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Abstract
The forests of southern Indiana have been shaped and defined by anthropogenic disturbance. Native Americans influenced composition and structure through land clearing and burning, but the scale and rate of human disturbance intensified with European settlement. Sustained settlement led to the loss of forest land to agriculture and livestock grazing. Forests were also harvested to meet the needs of a growing population. The unglaciated hills of south-central Indiana proved unsuitable for agriculture, and during the Great Depression degraded lands were abandoned and ultimately incorporated into state and national forests. Today, forest cover has returned to these lands, but vegetation communities still bear the mark of centuries of human disturbance.
Parent Publication
Keywords
bats,
beetles,
birds,
Central Hardwoods,
experiment,
forest management,
human attitudes,
Indiana,
moths,
oak,
reptiles,
salamanders,
silviculture,
small mammals,
wildlife
Citation
Jenkins, Michael A. 2013. The history of human disturbance in forest ecosystems of southern Indiana. In: Swihart, Robert K.; Saunders, Michael R.; Kalb, Rebecca A.; Haulton, G. Scott; Michler, Charles H., eds. 2013. The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-108. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 2-11.
