Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Plant communities in the old-growth forests of North Coastal Oregon

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  • This study was conducted in the old-growth forests of Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln counties, Oregon. The three objectives of the research were to describe and classify the near-climax plant communities found within the forests, to relate the associes described by a previous study to the forest communities characterized by the present study, and to relate the present elk distribution to the distribution of plant communities identified. Vegetation, soils, and physiographic data were collected from a large number of timbered stands of variable sizes scattered throughout the area bounded on the north by Youngs River and on the south by the Siletz River. Sampling was stratified within each tract to obtain homogeneous vegetation-soil sampling locations. Vegetation data, recorded from 137 locations, formed the basis for the plant community classification. Society tables were used for a phytosociological synthesis of vegetation data. Eleven plant communities were identified within the timbered areas studied. All were within what might be termed a broad Tsuga heterophylla forest association. Plant species useful for identifying community stands were used in naming the eleven plant communities: Tsuga heterophylla-Picea sitchensis/Oplopanax horridum/ Athyrium filix-femina Tsuga heterophylla-Picea sitchensis/Gaultheria shallon/ Blechnum spiCant Tsuga heterophylla-Abies amabilis/Gaultheria shallon/ Tiarella unifoliata Tsuga heterophylla-Abies amabilis/Vaccinium ovalifolium/ Oxalis oregana Tsuga heterophylla-Abies amabilis /Rhododendron macrophyllum/ Cornus canadensis Tsuga heterophylla- Vaccinium ovalifolium/Polystichum munitum Tsuga heterophylla/Acer circinatum/Cryptogramma crispa Tsuga heterophylla/Berberis nervosa/ Trientalis latifolia Tsuga heterophylla/Polystichum munitum-Adiantum pedatum Tsuga heterophylla/Vaccinium membranaceum/Xerophyllum tenax Tsuga heterophylla-Abies procera/Vaccinium membranaceum/ Cryptogramma crispa A dichotomous key was prepared to facilitate the identification of community stands in the field. Field tests in new locations were not conducted to determine the accuracy of the key, but data from individual stands were used to key locations into the proper community without difficulty. Stands of associes previously described on logged and burned forest lands are compared with those of the near-climax plant communities identified. The present elk distribution of the area is related to a north to south geographic change in the amount of "coastal-habitat". The relative importance of communities to deer and elk is compared. Suggestions are made for the utility of the phytosociological classification of this important forested area.
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