OOS 15

Dynamics, Conservation Status, and Future of the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome: A Session in Honor of E. Lucy Braun

Dr. E. Lucy Braun became the first woman president of the Ecological Society of America in 1950 and it would be another 36 years before another woman, Dr. Jean H Langenheim, would be elected president. It was also in 1950 that Dr. Braun published the book establishing her as one of the most prominent ecologists of her generation. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America was grand in scope and rich in detail. It seems particularly appropriate to honor Dr. Braun’s legacy during ESA’s centennial celebration. Eastern deciduous forests have undergone dramatic changes since Dr. Braun conducted her pioneering fieldwork throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s. These dramatic changes include the introduction of pests that have decimated populations of several foundation tree species including American beech, eastern hemlock, and ash. At the same time, disturbance regimes that once characterized these forests have been dramatically altered, particularly the frequency of fire, and whitetail deer are now so abundant that their browsing has created depauperate forest understories over vast regions. Alteration of these biotic linkages and disturbance regimes has led to changes both subtle and dramatic across much of the landscape. Overlain on all of this is global climate change, which is likely to disrupt numerous ecological interactions. We argue that to understand how climate change is going to impact future forests, we must understand the processes that shape our forests now and have shaped them in the past. To that end, we have assembled a suite of speakers that will address these issues from research that spans a wide geographic area. Speakers will address the legacy of E. Lucy Braun and the impact of fire and fire suppression on oak dominated forests in the west, the degree to which hurricanes and rising sea levels break apart formerly tight biotic linkages in coastal forests in the south, and the degree to which wind disturbances mediate carbon cycles throughout the eastern deciduous forest. Speakers will also explore the degree to which biotic interactions will moderate or exacerbate the impact of climate change, and rigorously evaluate whether altered browsing and disturbance regimes create novel successional pathways at the geographic center of the eastern forest. Finally, this symposium will address whether salvage logging large areas of wind-disturbed forests poses a risk to biodiversity in the face of climate change and altered browsing regimes.