Mimicking natural mixed gap sizes reproduces primeval composition

Evidence

One of the general conclusions of these and similar studies is that to reproduce the original species composition of the northern hardwood forest region, it is necessary to use a mixture of selection cuts (of one or a few trees at a time) and larger patch cuts or clearcuts. Selection cuts favor tolerant species such as American beech, sugar maple, and eastern hemlock. Larger cuts favor relatively intolerant species such as yellow birch and tuliptree. This mixture of gap sizes is precisely the one that characterized much of the primeval forest. Another useful silvicultural system for this forest type is the shelterwood system, in which scattered trees remain after the first cut and are removed only when the sapling layer is established. The scattered trees help shade and protect the young saplings. This system seems similar to damage by mildly severe natural windstorms or to glaze storms in which scattered trees are left standing. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 262

Categorization

• XREF: The finding that management must mimic the natural disturbance regime echoes the additive disturbance-regime principles from earlier chapters and is a direct reference point for landscape interpretation. — connects to: Tolerant and intolerant species partition by required gap size — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 232