Vegetative Structure of an Essentially Undisturbed Beech-Maple Ecosystem in Central Ohio

Author Institution: Department of Botany, The Ohio State University ; Department of Biology, Indiana University at South BendAll woody stems >2.5 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) occurring within 1 ha of an essentially undisturbed beech-maple ecosystem of central Ohio were inventoried for species, vegetative level,and dbh, and values were derived for mean area, density, dominance (basal area) and frequency. Species importance values (sum of relative density, relative dominance and relative frequency) were also calculated. The total number of individuals occurring with the 1 ha sample area was 1456 of which 15%, 73%, 6% and 6% occurred in the shrub, smalltree, subcanopy and canopy vegetative levels, respectively. Total basal area of all individuals was 32.7 m2 of which the shrub, smalltree, subcanopy and canopy levels contributed approximately 1%, 7%, 20% and 72%, respectively. Fagus grandifolia and Acer saccharum had the greatest species importance values for each of the vegetative levels (values for the shrub level were not calculated) and the value of the former for all individuals >2.5 cm dbh was greater than the latter by a factor of about 2