Colonization Dynamics of Herbs and Shrubs in a Disturbed Northern Hardwood Forest

Abstract

Modes of recruitment of herbs and shrubs, and the extent to which availability of propagules affected distribution of the various species after disturbance were examined in a field experiment of canopy removal at the Hubbad Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, U.S.A. The most common shrubs after canopy removal were Rubus idaeus and Viburnum alnifolium; the most common herbs were Aster acuminatus, Dennstaedtia punctilobula and Dryopteris spinolusa. All of the first-year recruitment or Rubus occurred through germination of buried seeds (...)