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Abstract
Herbaceous vegetation was inventoried in 1992 and 1993 in eight Appalachian mixed hardwood stands (< 50% basal area/acre in oak species) and eight oak stands (> 50% basal area/acre in oak species) in north central West Virginia. Vegetation was sampled on 20 6-foot radius plots per stand twice each growing season (once during late spring to sample spring ephemeral species, and later in mid summer). Stand disturbance prior to herbaceous sampling included 1) a silvicultural thinning (8 stands) in the winter/spring of 1990, and/or 2) moderate to heavy gypsy moth defoliation (6 stands) in 1990 and 1991. Most overstory mortality occurred within three years of the first defoliation. By the fall of 1993, residual overstory basal area ranged from 30 - 74 ft² / acre for (3) thinned, defoliated stands; from 38 - 66 ft² / acre for (3) unthinnd, defoliated stands; from 78 - 104 ft² / acre for (5) thinned, undefoliated stands; and from 117 - 132 ft² / acre for (5) unthinned, undefoliated stands.
Parent Publication
Citation
Fosbroke, S. L. C.; Feicht, D.; Muzika, R. M. 1995. Herbaceous vegetation in thinned and defoliated forest stands in north central West Virginia. In: Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Fosbroke, Sandra L. C., ed. Proceedings, 10th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; 1995 March 5-8; Morgantown, WV.: Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-197. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. p.542
