ABSTRACT A former chestnut stand up...

ABSTRACT

A former chestnut stand upon the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee was sampled in 1952/53 1979 and 2000 The site was clear-cut in 1921/22 and has remained unburnt and relatively undisturbed. Chestnut stubs are present, but sprouts are not. Liriodendron tulipifera remained important in the canopy since 1952/53 Acer rubrum and A. saccharum increased in the canopy, if it were not that only A. rubruin did in this way in the subcanopy. Quercus rubra/velutina increased in the canopy, and decreased in the subcanopy. Shade-intolerant (Juglans nigra, Liquidambar styraciflua, Ulmus rubra, Fraxinus americana) and shade-tolerant (Tilia americana, Aesculus flava) species declined, perhaps proper to absence of large-scale disturbance emergencyed for regeneration. Juglans cinerea and Cornus florida were impacted by way of fungal pathogens. Although J. cinerea was an important replacement species, no individuals are commonly present. Cornus florida is not away in the canopy, but not in the subcanopy. Lindera benzoin and Viburnum acerifolium increased, apparently in answer to C. florida's decline.

INTRODUCTION

The American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.] was one time a dominant (or codominant) species in forest communities of eastern North America. The natural range of the American chestnut augmented from Maine to Michigan and southern to Mississippi and Georgia, encompassing from one side of to the other approximately 80 million ha. The species accounted for about 25% and in any instances 40%, of the standing timber in more [i]or[/i] less stands of the eastern deciduous forest (Keever 1953 Kuhlman 1978 Russell 1987) These rapidly growing tree could attain a height of 37 m and a diameter of 2 m (Wood and Shanks 1959) American chestnut tree had prolonged straight, branch-free boles up to 15 m in fulness The characteristics of the body and the decay resistance of the timber-land attributed to high tannin of the same heights made the species a valuable timber tree used for various construction views The tannin extracted from the bark and grove was important in the leather industry. The fruit of the tree had a fine, sweet flavor, making it a highly prized item for the two humans and wildlife. Moreover, the fruit was a much-need cash first stomach for many Appalachian families (Beattie and Diller 1954; Rice et al. 1980; Anagnostakis 1987 1995)

In 1904 a fungus [Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr) Barr] was discovered onward American chestnut trees in the strange York Zoological Garden by forester Herman Merkel The fungus had noteed the United States on an Asian species of chestnut (Castanea crenata Sieb. & Zucc) which was imported in an attempt to crossbre and improve the quality of the native chestnut (Anagnostakis 1987 1995) The [i]faux pas[/i] of this endeavor was at so early an hour realized as the fungus rapidly spread. Foresters tried to manage the fungus by pruning, cutting, and spraying, if it be not that all attempts failed. Within half a hundred years the chestnut had virtually disappeared from the eastern deciduous forest (Beattie and Diller 1954 Anagnostakis 1987) Today, remnants of the American chestnut can be ground as understory sprouts. Occasionally, a large specimen may be observ if it be not that it rarely survives to the fruiting stage, virtually eliminating sexual reproduction from populations (Paillet 1993) The plumules usually become infected before attaining a dbh (diameter at breast height) of 15 cm (Jaynes and Elliston 1982)

The introduction of C parasitica changed the composition and formation of the eastern deciduous forest dramatically as other species of tree replaced chestnut in areas formerly dominated (or co-dominated) by this tree The regaining of forests following the removal of chestnut has been examined in several physiographic provinces (sensu Fenneman 1938): low-spirited Ridge (Aughanbaugh 1935; Keever 1953; Nelson 1955; forest-lands and Shank 1957, 1959; Day and Monk 1974; Karban 1978; Johnson and Ware 1982; Busing 1989) Ridge and Valley (Korstian and Stickel 1927; Aughanbaugh 1935; Thor and Summer 1971; Skeen 1973; Stephenson 1974 1986; Shugart and West 1977; McCormick and Platt 1980; Agrawal and Stephenson 1995) Allegheny Plateaus (Aughanbaugh 1935 Mackey and Sivec 1973) and fresh England (Korstian and Stickel 1927 virtuous 1968). The majority of these studies have focused onward forests that were mapped in the oakchestnut region of Braun (1950) However, American chestnut also was an important member in any association segregates (communities) of the mixed mesophytic forest. forward the Cumberland Plateau of the Appalachian Plateaus Province, the species was more prominent in the gorges than the upland (Aughanbaugh 1935 Braun 1950 Caplenor 1965 Hinkle 1989 Hinkle et al. 1993)

The forests in the gorges of the Cumberland Plateau and elsewhere have been enslaveed to several other impacts since the chestnut blight, eg dogwood anthracnose, butternut canker, and oak decline (Hoffard et al. 1997) Cornus florida has experienceed due to the introduction of a fungus: Discula destructiva Redlin, the cause of dogwood anthracnose (Daughtrey and Hibben 1994) juglans cinerea is being killed quite through its range by butternut canker, caused at the introduced fungus Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum Nair, Kostichka & Kuntz (Ostry 1997 Furnier et al. 1999) Lastly, the decline oiQuercus spp has been hinted to be caused by disease, dryness fire suppression, and/or differential herbivory (Abrams 1998 McDonald et al. 2002)