Effects of clearance and fragmentation on forest compositional change and recovery after 200 years in western New York

This study investigated the effects of widespread forest clearance and fragmentation on forest compositional change between pre-settlement and the present (ca. 1800-1993) in western New York. Forest compositional turnover metrics were calculated to evaluate whether soil conditions accounted for the forest compositional change, to investigate how forest clearance might have contributed to the change, and to compare with the amount of change noted in other studies that compared the pre-settlement land surveys and the current Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) surveys. The results suggested weak relations between the forest compositional change and soil conditions. The amount of change at the county level was positively correlated with the amount of forest clearance by the late 1800s and negatively correlated with the amount of remnant forest in the late 1800s. Furthermore, while the geographic distributions of late-successional taxa in the study area exhibited increased patchiness and decreased contagion, those of early-successional taxa exhibited decreased patchiness and increased contagion. Comparison of taxa's changed abundances with seven life history characteristics commonly associated with early- and late-successional status showed that taxa's changed abundances were significantly related to maximum life and shade tolerance. Analysis of different-sized trees in different ages in the FIA survey indicated the possibility of the current forests trending back toward their pre-settlement composition.