Effects of Whole-Tree Harvesting on Species Composition of Tree and Understory Communities in a Northern Hardwood Forest
Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53544#.VMiF5SzQrzE Author(s) Gabriel E. Roxby 1,2* , Theodore E. Howard 3 , Thomas D. Lee 3 Affiliation(s) 1 Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Concord, NH, USA . 2 Formerly Graduate Research Assistant, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA . 3 Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, James Hall, Durham, NH, USA . ABSTRACT In the northeastern United States, whole-tree harvesting is widely used to supply fuel to biomass energy facilities, but questions remain regarding its long-term sustainability. We have previously reported findings indicating no short-term decrease in forest productivity in whole-tree harvested sites when compared with similar conventionally (stem-only) harvested sites. Here we present additional results of the same study, but focus on the effect harvest treatm...