Understory standing crop biomass was studied on three culturally imposed microsites (bed, furrow, and flat) bedded slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantations in north Florida. Biomass was clipped in the late spring of 1977 on plantations 2, 5, and 10 years old and separated into five classes: grass, forb, sedge, shrub, and litter (including standing dead). After an initial abundance following site preparation, sedges and forbs dropped to relatively low levels within the first 5 years of plantations development. Grasses were the dominant live vegetation in two-year-old plantations. Shrubs became dominant by the fifth year and remained so through the 10th year. Litter, as a result of the lack of cultural treatments designed to remove accumulated dead vegetation, was the major biomass class (more than 8,000 kg/ha by the fifth year following pine establishment). Total live understory biomass increased from the second to the fifth year after which it decreased. Grass standing crop biomass was highest on the flats, lowest in furrows. Hence, forage inventories should be stratifled by microsite. Prescribed burning on a properly managed cattle operation may prevent high accumulations of litter while effectively improving the availability of palatable forage. Forage may also be increased by decreasing the proportion of land occupied by the less productive microsites, namely the furrows and beds. Forest management in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains relies heavily on mechanical site preparation (e.g., chopping, disking, and bedding) and artificial regeneration for successful establishment and rapid growth of pines (Worst 1964; Wilhite and Harrington 1965; McMinn 1969; and Harris et al. 1974). Bedding (Fig. 1) disturbs the soil and litter more than most other site preparation techniques, and it creates three distinct microsites: (1) bed or tree row; (2)furrow created by the bedding plow; and (3)flat midway between tree rows (White 1975). The furrow is most altered. The bedding plow removes top soil and leaves a relatively infertile subsoil. The bed is also highly disturbed, with organic matter and nutrients from the furrow concentrated on this microsite (Schultz 1976). The microsite midway between tree rows is little disturbed by bedding and closely represents the conditions of thc site before bedding. Bedding not only changes the microtopography from flat to undulating (Schultz and Wilhite 1975), but also brings about a vegetational response reflecting the different conditions of the three microsites (White 1975). The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in understory biomass among these culturally imposed microsites in bedded slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantations of various ages near Gainesville, Florida. Authors are, respectively, consultant in range ecology, 5275 Southwest 63rd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33155 and formerly graduate student, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida; senior environmental engineer, Environmental Quality Department, Utah International Inc.; and research forester, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, U.S. Forest Service, Gainesville, Florida 32611. This paper is Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. 1847. Guidance by Dr. Larry D. White during planning and installation of this study, assistance by Container Corporation of America with field installations and historical records, and helpful comments by an anonymous referee are gratefully acknowledged. Manuscript received July 5, 1979. 3 2 1 2 3
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Jan 2, 2019
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