| Autor: |
Van Auken, O. W., Bush, J. K., Taylor, D. L., Singhurst, J. R. |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society; Oct-Dec2023, Vol. 150 Issue 4, p525-537, 13p |
| Abstrakt: |
The area surveyed is part of the Edwards Plateau physiographic region in central Texas. It is mostly private property and includes isolated riparian and nonriparian deciduous woodlands. We searched for isolated deciduous woodland communities using satellite imagery and drone flights. Deciduous communities found were in deep canyons but not in riparian communities with physical positions similar to some isolated forests present in the southern Appalachian Mountains in North America. Eight communities were selected for ground surveys and had 16 overstory and 30 understory woody species. Surrounding the deciduous communities were Juniperus-Quercus woodlands (juniper-oak). Acer grandidentatum (Aceraceae, bigtooth maple) overstory density was 169 ± 73 plants/ ha (mean ± SD) and basal area was 9.6 ± 4.7 m2/ha, or 43% relative basal area. Quercus muehlenbergii (Fagaceae, chinkapin oak) and Quercus laceyi (Lacey oak) had the second and third highest basal areas at 6.1 ± 6.1 and 4.4 ± 7.4 m2/ha, or 25% and 18% relative basal area. Size-class distributions were examined to determine recruitment. Distributions had many juveniles, few to no saplings, and a few larger trees. Weibull comparisons suggested little or no replacement of adults of the mature deciduous community species. There was a bottleneck with few or no saplings entering the adult population. Recruitment could be highly episodic depending on fire or drought, but browsing pressure by Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer) seems to be the primary cause of lack of recruitment. Lack of recruitment would mean a loss of species and possibly all of these rare deciduous communities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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