Above- and below-ground effects of aspen clonal regeneration and succession to conifers

Above- and below-ground characteristics were measured and compared for six sets of paired trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clones on the Fishlake National Forest in central Utah. Three self-regenerating clones were compared with three non-regenerating clones and three pure aspen stands w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCanadian journal of forest research Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 739 - 745
Main Authors Shepperd, W.D, Bartos, D.L, Mata, S.A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ottawa, Canada NRC Research Press 01.05.2001
National Research Council of Canada
Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Above- and below-ground characteristics were measured and compared for six sets of paired trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clones on the Fishlake National Forest in central Utah. Three self-regenerating clones were compared with three non-regenerating clones and three pure aspen stands were compared with three mixed aspen-conifer stands. Regenerating clones had dense understories of younger aspen stems, which were not present in non-regenerating clones. Regenerating clones also had greater numbers of roots and greater total root surface area than non-regenerating clones. Aboveground biomass and growth of the aspen in mixed stands was less than that of pure stands. A corresponding difference in aspen root mass was not apparent, indicating that the decline of aspen in mixed stands had not yet affected the root system. Conifer height and basal area growth rates were clearly greater than those of aspen, suggesting that aspen will eventually disappear from these forests in the absence of stand-reinitiating disturbances.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0045-5067
1208-6037
DOI:10.1139/x01-001