Rachel O'Malley
Please forward, post, and announce: The Department of Environmental Studies at
San José State University is pleased to invite you to join us for a public research presentation:
Assessing the Potential of Redwood-Associated Understory Species as Indicators of Forest Recovery
WED. NOV. 2, 2016, 1:30 pm, Washington Square Hall, Room 111
Assessment of coast redwood forest recovery following timber harvest has traditionally focused on arboreal metrics such as tree size, density, and dominance. While these variables are important to consider, they do not provide a complete picture of the successional trends within a forest stand. Monitoring the abundance of associated understory herbaceous species may provide additional metrics for use by conservation organizations in assessing the effectiveness of various management alternatives. The percent cover of individual herbaceous understory species, along with canopy cover, basal area, and stand density, were recorded across a chronosequence of naturally recovering second-growth stands in the central range of the coast redwood forest. Four understory species exhibited linear correlations with both the relative dominance of Sequoia sempervirens and years since harvest, suggesting that they were associated with coast redwood, and sensitive to disturbance in the form of timber harvest. Trillium ovatum (western wake robin) proved to be the most closely associated with redwood dominance as well as the strongest predictors of years since harvest, while Oxalis oregana (redwood sorrel), Viola sempervirens (redwood violet), and Asuram caudatum (wild ginger) were significantly, though less strongly, correlated. T. ovatum also exhibited a negative correlation with stand density and positive correlation with canopy cover, indicating a parallel trend with traditional measures of stand recovery. However, while Trillium appears to be negatively associated with disturbance in the form of logging, it was found to be positively associated with disturbance in the form of hiking trails!
L I G H T R E F R E S H M E N T S P R O V I D E D . A L L A R E W E L C O M E .