Harvard Forest

Data Archive

HF019

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

Related Publications

Data

• hf019-01: 1995 data (preview)
• hf019-02: 1996 data (preview)
• hf019-03: quadrat-level data (preview)
• hf019-04: excavation data (preview)

Overview

• Lead: Kathleen Donohue, David Foster, Glenn Motzkin
• Investigators: Lonnie Williams, Elizabeth Zacharias
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: 1994
• End date: 1996
• Status: complete
• Location: Montague Plain (Montague MA)
• Latitude: +42.57 degrees
• Longitude: -72.52 degrees
• Elevation:
• Datum: WGS84
• Taxa: Gaultheria procumbens (winterberry)
• Release date: 2023
• Language: English
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.19.18
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Study type: short-term measurement
• Research topic: physiological ecology, population dynamics and species interactions; regional studies
• LTER core area: population studies, land use and land cover change
• Keywords: demography, land use, morphology, vegetation dynamics
• Abstract:

  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.

• Methods:

  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.

• Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

• Project: 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. (ROR).

• Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

• Use: 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.

• License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

• Citation: Donohue K, Foster D, Motzkin G. 2023. Demography and Morphology of Ericaceous Species on a Sand Plain in Montague MA 1994-1996. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF019 (v.18). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/9b4c11098c2d6d2ce81b88b8a5ba5dd9.

Detailed Metadata

hf019-01: 1995 data

1. site: site number (1-5)
2. type: scrub oak or hardwood site
   • HW: hardwood
   • SO: scrub oak
3. plow: powed or unplowed areas within each site
   • P: plowed
   • U: unplowed
4. transect: one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area
5. stem: one of up to 25 stems per quadrat
6. age: new stem, old stem with new growth, or old stem with no new growth
   • old: old stem
   • new: new stem
7. leaves: number of leaves on stem (unit: number / missing value: NA)
8. branch: number of branches (unit: number / missing value: NA)
9. deadlv: number of dead leaves (unit: number / missing value: NA)
10. deadbr: number of dead branches (unit: number / missing value: NA)
11. center: damage to the central stem
12. buds: number of flower buds (unit: number / missing value: NA)
13. flowers: number of flowers (unit: number / missing value: NA)
14. fruits: number of fruits (unit: number / missing value: NA)
15. abort: Number of aborted fruits (unit: number / missing value: NA)
16. herb: herbivory
17. newbr: number of new branches (unit: number / missing value: NA)
18. newleaf: number of new leaves (unit: number / missing value: NA)
19. frtscar: number of fruit scars (scars of fruits the previous year) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
20. note: notes
21. note1: notes
22. centht: height of central stem (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
23. leaf: length of largest leaf (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
24. onleaf: leaf age
    • n: new leaf
    • o: old leaf
25. matur: matur (unit: number / missing value: NA)
26. fruit: fruit (unit: number / missing value: NA)
27. height: if central stem is not the tallest, height of entire ramet (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
28. dead: dead/alive
    • 0: alive
    • 1: dead
29. note2: notes
30. note3: notes
31. note4: notes

hf019-02: 1996 data

1. date: date of recensus in 1996
2. 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
3. habitat: Scrub oak or hardwood habitat
   • HW: hardwood
   • SO: scrub oak
4. plow: plowed or unplowed
   • P: plowed
   • U: unplowed
5. transect: one of five quadrats along a 100m transect in each site in each plowed or unplowed area
6. plant: one of 25 focal individuals per quadrat
7. dead: alive or dead
   • 0: alive
   • 1: dead
8. newbr: new branch or old branch
   • 0: old branch
   • 1: new branch
9. bud: number of flower buds (unit: number / missing value: NA)
10. notes: notes

hf019-03: quadrat-level data

1. date: date of measurements
2. site: site number (1-5)
3. type: scrub oak or hardwood
   • HW: hardwood
   • SO: scrub oak
4. transect: one of five quadrats
5. plow: plowed or unplowed
   • P: plowed
   • U: unplowed
6. litter: hardwood leaves, pitch pine needles, or grass
   • grass: grass
   • leaf: hardwood leaves
   • lvs: hardwood leaves
   • ne: pitch pine needles
   • needles: pitch pine needles
7. sun: sun or shade
   • mstsun: mostly sunny
   • ptshd: part shade
   • shade: shady
   • sun: sunny
8. species: other species present in the quadrat
9. abund: abundance of each species in the quandrat, from 1 to 5; 5 being most abundant
10. new: number of new G. procumbens stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
11. newrep: number of new stems that are reproductive (subset of "new") (unit: number / missing value: NA)
12. newbud: number of flower buds on new stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
13. newfl: number of flowers on new stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
14. oldnew: number of old stems with new growth (unit: number / missing value: NA)
15. onrep: number of old stems with new growth that are reproductive (unit: number / missing value: NA)
16. onbud: number of buds on old stems with new growth (unit: number / missing value: NA)
17. onflwr: number of flowers on old stems with new growth (unit: number / missing value: NA)
18. onfrt: number of fruits on old stems with new growth (unit: number / missing value: NA)
19. onfrtsc: number of fruit scars on old stems with new growth (unit: number / missing value: NA)
20. old: number of old stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
21. oldfrt: number of fruits on old stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
22. oldftsc: number of fruit scars on old stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
23. senes: number of senescent stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
24. senfs: number of fruit scars on senescent stems (unit: number / missing value: NA)
25. percov: Percent cover of G. procumbens (unit: number / missing value: NA)
26. factor: factor to multiply counts by if subsampled (unit: number / missing value: NA)
27. 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
28. notes: notes
29. plmax: the maximum distance to which G. procumbens extended into the plowed areas (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
30. quadist: the distance of the quadrat from the plow boundary (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
31. 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
32. 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 (unit: number / missing value: NA)

hf019-04: excavation data

1. type: scrub oak or hardwood site
   • HW: hardwood
   • SO: scrub oak
2. site: site number
3. plow: plowed or unplowed
   • P: plowed
   • U: unplowed
4. transect: one of five quadrats in each site in each plowed or unplowed area
5. dist: distance from previous feature to current feature (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
6. feature: feature
   • br: rhizome branch
   • bu: bump
   • n: new stem
   • o: old stem
   • s: senescent stem
   • tu: turn in rhizome
   • wt: new growing tip
7. branch: branching pattern
8. 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
9. orient: angle in which rhizome is growing (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
10. depth: depth at which rhizome is growing (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
11. lefright: whether feature is on the left or right side of rhizome
12. brangle: branching angle of rhizome (unit: degree / missing value: NA)