A reference-based approach for estimating leaf area and cover in the forest herbaceous layer

Cover data are used to assess vegetative response to a variety of ecological factors. Estimating cover in the herbaceous layer of forests presents a problem because the communities are structurally complex and rich in species. The currently employed techniques for estimating cover are less than optimal for measuring such rich understories because they are inaccurate, slow, or impracticable. A reference-based approach to estimating cover is presented that compares the area of foliar surfaces to the area of an observer’s hand. While this technique has been used to estimate cover in prior studies, its accuracy has not been tested. We tested this hand-area method at the individual plant, population, and community scales in a deciduous forest herbaceous layer, and in a separate farm experiment. The precision, accuracy, observer bias, and species bias of the method were tested by comparing the hand-estimated leaf area index values with actual leaf area index, measured using a leaf area meter. The hand-area method was very precise when regressed against actual leaf area index at the plant, population, and community scales (R² of 0.97,0.93, and 0.87). Among the deciduous sites, the hand area method overestimated leaf area index consistently by 39.1 % at all scales. There was no observer bias detected at any scale, but plant overestimation bias was detected in one species at the population scale. The hand-area method is a rapid and reliable technique for estimating leaf area index or cover in the forest herbaceous layer and should be useful to field ecologists interested in answering questions at the plant, population, or community level.Journal Articl

Twenty-five-year response of the herbaceous layer of a temperate hardwood forest to elevated nitrogen deposition

Increasing rates of atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) present a novel threat to the biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Many forests are particularly susceptible to excess N given their proximity to sources of anthropogenic N emissions. This study summarizes results of a 25-yr treatment of an entire central Appalachian hardwood forest watershed via aerial applications of N with a focus on effects of added N on the cover, species richness, and composition of the herbaceous layer. Research was carried out on two watersheds of the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF), West Virginia. The long-term reference watershed at FEF (WS4) was used as a reference; WS3 was experimentally treated, receiving three aerial applications of N per year as (NH₄)₂SO₄ totaling 35 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, beginning in 1989. Cover of the herbaceous layer (vascular plants ≤1 m in height) was estimated visually in five circular 1-m² subplots within each of seven circular 400-m² sample plots spanning all aspects and elevations of each watershed. Sampling was carried out in early July of each of the following years: 1991, 1992, 1994, 2003, and 2009—2014, yielding 10 yr of data collected over a 23-yr period. It was anticipated that the N treatment on WS3 would decrease species richness and alter herb layer composition by enhancing cover of a few nitrophilic species at the expense of numerous N-efficient species. Following a period of minimal response from 1991 to 1994, cover of the herb layer increased substantially on N-treated WS3, and remained high thereafter. There was also a coincidental decrease in herb layer diversity during this period, along with a sharp divergence in community composition between WS4 and WS3. Most changes appear to have arisen from unprecedented, N-mediated increases of Rubus spp., which are normally associated with the high-light environment of openings, rather than beneath intact forest canopies. These findings support the prediction that N-mediated changes in the herbaceous layer of impacted forests are driven primarily by increases in nitrophilic species.Journal ArticleFinal article publishe