Bryophyte Community Response to Prescribed Fire and Thinning in Mixed-Oak Forests of the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau

Silvicultural treatments are applied to forests to meet a variety of management objectives including timber production and wildlife habitat management. However, such methods may also profoundly affect other non-timber forest resources and negatively impact biodiversity. Modern forest science has largely neglected the role of forest management activities on bryophytes; thus, we have little insight as to how bryophyte communities respond to stand level treatments. The goal of this investigation was to explore changes in mixed-oak forest bryophyte communities associated with the common silvicultural methods of prescribed fire and thinning. Study sites were within the design of the USDA Forest Service Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) Research Program located in three southeastern Ohio forests. Each of these forests contain four treatments: untreated control, prescribed fire only, thinning only, and combined prescribed fire and thinning. Bryophyte occurrence and associated environmental variables were estimated in five 2 × 5 m quadrats along nine linear transects stratified by an integrated moisture index (IMI) in each treatment. I found a total of 116 bryophyte taxa (97 mosses, 19 liverworts). Of these, only 65 were found in more than 5% of the transects. Burning in xeric sites clearly altered bryophyte community richness and composition as burned sites had a 50% 4 reduction in mean richness and a disproportionate decrease in corticolous species. Mesic moisture conditions appear to mitigate species loss and community change. Thinning strongly altered woody substrate availability; however, the increased availability of these substrates did not significantly alter the bryophyte community in relation to their abundance. The use of fire on xeric sites may have a profound long-term negative impact on bryophyte diversity. Thinning may have a multi-decadal legacy effect on bryophyte species that does not appear to significantly degrade the bryophyte community.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Plant Biology (Arts and Sciences)

Grantor dc:publisher

Ohio University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Wiley, John J., Jr.

Contributors dc:contributor

• McCarthy, Brian C.

• Botany
• Conservation
• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Environmental Studies
• Experiments
• Forestry
• Plant Biology
• Plant Sciences
• Statistics
• bryophyte
• forest
• fire
• thinning
• oak
• ANOVA
• substrate
• CWD
• moisture
• Ohio

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1357589299

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:ohiou1357589299