Do Appalachian Herbaceous Understories Ever Recover from Clearcutting?
Duffy DC and Meier AJ. 1992. Do Appalachian Herbaceous Understories Ever Recover from Clearcutting?. Conservation Biology. 6(2)
Nine old-growth forests were compared with nine area that had been clear-cut 45 to 87 years previously. The amount of understory and the number of species were less in all the secondary sites by considerable percentages. Three possible answers were suggested; one, that understory recovery takes longer than 87 years; two,that recovery is impossible, as climatic conditions have changed; three, that recovery depends upon the maturation, death, and decay of the overstory. The suggestion is that several centuries may be required for complete recovery.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Duffy, David; Meier, Albert
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM-00551, GRSM-00999, Logging, North Carolina, Old-Growth Forest, Plant Studies, Plots, Recovery, Tennessee