Biomass, net primary production and successional dynamics of a virgin white pine (Pinus strobus) stand in northern Michigan

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5830331

Rose, W M

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.), averaging 177 years in age, dominates the forests at Hartwick Pines State Park, Michigan, with a basal area of 48.4 m/sup 2//ha, 66.7% of the total. Its mean diameter and height were 58 cm and 36 m, respectively. Hartwick's total biomass, 681 mt/ha, and basal area, 72.6 m/sup 2//ha, are among the highest worldwide. However, total net primary production of trees was a relatively low 7.5 mt/ha/yr. Diameter and height distributions suggest that red maple, sugar maple and beech are succeeding white pipe. Seeding survivorship was greater in the gaps than under the canopy and greater during winter than summer. Sugar maple had the highest overall annual survival rate and red maple had the lowest. Deer browsing may retard succession. There was a significant increase in height and crown cover of unbrowsed maple seedlings because shoot length had not been reduced by browsing. Fewer white pine survived in unbrowsed areas. It was concluded that a possible successional series for this area, if uninterrupted by fire or other disturbance, would be: jack pine for the first 80 years, white pine for 170 years, white pine-northern hardwood for 200 years, hemlock-northern hardwoods for 200 years with maple dominated hardwoods following as a long term stable community. It is hypothesized that biomass would increase to a maximum when white pine dominated and then decrease when hardwoods assumed dominance.

• Research Organization: Michigan State Univ., East Lansing (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5830331
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
TREES
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
PRODUCTIVITY
BEECH TREES
BIOMASS
ECOLOGY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FORESTS
MAPLES
MICHIGAN
PINES
POPULATION DYNAMICS
CONIFERS
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ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION V
INFORMATION
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
PLANTS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
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