Early Stump Sprout Development after Two Levels of Harvest in a Midwestern Bottomland Hardwood Forest

Abstract

Sprouting is an important source of regeneration for hardwood trees but has not been studied extensively in bottomland hardwood forests. We quantified the sprouting responses of 11 bottomland hardwood species or species groups after two levels of overstory harvest, including clearcutting with reserves (CCR) (residual basal area ∼2.0 m2/ha) and basal area retention (BAR) (residual basal area ∼8.0 m2/ha), in northern Missouri. The probability of sprout presence after one growing season decreased with increasing parent tree dbh for boxelder, river birch, hickories, hackberry, and American elm, as well as for eastern cottonwood and pin oak after three growing seasons. Harvest treatment affected the probability of sprout presence after three growing seasons for silver maple and American elm, with higher probabilities in CCR than BAR. After three growing seasons, height of the dominant sprout per stump was greater in CCR than in BAR across species. The sprouting probabilities and subsequent survival and growth of sprouts suggest that promoting coppice regeneration would favor silver maple, American elm, and American sycamore at the expense of oak species, river birch, and eastern cottonwood.