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Yasmin Pannell
10-22-2023
Decidous Forest Succession
Guided Lab Report
Average Population of Oak Tree’s
Yasmin Pannell, Laurynn Lovan, Sydney Pottebaum, Kyarra Sweeney, Section 2
The study of deciduous forest succession aims to create an age-distribution plot that
shows the number of trees of the dominant oak species in various age classes. This research was
conducted in an Iowan forest located in Story County. The trees were measured using DBH
tapes, and the section of trees was separated within 50 meters of each other. The age structure of
a community of plants can tell us about the type of trees that are in the process of succession,
how old they are, if their population is recruiting, or if it will eventually disappear. In Iowa's
deciduous forest, red and white oaks will have a higher average population of older trees and a
lower population of seeding and saplings compared to maples. To conduct the research, 50
meters of land with oak trees, saplings, and seedlings were measured out in the forest. Within
this 50-meter range, the area was split evenly, and another 50 meters of land was measured going
in the horizontal direction of the initial 50 meters. In the provided area, the trees, seedlings, or
saplings were measured, counted, and identified by type and age. The trees were measured using
DBH tapes instead of coring. The data collected showed that there were 5 Oak seedlings and 290
Black Maple seedlings. The reported age range for Oak trees was 24-114 years old, while Black
Maple ranged from 2-101 years old. The data collected proves that Black Maple trees have a
much wider age range than Oak trees. Therefore, the Black Maple tree is recurring and in
secondary succession.
Looking further into Vegetation science concepts I. Initial Floristic Composition,
A Factor in Old-field Vegetation Development by Frank E. Egler (1954), “ a 50-year old field
succession is a matter of vegetation for one concerned solely with that particular lifetime; but
viewed within a framework of a millennium and a flickering agriculture, the succession appears
as a physiologic vegetation-process within the larger whole.” (pg. 412) This shows that when
Egler is talking about succession the data taken is part of a bigger whole of vegetation process.
The process can last very long over a period of hundreds of years. Taking any matter of records
for a shorter period of time can help with understanding what will happen to the area in the
future. This can help with determining if the vegetation will die or off or flourish in an area.
Following this citing studies by Clair L. Kucera (1952), An Ecological Study of a Hardwood
Forest area in Central Iowa, and Abrams (1992) while looking into Oak trees and their decline.
Moving further into Kucera (1952), a forest area to flourish has many standards taken into
consideration. These considerations are “maximum temperatures of air and soil surface,
evaporation rates, moisture between open woods during the dry month and if the trees can
survive over this period of time, the beneath zone of surface accumulations in the respective
profiles” (pg.297).
This article shows that trees can live for a very extended period of time
however there are many factors that participate to support their life this is evidence to support the
hypothesis that there are more Maple trees than Oak. Talking more about why we tend to have
fewer oak trees reading Fire and the Development of Oak Forest by Marc D. Abrams. “Climate
change, logging, animal and inset grazing, and disease, have affected the dominance of oak”
(Vol42. No.5).
One method used in this field experiment was counting meters to find the calculated
amount of meters lost due to a stream, using the DBH, and calculating the ages of trees using the
DBH. The method for calculating the land lost is in our lab we noted that the stream cut off 15
meters of our sample location. This left us with 10 by 35 meters worth of land area to work with
and count our samples. Using the DBH we learned that taking the measurement will not always
be precise due to human error or tool disfunctions. However, when using the tool we should
measure from the starting zero and count from there. Along with that, acquiring a number from
the DBH and counting how many years it would be from the amount of centimeter width it is.
The results from this lab are 8 different full-grown trees that consist of 3 Maple trees and
5 oak trees. The oaks overall have a bigger diameter in centimeters compared to the maple trees.
However, there are significantly more maple seedlings and saplings compared to trees. There are
40 seedlings and 17 saplings of maple trees; 5 seedlings and 0 saplings of the oak tree. This
proves that there are more maple trees in the forest than oak trees but oak trees have been there
longer. We can determine this by looking at the measurements. There were 3 maple trees with the
range of 9.1-20.2 and 5 oak trees with the range of 39.5-62.7. The bigger the width the longer the
trees had lived. Furthermore, The maple trees are taking over and the maple trees are in primary
succession taking over oaks secondary secession.
Species
DBH(cm)
species
# of seedlings &
saplings
Maple
12.5
Maple
40 seedlings, 17
saplings
oak
62.7
Oak
5 seedlings, 0
saplings
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Oak
46.3
Oak
48.1
Maple
20.2
Oak
39.5
Maple
9.1
Oak
48
White and Red Oak trees on average have higher, older trees and a lower
population of seeding and saplings compared to maple trees in an Iowan deciduous forest.
This hypothesis is backed up by evidence conducted in the experimental study. Our study
has evidence that supports the claim that the oak trees on average are older than the
maple trees. This experiment also shows that there on average are more maple trees than
oak trees overall. Compared to the provided cited literature my hypothesis is supported
by their claims as well. There are fewer oaks than maples due to many factors and this
process will extend over a long period of time. The age structure data tells us that oak
trees are slowly disappearing. In the next 100 years, the forest will continue to
repopulation maple trees. In the Iowan forest today the process of the Maple trees
repopulating much more than Oak trees has already started and will proceed into the
future.
This study could have been improved if the experimental area wasn't next to an
area. The stream did take a lot of conducted area away from the total samples. There
could also be a human arrow when counting and measuring with teh DBH tool.
Misscounting is very common in this experimental process and overlapping too much on
the tool did also occur as well. Moreover, over time if the maple tree begins secondary
succession, then can the oak tree start with primary succession again even in secondary
session now?
Abrams, M. D. 1992. Fire and the development of oak forests. BioScience 42:346-353.
Bonham, C. D. 1989. Measurements for Terrestrial Vegetation. Wiley, New York, NY.
Egler, F. E. 1954. Vegetation Science Concepts. I. Initial Floristic Composition, a factor in old-
field vegetation development. Vegetatio 11:412-417.