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N. S. Nicholas, S. M. Zedaker, C. Eagar, F. T. Bonner, Seedling Recruitment and Stand Regeneration in Spruce-Fir Forests of the Great Smoky Mountains, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 119, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1992), pp. 289-299
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Nicholas et al. (1992) studied this question.
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