We compared the initial effects of four forest regeneration treatments (single-tree selection, group selection, shelterwood, and clearcut), and unharvested controls (mature, second-growth forest) on relative abundance of small mammals and smallmammal habitat throughout the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. We compared small-mammal capture rates in 20 forest stands (4 ...

Human-induced changes of the environment and their possible impacts on temperate forest understory plant communities have been examined in many studies. However, the relative contribution of individual environmental factors to these changes in the herb layer is still unclear. In this study, we used vegetation survey data covering a time period of 21 years and collected from 143 permanent plots ...

Arctic ecosystems are characterized by a broad range of plant functional types that are highly heterogeneous at small (~1-2 m) spatial scales. Climatic changes can impact vegetation distribution directly, and also indirectly via impacts on disturbance regimes. Consequent changes in vegetation structure and function have implications for surface energy dynamics that may alter permafrost thermal ...

Even though many forest plants spend all or a significant portion of their lives in the forest understory, few studies have compared understory composition, structure, and resource availability among forests. We used standardized transect-based methods to compare small sapling densities (10–50 cm tall), understory vegetation cover, canopy openness, and nutrient availability in non-gap portions ...

Responses of understory plant diversity to nitrogen (N) additions were investigated in reforested forests of contrasting disturbance regimes in southern China from 2003 to 2008: disturbed forest (with harvesting of understory vegetation and litter) and rehabilitated forest (without harvesting). Experimental additions of N were administered as the following treatments: Control, 50 kg N ha(-1) yr...

The understory light environment is a key determinant of vegetation pattern and ecosystem processes, and varies spatially perhaps more than any resource used by plants. Understory light varies along gradients of vegetation structure that range from grassland with no woody canopy cover to forest with nearly complete woody canopy cover. Spatial variability in understory light is largely determine...

Prescribed fires are a powerful tool for reducing fire hazards by decreasing amounts of fuel. The main objective is to analyze the effects of prescribed burning on the understory vegetation composition as well as on the soil characteristics of a reforested stand of Pinus canariensis. The study attempts to identify the effects of the preburning treatment of cutting understory vegetation on the f...

Understanding the factors that influence the distribution of understory vegetation is important for biological conservation and forest management. We compared understory species composition by multi-response permutation procedure and indicator species analysis between plots dominated by Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia Kom.) and Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) in coniferous forests of...

Understory management in forest ecosystems has been applied to improve the wood production for hundreds of years worldwide. The carbon-physiological mechanisms underlying these positive effects of understory management on the growth of overstory trees have received less attention. We studied the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) and total nitrogen (N) concentrations in tissues (needles, stem sa...

Pao-Shen Huang, Hui-Chen Lin, I-Min Tso, and Chung-Ping Lin (2011) Effects of thinning on spider diversity in an East Asian subtropical plantation forest. Zoological Studies 50(6): 705-717. Studies examining the effects of forest management on biodiversity in Asia are scarce and conducted mostly in temperate areas. In this study, the effects of the management on the biodiversity of a subtropica...