Plantation Biodiversity Plots at Harvard Forest since 2007

Plantations have been part of forestry at Harvard Forest since its beginning. Plantations were established from 1911-1944, usually on open or cut-over land. The maximum amount of land in plantations totaled about 270 acres (10% of Harvard Forest’s land base). The tending of the plantations was conducted and carefully documented; however, this work ceased about 1950. Since then, some plantations were out-competed by native tree species, with only scattered planted trees remaining, a few acres of plantations were harvested in the 1950, and about 40 acres of plantations were harvested in the 1990s. As of 2007, approximately 135 acres of plantations remained and ranged in age from 60 to 90 years old. Some stands have substantial areas blown down. In 2008, Harvard Forest developed a management plan to harvest 80 acres of mature plantation forests to terminate these long term experiments, regenerate a diversity of native tree species, restore native forests to these sites, and to initiate a new suite of long term experiments. For the next 10-15 years, the harvested areas will provide early successional habitat for a variety of wildlife species. A suite of permanent vegetation plots was established throughout the plantations to assess vegetation structure in plantations and predict future dynamics in harvested and early seral habitats.

人工林自哈佛森林（Harvard Forest）创立之初便已纳入其林业经营范畴。首批人工林于1911年至1944年间营建，选址多为裸地或皆伐迹地。人工林总面积峰值约为270英亩，占哈佛森林总土地面积的10%。人工林的抚育作业曾得到规范开展与详细记录，但该工作在1950年左右终止。在此之后，部分人工林被本土树种竞争淘汰，仅存零星栽植林木；另有少量面积的人工林于1950年代被采伐，约40英亩的人工林则在1990年代完成采伐。截至2007年，尚存约135英亩人工林，林龄介于60至90年之间。部分林分存在大面积风倒现象。2008年，哈佛森林制定了一项经营计划，拟采伐80英亩成熟人工林，以终止现有长期定位试验、恢复本土树种多样性、将这些地块复归原生森林，并启动一系列全新的长期定位试验。在未来10至15年内，采伐区域将为多种野生动物提供早期演替生境。研究团队在全部人工林内布设了一系列永久植被样地，用以评估人工林的植被结构，并预测采伐迹地与早期演替生境的未来动态变化。