Forest Overstory Vegetation and Environment on the Missouri River Floodplain in North Dakota

Abstract

The study area, bounded north and south by two large reservoirs, includes the most extensive remnant of floodplain forest in the Dakotas. Structure and composition of the forest overstory are strongly related to stand age and horizontal and vertical position on the floodplain. Populus deltoides Marsh. and Salix amygdaloides Anders. predominate in young stands which generally occur on low terraces near the center of the floodplain. Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. lanceolata (Borkh.) Sarg., Acer negundo L., Ulmus americana L., and Quercus macrocarpa Michx., which replace Populus and Salix through time, predominate in old stands on high terraces near the edge of the floodplain. Stands intermediate in composition are uncommon because of the discontinuous meandering pattern of the river across its floodplain. Surface soil environment and species diversity change markedly during the course of succession. The soils of young stands are generally sandy and low in organic matter. Soil nutrient content and available water capacity are generally higher in older stands because of higher organic matter content and repeated inputs of nutrient—rich silt from past floods. Tree species diversity (H') initially increases as stands age, reaches a maximum in stands with mixtures of both pioneer and terminal species, and declines slightly in the oldest stands. Both variety and evenness follow a similar pattern. Analyses of population structure indicate a recent decline in the establishment of small stems of Acer and Ulmus. Tree core analyses show a similar decline in diameter growth rate for Acer, Ulmus, and Fraxinus. Available data suggest that these changes can be attributed to the removal of periodic spring flooding caused by the presence and operation of the reservoirs. It is also hypothesized that the lack of seedling—sapling stands of Populus in the region is the result of a presumed reduction in the meandering rate of the river following reservoir construction and poor seedbed conditions in the absence of flooding.