The Ross Biological Reserve represents an old growth forest that has been untouched and allowed to progress through the stages of succession since 1949. Prior to 1949 the reserve was a cattle and sheep grazing field adjacent to a small tree stand on the Wabash river, and after its establishment the trees were allowed to reestablish to measure succession. Since 1949, a census has occurred every ten years to measure the rate of succession and the related species biomass, and the reserve is currently a completely closed canopy ecosystem.
The Ross Biological Reserve is typical of Midwest oak hickory hardwood forests that has not been disturbed for nearly 80 years. Over the past 70 years over twenty species have been inhabited the reserve, but five species have shown great increases since 1980, Acer sccharum, Liriodendron tulipifera, Ulmus americana, Ulmus rubra, and Celtis occidentalis.
The historical census included measurement of diameter at breast height (DBH) measurements of every tree greater than 10 cm diameter and at least 1.3 m tall. Prior to 1979, we have only total stem counts and species abundances, but starting in 1979 we also have detailed spatial data of tree locations. Starting in 2019, the census will begin to sample saplings greater than 1 cm at breast height following the Smithsonian ForestGEO methods.
Results/Conclusions
Previous data of the reserves shows an increase of successional species, like Acer saccharum, which has constituted the largest increase of species distribution since 1949. The increase of Acer saccharum has increased with greater amounts of understory shade, and negatively effecting the distribution of Cornus florida, (Pierce et al. 20018). The last 80 years have also seen a rise in invasive shrubs such as honeysuckle and Russian olive, and a variety of pests that are severely reducing the abundance of trees like elm, and ash. I will discuss patterns in community structure over the last 70 years.
By understanding forest dynamics at the Ross Biological Reserve, better forest management and conservation may be enabled in the Midwest. Additionally, this project is important in regard to long term tree studies, having few been conducted, and none so specifically in the Midwest. This allows researchers to strengthen their understanding about understudied slow growth and long lives trees compared to smaller botanical organisms.