Some ecological factors in secondary succession: upland hardwood. II. Soil reaction and plant distribution in the Sycamore creek region

An examination of the vegetation of the Sycamore creek region would certainly warrant the assumption that soils of many of the ridge tops are decidedly acid, for there are a number of plant communities made up of notoriously acid-tolerant species. Conspicuous members of these communities are Vaccinium vacillans, V. stamineum, Gaylussacia baccata, Populus grandidentata, and various mosses, as Polytrichum juniperinum, Catherinea angustata, Leucobryum, Dicranum, etc. Since these communities are exclusively on the tops and upper slopes of the characteristically narrow ridges, it was thought desirable to investigate the extent of the hydrogen-ion concentration of these soils and to ascertain any relations existing between the pH and the topography, and, inevitably, of course, the vegetation