Abstract
Abstract This study was initiated to document forest development in the oldest natural area in the Ridge and Valley of east Tennessee. The Ijams Nature Reserve was established in 1910 and provided the opportunity to document secondary succession of the oldest upland forest reserve in the region. We established forest inventory plots in the original land holding of the Ijams family to quantify species composition, stand structure, and successional dynamics. We also analyzed the radial growth patterns of trees to document stand age, recruitment, and the disturbance regime of the reserve. The forest was dominated by Quercus alba and Liriodendron tulipifera while Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia had high densities in the understory. Liriodendron tulipifera was the most important species in the stand because it colonized the site following agricultural abandonment and subsequently established in small canopy gaps. The stand had a reverse J-shaped diameter structure typical of regenerating forests. The fore...
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