Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3740-6095

Advisor

Polinko, Adam D.

Committee Member

Puhlick, Joshua J.

Committee Member

Himes, Austin

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Visible MSU Only 6 months

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Forestry

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Forestry

Abstract

For some forest landowners in the southern USA, multiple ecological and economic objectives are met through the conversion of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) plantations to uneven-aged stands. This study was conducted in eight similarly-aged longleaf pine plantations at The Jones Center at Ichauway in southwestern Georgia. The stands were disturbed by commercial thinning in 2014 and partially disturbed by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and half of the stands were seeded with native grasses and a forb in 2015. I developed explanatory models of groundcover biomass and longleaf pine seedling occurrence and density. I detected a community composition difference in groundcover species assemblages between seeded and unseeded stands. For recruited longleaf pine regeneration, my model indicated that lower amounts of groundcover biomass were correlated with greater occurrence and density of pine regeneration. Partial stand disturbances and restoration of native groundcover set stands on a trajectory to resemble a more natural condition.

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