Fleshy fruit is considered a “buffer” food, but may be critical to game and nongame vertebrates.

Fleshy Fruit Production in Mature and Recently Harvested Upland & Cove Hardwood Forest of the Southern Appalachians

Fleshy fruit is considered a “buffer” food, but may be critical to game and nongame vertebrates.

Here we examine… • Spatial and temporal variation in species composition and fruit production in two forest types and two age classes; • Temporal changes in fruit production as young stands mature; • Species that produce the most fleshy fruit.

We also are studying… • Bird communities during breeding, winter, and fall and spring migration; • Hard mast (acorns, hickories, etc.) production in the four treatments; • Changes in plant diversity • The importance of fruit to birds

This is a sister study to one at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, conducted by D.J. Levey and C.H. Greenberg 1994 – 2003.

Treatments (n = 6 to 9 each) • Mature Cove Hardwood • Young Cove Hardwood (~1998 2-age harvest) • Mature Upland Hardwood • Young Upland Hardwood (~1998 2-age harvest)

Methods • 20 X 50-m plot (0.1 ha) – trees, nonclonal shrubs, vines. • 4 X 50-m subtransect – clonal shrubs, herbaceous plants. • All fleshy fruit counted monthly starting May 1999. • Biomass estimates based on dry pulp (g/ha).

A total of 43 species produced fleshy fruit during the first five years. Eight others occurred in plots but never produced fruit. Only a handful of species produced the majority of fruit biomass.

Total fruit biomass was higher in both 2-age forest types, beginning the second year post-harvest.

The species producing the majority of fruit differed among the treatments.

Fruit production in young (but not mature) stands was dominated by species that proliferate after disturbance, but species showed different patterns over time.

Several herbaceous species that are not typically associated with disturbance also produced more fruit in young stands, cove hardwood 2-age stands in particular.

Dogwood (and some other tree species) produced more fruit in young upland hardwood stands due to fruiting by stump sprouts, starting two years after harvest.

Other species were closely associated with forest type as well as stand age.

The relative contribution of shrubs to total fruit was high, especially in young stands.

Fruit was available June – December, but peak availability differed among treatments due to differences in species composition and fruiting phenology. Small amounts of fruit were retained by some species during the winter.

For example… blackberry and pokeweed peaked during different months (2-age only); huckleberry peaked in June (more in upland hardwood forest types); dogwood peaked in September (more in upland hardwood 2-age).

Summary of Important Results • Fruit production was higher in young stands than forest beginning about 2 years post-harvest (2000). • Average biomass ranged 0.5 (CHF) – 1.7 kg/ha (UHF) 1999, and 0.6 (CHF) – 16 kg/ha (UH2) in 2003. • A few species dominated fruit production, but dominant species differed among treatments and years. • Pokeberry and blackberry dominated fruit production in young stands. • Many herbaceous and tree species also produced more fruit in young stands than in mature forest. • Fruit is abundant from June – December but small amounts remain on some plants throughout winter and spring. • Fruit availability varied spatially and temporally due to differences in species distribution and fruiting phenology.

Many thanks to: • Jacqui Adams • Lindsay Smith • Julia Murphy • Gabrielle Graeter • Tracy Roof • Virginia Gibbs • Tom Hayes • Joe Tomcho And many others who have volunteered their time.

Fleshy fruit is considered a “buffer” food, but may be critical to game and nongame vertebrates.