Shrub Seed Banks in Mixed Conifer Forests of Northern California and the Role of Fire in Regulating Abundance

Knapp, Eric E.; Weatherspoon, C. Phillip; Skinner, Carl N.

doi:10.4996/fireecology.0801032

Fire Ecology

Table 5 Tree species composition, basal area, average age, and shrub understory at 24 seed bank sampling sites in northern California, arranged from north to south. Tree species are listed in order of abundance by basal area. If plantations where trees had recently been removed were located nearby, the shrub species found there were also noted, in visual (approximate) order of abundance.

From: Shrub Seed Banks in Mixed Conifer Forests of Northern California and the Role of Fire in Regulating Abundance

Site name	Tree species^c	Basal area (m² ha⁻¹)	Stand age^a (yr)	Duff depth (cm)	Arctostaphylos cover (%)	Ceanothus cover (%)	Prunus cover (%)	Shrub species in adjacent plantation
McCloud	ABCO	29.8	52	9.3	-	-	-	PREM, ARPA, CEVE
Horse	ABCO, CADE, PSME, PILA, PIPO	49.1	153	7.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	PREM, ARPA, CEVE
Big Poison	PSME, PIPO, CADE, QUKE, ABCO	36.3	259	7.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEIN
Underground	ABCO, CADE, PILA	76.7	70	4.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	CECO, ARPA, PREM, CEIN, CEVE
Flower	ABCO, PSME, PIPO, QUKE	42.7	113	6.8	1.0	0.0	3.1	CEVE, PREM, ARPA, CECO
Hatchet	ABCO, PIPO	40.2	84	6.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	ARPA, PREM, CECO, CEPR
Jennie Springs^b	ABCO, ABMA	74.6	70	8.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEVE, ARPA, ARNE
Rush	PSME, ABCO, PILA, PIPO, CADE, ABMA	41.8	134	5.7	0.0	1.4	0.0	CEIN
Soda	PIPO, CADE, PSME, ABMA, ABCO, PILA	59.2	92	7.0	0.0	0.5	0.1	-
Galen	LIDE, PIPO, PSME, PILA, CADE, ABCO, QUKE	55.1	101	4.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEIN
Brush	PSME, CADE, PIPO, PILA, ABCO, LIDE	38.1	287	5.2	1.5	0.7	0.0	-
Bald	CADE, PIPO, PSME, ABCO, QUKE, PILA	41.3	118	6.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	-
Mt. Hope	PIPO, CADE, PSME	38.6	82	7.2	0.0	12.8	0.0	-
Hamburger	PSME, PIPO, PILA, QUKE, LIDE, ABCO, CADE	40.4	126	6.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	-
Bridger	PIPO, PSME, CADE, QUKE, ABCO	53.7	80	7.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEPR
Pendola	PSME, PIPO, CADE, QUKE, ABCO, PILA	53.7	105	5.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	CEIN, CEPR, ARVI
Cummings	PSME, PIPO, CADE, QUKE, LIDE	47.7	77	3.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	ARVI, CEIN
Sleighvillel	PSME, PIPO, QUKE, CADE, PILA, ABCO	47.7	105	2.6	0.0	0.1	0.0	CEIN, CEPR
Sleighville2	PIPO, PSME, CADE, ABCO, LIDE, QUKE	48.2	100	7.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEIN, ARVI
Washington	PSME, CADE, ABCO, PILA, PIPO	45.9	171	5.7	0.0	0.5	0.0	CEIN
White Cloud	PSME, ABCO, CADE, PIPO	36.7	82	7.2	0.0	1.2	0.0	CEIN
Five Mile	ABCO, PSMA, PIPO, CADE, QUKE	39.5	111	8.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	CEIN
Pilliken	ABCO, CADE	62.4	77	2.7	0.0	0.0	0.3	ARPA, CECO, CEIN, PREM
Dennis Spring	ABCO, PIPO, CADE, QUKE	67.9	74	5.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	ARPA, CECO, CEIN, PREM

^a Stand age is estimated as the average age of the three oldest trees sampled at each site.
^b Data from Weatherspoon (1985)
^c ABCO = white fir, ABMA = red fir, CADE = incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens [Torr.] Florin), LIDE = tanoak, PILA = sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas), PIPO = ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson), PSME = Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco), QUKE = California black oak. Where adjacent plantations existed, shrub species were noted as an indicator of what might be found in the seed bank at the collection site (ARPA = greenleaf manzanita, ARNE = pinemat manzanita, ARVI = sticky whiteleaf manzanita, CECO = whitethorn ceanothus, CEIN = deerbrush, CEPR = prostrate ceanothus, CEVE = snowbrush, PREM = bitter cherry.
^a Stand age is estimated as the average age of the three oldest trees sampled at each site.
^b ABCO = white fir, ABMA = red fir, CADE = incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens [Torr.] Florin), LIDE = tanoak, PILA = sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas), PIPO = ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson), PSME = Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco), QUKE = California black oak. Where adjacent plantations existed, shrub species were noted as an indicator of what might be found in the seed bank at the collection site (ARPA = greenleaf manzanita, ARNE = pinemat manzanita, ARVI = sticky whiteleaf manzanita, CECO = whitethorn ceanothus, CEIN = deerbrush, CEPR = prostrate ceanothus, CEVE = snowbrush, PREM = bitter cherry.

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