Long-term landscape-scale homogenization following clearcutting

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Abstract

Long-term effects of logging on plant diversity are often examined within forest stands (alpha diversity), ignoring potential impacts on regional biodiversity that stem from biotic homogenization (beta diversity). By changing environmental conditions and altering the relative importance of environmental and dispersal-based processes, clearcutting may reduce beta diversity, reducing regional forest diversity. We compared beta diversity in secondary (“mature”) and old-growth forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which maintains some of the largest tracts of old-growth forest in the Eastern U.S. Mature forests had a closed canopy but experienced clearcut logging within 50-100 years prior to measurement. Within each forest type, we examined two aspects of beta diversity: 1. total variation in community structure (‘variation’), and 2. changes in community composition along gradients (‘turnover’). We found that mature stands are more homogeneous (e.g., more similar to each other) relative to old growth stands. Furthermore, turnover rates differed between mature and old-growth forests depending on growth form. Notably, spatial distance was more strongly associated with the turnover of herbaceous communities in mature stands, while site exposure (solar radiation) was a larger driver of species turnover in old growth stands for all growth forms. Our analysis suggests that clearcutting is associated with long-term homogenization relative to remnant old-growth stands.

Publication Title

Canadian Journal of Forest Research

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