COMPOSITIONAL GRADIENTS IN MESOPHYTIC FORESTS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

Numerical classification and ordination techniques are used to examine compositional variability in 112 stands of mesophytic upland forest in the eastern United States from data published by Braun (1950). Five forest types are identified and used to interpret ordination results. Two prominent environmental gradients account for much of the compositional variability in the data set: along the first ordination axis a microclimate gradient reflects increasing soil moisture availability and cold stress from dry uplands to northern hardwood sites; along the second ordination axis, a soil fertility gradient segregates hemlock coves and dry uplands, both of which are characteristically found on shallow, nutrient-poor soils, from the other forest types. The efficacy of combining numerical classification and ordination techniques for analyzing and interpreting patterns in ecological data is underscored by these results.