Southern Research Station

Title: Influences of Elevation on Overstory Species Composition in an Old-Growth Bottomland Hardwood-Loblolly Pine Forest in Southern Arkansas

Author: Grell, Adrian G.; Shelton, Michael G.; Heitzman, Eric

Date: 2004

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS¨C71. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 528-530

Description: Elevation was quantified in a 16.2-ha southern Arkansas bottomland forest using surveying equipment and survey-grade GPS units. Six 500-m² plots were established in each of three 0.5-m elevation classes. Species and d.b.h. were determined for all trees ¡Ã�9.1-cm d.b.h. Species importance values were calculated by plot. Twenty-four environmental characteristics were collected on site, as were soil physical, soil moisture, and soil chemical factors in the summer of 2002. The Kruskal-Wallis test of group comparisons was used for direct gradient analysis, and nonmetric-multidimensional scaling (NMS) was used for indirect gradient analysis. The direct gradient analysis identified that 30 percent of overstory species and 70 percent of environmental variables significantly differed by elevation. NMS revealed that elevation and a host of other variables were correlated to species occurrence.

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Citation

Grell, Adrian G.; Shelton, Michael G.; Heitzman, Eric  2004.  Influences of Elevation on Overstory Species Composition in an Old-Growth Bottomland Hardwood-Loblolly Pine Forest in Southern Arkansas.   Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS¨C71. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 528-530