Colonization Dynamics of Herbs and Shrubs in a Disturbed Northern Hardwood Forest

Modes of recruitment of herbs and shrubs, and the extent to which availability of propagules affected distribution of the various species after disturbance were examined in a field experiment of canopy removal at the Hubbad Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, U.S.A. The most common shrubs after canopy removal were Rubus idaeus and Viburnum alnifolium; the most common herbs were Aster acuminatus, Dennstaedtia punctilobula and Dryopteris spinolusa. All of the first-year recruitment or Rubus occurred through germination of buried seeds (...)