scholarly journals Frequency-Dependent Seed Dispersal by Ants of Two Deciduous Forest Herbs

Ecology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 1645-1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent H. Smith ◽  
Catherine E. deRivera ◽  
Cara Lin Bridgman ◽  
John J. Woida
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Forest Herbs

Habitat may limit herb migration at the northern edge of the Appalachian deciduous forest *This paper is dedicated to our botanical mentor, the late Dr. Sam P. Vander Kloet.

Botany ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (9) ◽  
pp. 635-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Hill ◽  
David J. Garbary
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Soil Calcium ◽  
Forest Herbs ◽  
Migration Corridors ◽  
Habitat Factors ◽  
History Of ◽  
Calcium Magnesium ◽  
Northern Edge

Forest herbs account for greater species richness than any other plant type in deciduous forests and are the most vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. We examined whether the limited distribution of rare Appalachian forest herbs in Nova Scotia is related to edaphic specialization or a history of anthropogenic disturbance. Remnant populations are restricted to floodplain forest, where both habitat factors and disturbance history differ significantly from those of adjacent upland sugar maple forest. Contrasting soil and litter layers between floodplain stands and adjacent upland sites revealed the latter to be deficient in key cations (calcium, magnesium, boron); however, regression models for uplands and for floodplains showed that native herb richness was related to soil fertility in each case. Soil calcium accounted for most of the species richness variation among floodplains for native herbs and for a large seeded guild that contains most of the rare species on floodplains. Given the widespread anthropogenic decalcification of forest soils throughout eastern North America, conservation efforts must (i) increase and connect deciduous forest floodplain ecosystems and (ii) understand how to manage and create suitable cation-rich migration corridors in the forest landscape.

The morphology of vesicular – arbuscular mycorrhizae in Clintonia borealis and Medeola virginiana

1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Widden
Keyword(s):  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizae ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae ◽  
Forest Herbs ◽  
Vesicular Arbuscular ◽  
Innermost Layer ◽  
Inner Cortex

During a survey of the vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) associations of forest herbs in a deciduous forest in the southern Laurentian mountains in Quebec, two liliaceous species, Clintonia borealis and Medeola virginiana, revealed very distinctive morphology. In both species, once the epidermis was penetrated, the fungus spread towards the centre of the root via intracellular hyphae until the innermost layer of the cortex was reached, at which point the fungus spread laterally and tangentially through the cortical cells adjacent to the endodermis via a series of banana-shaped projections (bobbits). These eventually differentiated into the arbuscules and the VAM might spread from this inner cortical layer back into the outer cortical layers. In C. borealis, the hyphae coiled in the cortex, and vesicles were formed in the upper cortical cells. In M. virginiana, no coiling took place, but extensive diverticulae were produced by the intracellular hyphae in the cortical cells, close to their point of exit, and vesicles were produced in the inner cortex as swellings from the bobbits. These two mycorrhizae have some similarities to one in Colchicum autumnale described by I. Gallaud (1905. Rev. Gen. Bot. 17). Keywords: vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizae, Clintonia borealis, Medeola virginiana, Liliaceae, morphology.

Effects of simulated post-harvest light availability and soil compaction on deciduous forest herbs

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1753-1762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine J Small ◽  
Brian C McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Soil Compaction ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Eastern Deciduous Forest ◽  
Forest Herbs ◽  
Successional Species ◽  
Eastern Deciduous Forests

To better understand the response of eastern deciduous forest herbs to microenvironmental changes associated with logging, the effects of experimental light and soil compaction treatments were examined in six herbaceous plant species characteristic of varying successional stages. We found severe growth reductions and increased mortality of Osmorhiza claytonii (Michx.) C.B. Clarke, a shade-tolerant forest perennial, when grown in full sun and greater soil compaction. Deeply shaded conditions, similar to those beneath regenerating forests, resulted in reduced growth of early successional species such as Galium aparine L., and Eupatorium rugosum Houtt. Growth of other species such as Geum canadense Jacq., and Elymus hystrix L. appeared to increase in the patchy, intermediate light treatment mimicking mature eastern deciduous forests. Soil compaction caused severe reductions in height and biomass of Eupatorium rugosum and O. claytonii, early- and late-successional species, respectively. While harvested stands experience relatively uniform light environments, canopy gaps and sunflecks in mature eastern deciduous forests create heterogeneous light environments often correlated with recruitment, growth, and diversity of understory herbs. Therefore, management approaches that minimize alteration of forest environments and mimic natural disturbance patterns may be important to the maintenance and regeneration of forest herbs.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Dispersal of an Ornithocorous Cactus Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae) in a Patchy Environment

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica G. Pérez-Villafaña ◽  
Alfonso Valiente-Banuet
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Tropical Deciduous Forest ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Forest Patch ◽  
Phainopepla Nitens ◽  
Foraging Movements ◽  
Vegetation Patches ◽  
Disperser Effectiveness

Effectiveness of seed dispersal by different species that feed on the fruits of Myrtillocactus geometrizans was evaluated, considering both quantity and quality of dispersal, in a patch of tropical deciduous forest in Zapotitlán de las Salinas. Effectiveness was estimated to be strongly influenced by the post-foraging movements of the frugivores, leading us to suggest that the quality component of seed dispersal occupies a central role in the assessment of disperser effectiveness and to expect that dispersers that stay in the tropical deciduous forest patch after foraging would have highest effectiveness. Birds were the principal dispersers of M. geometrizans. This was particularly true of Phainopepla nitens, since this species showed a high fidelity within the tropical deciduous forest. These observations emphasize that it is important to determine the post-foraging habits of seed dispersers that may move across vegetation patches over the landscape in order to obtain a complete assessment of their role in Neotropical environments.

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