Tornado effects on damage, resprouting and spatial heterogeneity in the Cross Timbers ecotone of Oklahoma, USA

Abstract

Aims In order to better understand how tornados structure the ecotone between eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie, we sampled trees in a recent tornado blowdown area and in the adjacent undisturbed forest. Both are part of the Cross Timbers ecotone of Osage County, Northeastern Oklahoma, USA. Methods We set up a 1-ha square plot in each area and sampled all tree stems at least 50 cm tall where stems were identified to species and measured for size and spatial location in both plots. For the stems in the blowdown plot, we also scored damage and resprouting. We then used the spatial location data to compute the spatial heterogeneity and degree of clumping in both areas. Important Findings Significant clumping was observed in the control forest at the small spatial scale of 1–8 m and at the medium spatial scale of 30–36 m. The blowdown area: showed domination by post oak (Quercus stellata) with small stems, branch damage and stem resprouting above 1 m most common; had no trees that either lost their leaves without branch or stem damage or lived without some sort of resprouting, had a significant negative correlation between damage and resprouting and clumped only at small spatial scales for stems of medium size, for stems with branch damage and for stems that resprouted at or below 1 m height. We conclude that in addition to largely eliminating a forest’s spatial heterogeneity, tornados may also structure this ecotone by increasing tree persistence through resprouting.