Analysis of Forest Community Structure at the Margaret & Luke Pettit Environmental Preserve, Bartow County, Georgia

A community analysis was performed on a 0.75 ha forested area in order to gather baseline data for a newly formed environmental preserve in Bartow County, Georgia. A total of 17 different woody species were observed. Dominant woody species were Oxydendrum arboreum (L.) DC., Quercus alba L., and Pinus echinata Miller. Two pairs of species with similar ranges and ecological characteristics were compared. The first pair of species were the broadleaf species Nyssa sylvatica Marshall and Acer rubrum L, and the second pair were the pine species Pinus taeda L. and P. echinata. Within each pair species showed opposite trends in importance values with increasing distance from a reservoir. For N. sylvatica and P. taeda, importance values increased, whereas for A. rubrum and P. echinata importance values decreased with distance from a reservoir. Pinus echinata, P. taeda, and A. rubrum had even distribution patterns, whereas N. syhatica was randomly distributed