Measures of plant performance for 4 species of forest herbs in the French Broad Watershed, 2009-2011

We used empirical measurements collected over three years to compare plant performance indicators for understory herbs across an elevation gradient (used as a proxy for temperature) in old (logged > 100 years ago) and young (20-40 years post-harvest) forested stands in the Southern Appalachians, USA. Specifically, we asked (1) how do stand age and temperature affect performance of four species of forest herbs in natural populations, and (2) do these effects vary across years with different precipitation patterns?