Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 22:58:27 -0400 From: aquilla2@juno.com (Michael A Sankovich) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2930$foo@default> Subject: Re: Pine Barrens dwarf forest
Dear Susan,
Glad to see that you had a successful trip. Semi quoting from "A
field Guide to the Pine Barrens" H.P.Boyd.
"There are 4 tracts which compose the Dwarf Forest and total some
12-15,000 acres 20 to 25 sq. miles. The dominate trees are a closed-
cone (serotinous) race of pitch pine whose cones open only after being
subjected to very high temperatures, such as those created by fires.
Over succeeding generations of evolutionary developement, it appears
these pines may be developing a genetic variation from more normal pines.
These pitch pines, together with both blackjack and scrub oaks,
form a type of forest relationship indicative of repeated fires. These
trees aseem to be more fire resistant than others of the same species
elsewhere. Considerable and rapid regeneration of these dwarf trees and
shrubs takes place after fires, with multiple sprouts arising from older
root crowns and even from the sides of the main trunks. Reproduction is
mainly vegetative rather
than seed dispersal and generation. Ground cover is provided by shrubs,
most commonly black huckleberry and lowbush blueberry, and by sub shrubs
such as pyxie, broom crowberry, and hudsonia as well as several heath
types like bearberry, teaberry, and trailing arbutus.
Several theories have been advanced to explain these stunted
forests, but the general concensus seems to be that these are the rusult
of a combination of factors such as infertal soils, aridity, exposure to
constant and strong winds, and, perhaps most important, repeated fires
which occur with greater frequency and severity in the pine plains than
elsewhere. These happen perhaps as often as once every 10 to 20 years,
on average."
I had also read somewhere that, if you were to plant any of the
tree seeds in regular soil that they would grow to normal size trees.
Michael
>Also got to see the "pygmy forest"... no, they are NOT carnivorous
>trees, but they are interesting nonetheless. Pitch pines and black
>oaks that are fully mature and old and no taller than about 5 1/2
>feet! I could see over the canopy of the forest for a long ways...
>really impressive. Last I heard, there was no definitive explanation
>for the dwarfed trees: presumably it has something to do with soil or
>perhaps they are growing in very shallow soil atop bedrock. Fire may
>be a factor, but it can't be the sole factor since ALL of the Pine
>Barrens burn with incredible ferocity (hottest fires in the U.S.), and
>the other areas aren't dwarfed at all. Really interesting. Anyone out
>there know more about the reasons?
>
>
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