Abstract
Southern Appalachian forests face multiple environmental threats, including periodic fires, insect outbreaks, and more recently, exotic invasive plants. Past studies suggest these multiple disturbances interact to shape species-rich forest landscape, and they hypothesize that changes in fire regimes and increasing landscape fragmentation may influence invasive processes. However, long-term impacts of these multiple factors, landscape-scale processes that drive invasion, and forest management practices required to reduce damage from invasive plants are still unclear.
Parent Publication
Citation
Xi, Weimin; Chen, Szu-Hung; Birt, Andrew G.; Waldron, John D.; Lafon, Charles W.; Cairns, David M.; Tchakerian, Maria D.; Klepzig, Kier D.; Coulson, Robert N. 2011. Simulating the interactions of forest structure, fire regime, and plant invasion in the southern Appalachians using LANDIS. In: McManus, Katherine A; Gottschalk, Kurt W., eds. 2010. Proceedings. 21st U.S. Department of Agriculture interagency research forum on invasive species 2010; 2010 January 12-15; Annapolis, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-75. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 143.