The forests of presettlement New England, USA: spatial and compositional patterns based on town proprietor surveys

Abstract

Aim This study uses the combination of presettlement tree surveys and spatial analysis to produce an empirical reconstruction of tree species abundance and vegetation units at different scales in the original landscape.Location The New England study area extends across eight physiographic sections, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The data are drawn from 389 original towns in what are now seven states in the north-eastern United States. These towns have early land division records which document the witness trees growing in the town before European settlement (c. seventeenth to eighteenth century AD).Methods Records of witness trees from presettlement surveys were collated from towns throughout the study area (1.3 · 10 5 km 2 ). Tree abundance was averaged over townwide samples of multiple forest types, integrating proportions of taxa at a local scale (10 2 km 2 ). These data were summarized into genus groups over the sample towns, which were then mapped [geographical information system (GIS)], classified (Cluster Analysis) and ordinated [detrended correspondence analysis (DCA)]. Modern climatic and topographic variables were also derived from GIS analyses for each town and all town attributes were quantitatively compared. Distributions of both individual species and vegetation units were analysed and displayed for spatial analysis of vegetation structure. ResultsThe tally of 153,932 individual tree citations show a dominant latitudinal trend in the vegetation. Spatial patterns are concisely displayed as pie charts of genus composition arrayed on sampled towns. Detailed interpolated frequency surfaces show spatial patterns of range and abundance of the dominant taxa. Oak, spruce, hickory and chestnut reach distinctive range limits within the study area. Eight vegetation clusters are distinguished. The northern vegetation is a continuous geographical sequence typified by beech while the southern vegetation is an amorphous group typified by oak.Main conclusions The wealth of information recorded in the New England town presettlement surveys is an ideal data base to elucidate the natural patterns of vegetation over an extensive spatial area. The timing, town-wide scale, expansive coverage, quantitative enumeration and unbiased estimates are critical advantages of proprietor lotting surveys in determining original tree distributions. This historical-geographical approach produces a vivid reconstruction of the natural vegetation and species distributions as portrayed on maps. The spatial, vegetational and environmental patterns all demonstrate a distinct Ôtension zoneÕ separating Ônorthern hardwoodÕ and Ôcentral hardwoodÕ towns. The presettlement northern hardwood forests, absolutely dominated by beech, forms a continuum responding to a complex climatic gradient of altitude and latitude. The oak forests to the south are distinguished by non-zonal units, probably affected by fire. Although at the continental scale, the forests seem to be a broad transition, at a finer scale they respond to ...

Emerging forests on abandoned land: Puerto Rico’s new forests

“…The tree species present are the same today as in pre-colonial time, but species' abundances and distributions changed significantly (Table 4 in Fuller et al, 1998;Cogbill et al, 2002;Hall et al, 2002). The species combinations of today's forests differ from those in colonial forests (Foster et al, 1997), reflecting a landscape undergoing continuous human disturbance (Foster, 1992;.…”

Regeneration Responses to Management for Old-Growth Characteristics in Northern Hardwood-Conifer Forests

“…This could entail, for example, emulating-through various retention forestry techniques-the type of natural disturbances and stand development processes leading to the development of high biomass conditions [3,4]. Prior to European settlement, forests in the northeastern U.S. were dominated by relatively frequent, gap-forming and partial disturbances that created a finely patterned mosaic of successional conditions [5,6]. These were dominated by late calcium on poorly buffered soils and limit sugar maple growth in some areas, another factor that could favor beech over time [36].…”

Disassociating tree species associations in the eastern United States

“…Although complex terminology has fallen into disuse (due to "hopeless confusion" combined with "inadequate terminology" -Braun 1935), the term association, which is composed of a few genera or species that grow together, remains current, but also may be outdated. Further modifications of vegetation classifications tend to maintain Braun's associations, with the exclusion of oak-American chestnut (Castanea dentata), due to near extirpation of chestnut (e.g., Eyre 1980, Monk et al 1989, Dyer 2006.Oak and hickory species are one of the predominant associations throughout the eastern United States since at least 1898 (Pound & Clements 1898, Hanson 1922, Eyre 1980, Monk et al 1989, Dyer 2006, Tang & Beckage 2010, Pan et al 2011, Domke et al 2012, Elderd et al 2013). Originally, oakhickory associations may have specified Quercus rubra-Carya ovata forests present in Missouri and in other states near grassland ecosystems, but by 1914 oak-hickory associations had been generalized throughout eastern forests (Livingston 1903, Fuller 1914, Nichols 1914, Clements 1936.…”