Early understory succession following catastrophic wind damage in a deciduous forest

Early succession was followed in a 2.5-ha gap created by a severe wind storm in a 5.5ha fragment of eastern North American deciduous forest. Understory vegetation cover by species, light, soil moisture, and levels of several major nutrients were measured in 1 × 2 m census plots 3 years prior to the disturbance. Coincidentally, the storm felled 5055% of the trees over a portion of these plots. Vegetation cover by species was again measured in all plots 3 years following the disturbance. Species were grouped by growth form, and group cover values used to examine changes in the composition of the vegetation and to determine whether these changes were correlated with any measured predisturbance environmental variables. Given the size of the gap, shade-intolerant tree species were expected to increase but did not, most likely because of repression by the shrub layer. The main response to the disturbance appeared to occur through reorganization of existing vegetation. The value of predisturbance species cover data and limitations of our sample sizes are discussed.