Demography and Morphology of Ericaceous Species on a Sand Plain in Montague MA 1994-1996

<para>The study was a demographic analysis of Gaultheria procumbens conducted on the Montague Sand Plain. It compared the demographic parameters of above-ground stems between plowed and unplowed areas within scrub oak and hardwood sites. Past land use can have long-term effects on plant species distributional patterns if alterations in resources and environmental conditions have persistent effects on population demography ("environmental change") and/or if plants are intrinsically limited in their colonisation ability ("historical factors"). We evaluated the role of environmental alteration versus historical factors in controlling distributional patterns in Gaultheria procumbens (L.), a woody, clonal, understorey species with a pronounced restriction to areas that have never been ploughed and near absence from adjoining areas that were ploughed in the 19th century. The demographic study was conducted in scrub oak and hardwood plant communities on an extensive sand plain where it was possible to control for the effect of variation in environment prior to land use.</para> </section> </abstract> <keywordSet> <keyword>demography</keyword> <keyword>land use</keyword> <keyword>morphology</keyword> <keyword>vegetation dynamics</keyword> <keywordThesaurus>LTER controlled vocabulary</keywordThesaurus> </keywordSet> <keywordSet> <keyword>populations</keyword> <keyword>land use</keyword> <keywordThesaurus>LTER core area</keywordThesaurus> </keywordSet> <keywordSet> <keyword>Harvard Forest</keyword> <keyword>HFR</keyword> <keyword>LTER</keyword> <keyword>USA</keyword> <keywordThesaurus>HFR default</keywordThesaurus> </keywordSet> <intellectualRights> <section> <para>This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.</para> </section> </intellectualRights> <licensed> <licenseName>Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal</licenseName> <url>https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html</url> <identifier>CC0-1.0</identifier> </licensed> <distribution> <online> <url function="information">https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf019</url> </online> </distribution> <coverage> <geographicCoverage> <geographicDescription>Montague Plain (Montague MA). Coordinates based on WGS84 datum.</geographicDescription> <boundingCoordinates> <westBoundingCoordinate>-72.52</westBoundingCoordinate> <eastBoundingCoordinate>-72.52</eastBoundingCoordinate> <northBoundingCoordinate>+42.57</northBoundingCoordinate> <southBoundingCoordinate>+42.57</southBoundingCoordinate> </boundingCoordinates> </geographicCoverage> <temporalCoverage> <rangeOfDates> <beginDate> <calendarDate>1994</calendarDate> </beginDate> <endDate> <calendarDate>1996</calendarDate> </endDate> </rangeOfDates> </temporalCoverage> <taxonomicCoverage> <taxonomicClassification> <taxonRankName>genus</taxonRankName> <taxonRankValue>Gaultheria</taxonRankValue> <taxonomicClassification> <taxonRankName>species</taxonRankName> <taxonRankValue>procumbens</taxonRankValue> <commonName>winterberry</commonName> </taxonomicClassification> </taxonomicClassification> </taxonomicCoverage> </coverage> <maintenance> <description> <para>complete</para> </description> </maintenance> <contact scope="document"> <positionName>Information Manager</positionName> <organizationName>Harvard Forest</organizationName> <address scope="document"> <deliveryPoint>324 North Main Street</deliveryPoint> <city>Petersham</city> <administrativeArea>MA</administrativeArea> <postalCode>01366</postalCode> <country>USA</country> </address> <phone phonetype="voice">(978) 724-3302</phone> <electronicMailAddress>hf-im@lists.fas.harvard.edu</electronicMailAddress> </contact> <publisher scope="document"> <organizationName>Harvard Forest</organizationName> <address scope="document"> <deliveryPoint>324 North Main Street</deliveryPoint> <city>Petersham</city> <administrativeArea>MA</administrativeArea> <postalCode>01366</postalCode> <country>USA</country> </address> <phone phonetype="voice">(978) 724-3302</phone> <phone phonetype="fax">(978) 724-3595</phone> <onlineUrl>https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu</onlineUrl> </publisher> <methods> <methodStep> <description> <section> <para>Ten sites on the Montague sand plain were chosen for the study: five scrub oak sites, and five hardwood sites. Within each site, a 100m transect was established along the boundary between plowed and unplowed areas. At 20 m intervals along the land-use boundary in each site, a 1 m2 quadrat was established at a randomly chosen distance up to 50 m into the unploughed areas and up to the furthest distance at which G. procumbens occurred in formerly ploughed areas (always less than 50 m). Within each quadrat, we recorded the numbers of new stems, old stems with new growth, old stems, reproductive stems, flower buds, flowers and fruits. Up to twenty-five focal individuals were arbitrarily chosen and tagged within each quadrat. Age or stage (new, old with new growth, or old), number of flower buds, flowers, and fruits and survival over the growing season and over the following winter were recorded. These data permitted estimates of mortality over the course of one complete year. Collecting the same information for each quadrat and each tagged individual during a second year provided two seasons of data on standing stem density, stem recruitment, stem age or stage structure and reproductive success at the level of the individual and quadrat.</para> </section> </description> </methodStep> </methods> <project> <title>Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Harvard Forest

324 North Main Street Petersham MA 01366 USA

(978) 724-3302 (978) 724-3595 https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu https://ror.org/059cpzx98 pointOfContact The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210. hf019-01-1995.csv 1995 data hf019-01-1995.csv 176860 28d6460da4a9214caecdbaa682d52741 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p01/hf019/hf019-01-1995.csv site site number (1-5) site number type scrub oak or hardwood site HW hardwood SO scrub oak plow powed or unplowed areas within each site P plowed U unplowed transect one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area stem one of up to 25 stems per quadrat one of up to 25 stems per quadrat age new stem, old stem with new growth, or old stem with no new growth old old stem new new stem leaves number of leaves on stem number 1 whole NA missing value branch number of branches number 1 whole NA missing value deadlv number of dead leaves number 1 whole NA missing value deadbr number of dead branches number 1 whole NA missing value center damage to the central stem damage to the central stem buds number of flower buds number 1 whole NA missing value flowers number of flowers number 1 whole NA missing value fruits number of fruits number 1 whole NA missing value abort Number of aborted fruits number 1 whole NA missing value herb herbivory herbivory newbr number of new branches number 1 whole NA missing value newleaf number of new leaves number 1 whole NA missing value frtscar number of fruit scars (scars of fruits the previous year) number 1 whole NA missing value note notes notes note1 notes notes centht height of central stem centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value leaf length of largest leaf centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value onleaf leaf age n new leaf o old leaf matur matur number 0.1 real NA missing value fruit fruit number 0.1 real NA missing value height if central stem is not the tallest, height of entire ramet centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value dead dead/alive 0 alive 1 dead note2 notes notes note3 notes notes note4 notes notes 2086 hf019-02-1996.csv 1996 data hf019-02-1996.csv 77644 9fff45287b1190dd096859c0790e3367 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p01/hf019/hf019-02-1996.csv date date of recensus in 1996 YYYY-MM-DD site site Box hardwood #2 Eliz scrub oak #4 HW1 hardwood #1 InOut scrub oak #3 Marij hardwood #4 Old North hardwood #5 Scrubby hardwood #3 Skull scrub oak #5 SO1 scrub oak #1 SO2 scrub oak #2 habitat Scrub oak or hardwood habitat HW hardwood SO scrub oak plow plowed or unplowed P plowed U unplowed transect one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area plant one of 25 focal individuals per quadrat one of 25 focal individuals per quadrat dead alive or dead 0 alive 1 dead newbr new branch or old branch 0 old branch 1 new branch bud number of flower buds number 1 whole NA missing value notes notes notes 2067 hf019-03-quadrat.csv quadrat-level data hf019-03-quadrat.csv 132402 7a739ac24eba42dd7d2fcff2cbf73cf2 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p01/hf019/hf019-03-quadrat.csv date date of measurements YYYY-MM-DD site site number (1-5) site number type scrub oak or hardwood HW hardwood SO scrub oak transect one of five quadrats one of five quadrats plow plowed or unplowed P plowed U unplowed litter hardwood leaves, pitch pine needles, or grass grass grass leaf hardwood leaves lvs hardwood leaves ne pitch pine needles needles pitch pine needles sun sun or shade mstsun mostly sunny ptshd part shade shade shady sun sunny species other species present in the quadrat other species present in the quadrat abund abundance of each species in the quandrat, from 1 to 5; 5 being most abundant abundance new number of new G. procumbens stems number 1 whole NA missing value newrep number of new stems that are reproductive (subset of "new") number 1 whole NA missing value newbud number of flower buds on new stems number 1 whole NA missing value newfl number of flowers on new stems number 1 whole NA missing value oldnew number of old stems with new growth number 1 whole NA missing value onrep number of old stems with new growth that are reproductive number 1 whole NA missing value onbud number of buds on old stems with new growth number 1 whole NA missing value onflwr number of flowers on old stems with new growth number 1 whole NA missing value onfrt number of fruits on old stems with new growth number 1 whole NA missing value onfrtsc number of fruit scars on old stems with new growth number 1 whole NA missing value old number of old stems number 1 whole NA missing value oldfrt number of fruits on old stems number 1 whole NA missing value oldftsc number of fruit scars on old stems number 1 whole NA missing value senes number of senescent stems number 1 whole NA missing value senfs number of fruit scars on senescent stems number 1 whole NA missing value percov Percent cover of G. procumbens number 1 natural NA missing value factor factor to multiply counts by if subsampled number 1 natural NA missing value resample if no G. procumbens was present at the randomly chosen distance, a second random distance was chosen 0 original random distance had G. procumbens 1 original random distance had no G. procumbens and a second random distance was chosen notes notes notes plmax the maximum distance to which G. procumbens extended into the plowed areas meter 0.1 real NA missing value quadist the distance of the quadrat from the plow boundary meter 0.1 real NA missing value altern whether or not G. procumbens occurred at that point in the transect N G. procumbens occurred at that point in the transect, so an alternate transect point was required Y G. procumbens did not occur at that point in the transect, so a different transect point was assigned pmaxorig If no G. procumbens occurred at the transect point, then another point along the transect was chosen nearby. If a new transect point was taken, Pmaxorig = 0, indicating that G. procumbens did not extend into the plowed areas at the original transect point number 0.1 real NA missing value 1354 hf019-04-excavation.csv excavation data hf019-04-excavation.csv 74810 96676882df02cf663739dcbcaece54a8 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p01/hf019/hf019-04-excavation.csv type scrub oak or hardwood site HW hardwood SO scrub oak site site number site number plow plowed or unplowed P plowed U unplowed transect one of five quadrats in each site in each plowed or unplowed area one of five quadrats in each site in each plowed or unplowed area dist distance from previous feature to current feature meter 0.1 real NA missing value feature feature br rhizome branch bu bump n new stem o old stem s senescent stem tu turn in rhizome wt new growing tip branch branching pattern branching pattern how.end how the rhizome ended alive rhizome alive dead rhizome necrotic deadbroken rhizome broken and necrotic mammal rhizome broken and broken end is within a burrow obstructed rhizome obstructed and ceased growing orient angle in which rhizome is growing degree 1 whole NA missing value depth depth at which rhizome is growing centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value lefright whether feature is on the left or right side of rhizome whether feature is on the left or right side of rhizome brangle branching angle of rhizome degree 1 whole NA missing value 1981 community regional short-term measurement