The relative influence of establishment time and height-growth rates on species vertical stratification during secondary forest succession

We reconstructed the height-growth histories of individual Quercusrubra L., Fraxinusamericana L., and Acerrubrum L. growing in a 42-year-old Populusgrandidentata Michx. – Populustremuloides Michx. dominated forest. Species established contemporaneously early in the sere, but temporally separated periods of peak individual establishment occurred among species, such that the majority of Q. rubra established prior to the majority of F. americana and A. rubrum. Species vertical stratification by age 42 paralleled establishment patterns. Height-growth rates were similar among species and between different-aged individuals within species. This suggests that species vertical stratification 42 years after stand initiation was primarily a function of differences in species establishment patterns