Gradient Analysis of Floodplain Forests Along Three Rivers in Unglaciated Ohio

Distribution, composition, and orientation of down deadwood in riparian old-growth woodlands of Zoar Valley Canyon, western New York State, USA

“…In the eastern United States and the Great Lakes Region, bottomland hardwoods are perhaps the rarest type of old growth (Hedman and Van Lear, 1995;Frelich, 1995;Cowell and Dyer, 2002), so there have been few opportunities here to study riparian forest dynamics within the ecologically mature stages that are too often altered by timber harvest and/or land clearing (see Wistendahl, 1958;Lindsey et al, 1961;Roberston et al, 1978;Hardin et al, 1989). The Zoar Valley Canyon represents one of the most significant intact riparian zones in the Northeast, although its woodlands have been the subject of concerted ecological investigation for barely 5 years (Hunt et al, 2002;Diggins and Kershner, 2005;Diggins, 2005).…”

Our current understanding of the Upper Mississippi River System floodplain forest

“…The primary disturbance of the floodplain forest is flooding (Middleton, 1999), but other disturbances such as disease (Phillippe & Ebinger, 1973), sedimentation (Nanson & Beach, 1977), timber harvesting (Hardin et al, 1989), and fire (Nelson, 1997) are also important. Dunn & Stearns (1987b) stated that disturbances that lead to openings in the tree canopy may change species composition in the floodplain understory, although not independent of other environmental factors.…”

“…Abiotic factors such as the aeration of substrate due to soil components (Robertson et al, 1978;Bell, 1980;Dunn & Stearns, 1987a), the timing, frequency, and duration of flood disturbance (Middleton, 1999), fire (Nelson, 1997), and timber harvest (Hardin et al, 1989) determine the species composition of the central floodplain forest. Important biotic factors include the shade tolerance of tree species and the inter-and intra-species competition for light (Middleton, 1999).…”

Heterogeneity of the inland water–land palm ecotones (morichals) in the Orinoco lowlands, South America

“…In order to achieve this task, multivariate analysis of the data (Ter Braak and Prentice 1988) can provide adequate and suitable research means to assess the pattern of ecotones as a function of edaphic and climatic features. This analysis approach has been used to delineate plant communities and ecotones at different scales (Rochow 1972;Robertson et al 1984;Collins et al 1981;Hardin et al 1989;Hupp 1992;Nilsson et al 1994;Catterall et al 2001;Lyon and Sager 2002;Veneklaas et al 2005). As a consequence, although an increasing number of studies on inland water-land ecotones are being undertaken, the results are inconclusive.…”