Longleaf pine seedling growth in response to light and moisture under varying canopy densities.  Ed Loewenstein, Associate Professor

• SFWS HOME
• Graduate Degrees Offered
• Faculty Research Expertise
• Research Assistantships
• Graduate Student Projects
• Contact the GPO Office
• FAQ

The longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) ecosystem has declined from covering between 60 and 90 million acres across the coastal plain from Virginia to Texas before European settlement to barely 3 percent of that total today. Restoring this ecosystem has gained interest over recent decades, yet the popular uneven-aged management system has been demonstrated to greatly inhibit seedling ingrowth (recruitment). Traditional natural regeneration methods for maximizing longleaf pine regeneration have used even-aged shelterwood harvests leaving 20-40 seed trees per acre that are later removed. However, with uneven-aged management the seed trees are not removed, thus inhibiting seedling growth. This project examines seedling growth under varying canopy densities on xeric and mesic sites in attempt to determine what level of overstory retention in selection silviculture will best promote seedling recruitment. Similar studies have already examined seedling growth under different canopy conditions, but a project that examines multiple site conditions as well has yet to be published. This information will be invaluable to landowners and land managers who wish to manage forests in perpetuity but still intend to extract timber from the system on a regular, sustainable basis. Much research into even-aged management of longleaf pine has already been published; however, uneven-aged management has become increasingly common because it maintains continuous forest cover and thus the flow of goods and services, both economic and ecologic, is steady and sustained. As the southeastern U.S. becomes more densely populated, the remaining longleaf pine forests will be subject to increased pressure for both development and the provision of goods and services, so it is vital that effective uneven-aged silvicultural systems are developed.