| Abstract: | Variation in seedling/sapling densities and stand diameter forms for six coniferous tree species is related to stand structural development and to elevation and topography in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. Understory density patterns reflect differences in species tolerance; densities decrease with stand development for shade intolerant pines, but increase for shade tolerant firs and mountain hemlock. Pine species exhibit reverse-J diamter structures on recently disturbed sites, and decreaser and random forms elsewhere. More tolerant fir species show topographically mediated patterns of diameter structure, with reverse-J form common on northerly exposures and upland sites, but with decreaser and random forms on more xeric slopes. Interaction among species tolerance, environmental setting, and disturbance history yields a complex mosaic of stand diameter structures in the Lassen landscape. |
