Abstract
Abstract We characterize structural variation of forests dominated by American beech (Fagus grandifolia) on Naushon Island, Massachusetts with respect to edaphic and environmental conditions, and describe dwarf beech forests that are rare throughout the eastern U.S. Age structure reconstructions and historical references confirm that dwarf beech stands have persisted in the study area for >100 y. Dwarf beech are characterized by extremely slow radial growth rates, with some individuals growing 25 y, and ages up to 200 y. In the most severely stunted stands, all beech stems are <2 m tall and <8 cm basal diameter. In contrast, adjacent tall-stature forests support beech trees of similar age that are 20–30 m tall and up to 70 cm diameter (at 1.4 m). Variation in vegetation structure is strongly related to topographic position and edaphic conditions. Dwarf stands occur on morainal knobs and ridges characterized by excessively-drained sandy soils and well-developed E-horizons; soil organi...
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