Long-Term Studies of Secondary Succession in Douglas-fir Forests of the Pacific Northwest

Halpern, C. B. 1988. Early successional pathways and the resistance and resilience of forest communities. Ecology 69:1703-1715. (.pdf file)

Halpern, C. B. 1989. Early successional patterns of forest species: interactions of life history traits and disturbance. Ecology 70:704-720. (.pdf file)

Halpern, C. B., and T. A. Spies. 1995. Plant species diversity in natural and managed forests of the Pacific Northwest. Ecological Applications 5:914-934. (.pdf file)

Lutz, J. A, and C. B. Halpern. 2006. Tree mortality during early stand development: a long-term study of rates, causes, and consequences. Ecological Monographs 76:257-275. (.pdf file)

Dovciak, M., and C. B. Halpern. 2010. Diversity-stability relationships in forest herb populations during four decades of community assembly. Ecology Letters 13:1300-1309. (Abstract)

Halpern, C. B., and J. A. Lutz. 2013. Canopy closure exerts weak controls on understory dynamics: A 30-year study of overstory-understory interactions. Ecological Monographs 83:221-237. (.pdf file)

A permanent vegetation plot illustrating rapid changes in species composition during the first 5 yr of succession. Plots were established
in 1962 (prior to timber harvest) and continue to be sampled as part of the Long-term Ecological Research Program
at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (http://www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/).
 
1 year after broadcast burning
  
2 years after burning: dominated by Senecio sylvaticus
 
3 yr after burning: dominated by Epilobium angustifolium
  
5 years after burning: dominated by Epilobium angustifolium
 and Ceanothus velutinus (to the right)