream. Aproximatelly equal numbers of Red Oak
and Green Ash were planted. While there were
seedlings of all species planted in these reaches
the total number of the other species was less
than 0.3 of all seedlings. Approximately 11 of
the seedlings were dead. It can be seen that
the outplanted seedlings represent a very
different species mix compared to that present
before. Red Oak, the most abundant outplant,
Alder, Red Maple, and White Oak are not present
on the creek and Green Ash (the second most
adundant outplant) and Hackberry are rare on the
creek. Only Sycamore is common to both the creek
and the outplanting.
We present an inventory of the existing woody
vegetation found along Smith Creek out to
10meters from its banks prior to the outplanting
of tree seedlings. All woody stems between 0.5
and 1.5 meters tall or greater than 1 cm dbh
(diameter at breast height) were measured. This
description of the woody vegetation will serve as
a baseline for future comparisons of the forest
community. We also present an inventory of
the outplanted tree seedlings planted in the
high density area where the seedlings were
planted approximately 12 feet apart. This area
follows the creek and extends to approximately 60
feet on either side of it. We report on the
species composition of the outplanted seedling in
two experimental configurations. To ask
questions about the impact of tree diversity on
forest succession and stream ecology, reaches of
the creek were categorized as either high
diversity or low diversity. There are three
replicate reaches of each diversity. High
diversity areas were planted with seven species
of trees Alder (Alnus serrulata), Green Ash,
(Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Hackberry (Celtis
occidentalis), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Sycamore
(Platanus occcidentalis), Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
and White Oak (Quercus alba). The low
diversity reaches were intended to be planted in
only Ash and Red Oak. Finally, as we are
interested in following the fates of the
outplanted tree seedlings along Smith Creek we
will present some of our current and future
research.

Relative species composition in high diversity
reaches
RESULTS
Woody vegetation before the planting
We found 261 woody plants along the six
experimental reaches of Smith Creek. Fifteen
species were represented (Table 1 Fig. 1.). We
have presented their abundance in each of four
size categories. Stems between 0.5 and 1.5
meters in height are called seedlings. Stems
between 1 cm dbh and 10 cm dbh are called
saplings. Small trees are those with stem
diameters between 11 and 49 cm dbh. Large
trees are those with stem diameters greater than
50 cm dbh. Seedlings were rare only 108 were
found. While seedlings of ten species were
found, most of them (80) were of a single
species, Redcedar. Redcedar dominated the
sapling size class as well (73). The species
distribution of small trees was broader but more
than half (61) were either Sycamore or Redcedar.
Sycamores dominated the large trees (84). The
thirteen largest trees were Sycamores, with six
of them having a dbh more than 100 cm. This
pattern of vegetation is typical of streams in
grazed areas where Sycamores are often left on
the streambanks and Redcedar is one of the first
trees to colonize grazed areas.
Fig. 2. The percent composition of the 1264
outplanted tree seedlings in the high diversity
reaches. Dead seedlings were those leafless at
the time of sampling.
Relative species composition in low diversity
reaches
Fig. 3. The percent composition of the 1547
outplanted tree seedlings in the low diversity
reaches. Dead seedlings were those leafless at
the time of sampling.
Table 1. The species of woody plants found along
Smith Creek. Seedlings are from 0.5 to 1.5 m
tall. Saplings are 1-10 cm dbh. Small trees
are 11-49 cm dbh. Large trees are greater than
50 cm dbh.

seedlings (total 108)
saplings (total 67)
Current and future research
We are interested in following the fate of the
outplanted trees. We are particularly
interested in the effects of deer browsing on the
survival and growth of the trees. The questions
are basically (1) do deer browse selectively on
one species of tree more than another? (2) does
deer browse effect the growth and survival of the
tree species differentially? And (3) at what size
are the trees immune to deer browse. With
respect to question 1 three JMU students gathered
preliminary data suggesting that deer were
selectively grazing on the trees and that choice
was affected by tree density. At high density,
Ash and Alder were preferred while Sycamore was
avoided. At low densities, however, Sycamore was
browsed. Hackberry suffered little browsing in
both densities. We will collect more data on
these patterns this year as more seedlings
outgrow their tubes and become exposed to
browsing. This summer we will also gather data
on the growth response to trees that were browsed
last year. The question is whether browsing
significantly slows growth of one species
compared to that of another. Of particular
interest is the response of oaks compared to
others. My previous research suggests that oak
are more sensitive to browsing in that losing an
apical meristem slows subsequent growth
greatly. The tube the seedlings are planted in
are four feet tall. When they grow and emerge
from the tube they are at a height vulnerable to
deer browse. I currently have a JMU student,
Chris Mausert-Mooney, conducting an experiment to
see if adding a plastic mesh collar to the
planting tubes making them a foot taller will
decrease deer browse as they grow out of the
tube. We are also interested in the interaction
between the tree seedling and the herbaceous
plants in the field. Myles Robinson, a JMU
student, performed a preliminary experiment where
he compared growth of seedlings with and without
herbaceous growth around them. He found that the
seedling grew more when the herbs had been
removed. We plan to repeat this experiment this
summer. Finally, we plan to set up a series of
permanent sampling areas in areas further away
from the stream in the areas were the trees were
planted approximately 20 feet apart. Such
permanent sites we give data to compare the
effects of density on tree growth and survival.
large trees (total 32)
small trees (total 54)
Fig. 1. The number of woody plants of the four
size classes (defined as above).