Structure and Dynamics of Cove Forests in the Great Smoky Mountains

Busing, Richard

From 1987 to 1992, trees were mapped in seven old-growth stands (0.6-1.0 ha plots) and two agricultural stands (0.1-0.6 ha plots) within coves of the northeastern Great Smoky Mountains. The old-growth stands had no evidence of catastrophic disturbance. The second-growth stands developed in fields abandoned ca. 1920. Old-growth sites tended to have higher levels of stand biomass, woody debris volume, large snag density, species equitability, tree size diversity, and gap size diversity. Second-growth stands had higher levels of net primary production and tree species richness. Over several decades, marked changes were apparent in the composition, structure, and diversity of second-growth stands, but not of old-growth stands. Small-scale (<0.1 ha) patch dynamics were inferred from the small patches formed by gap disturbances and by conspecific aggregations in old-growth stands. Although these individual patches may have changed rapidly, stand-level changes were gradual in the old stands. Thus the patch dynamics concept of a shifting-mosaic steady-state seems appropriate. Whether a true steady-state has existed at any spatial scale for old-growth cove forest composition is an unresolved issue, however. Further long-term research on these forests will contribute greatly to our understanding of changes in natural deciduous forests of the temperate zone.

Structure and Dynamics of Cove Forests in the Great Smoky Mountains

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