TREE SEEDLING EMERGENCE ON INTERACTIVE TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE GRADIENTS AND IN PATCHES OF OLD-FIELD VEGETATION

Seeds of tree species commonly invading old-fields (Fraxinus americana, Gleditsia triacanthos, Morus rubra, Platanus occidentalis, and Prunus serotina) were germinated at eight temperatures from 5 C to 40 C, with six moisture levels (2% to 18% gravimetric moisture content) at each temperature. For most species, total seedling emergence and emergence rate exhibited approximate bivariate Gaussian response surfaces. Emergence of all species, except Gleditsia, was much more sensitive to differences in temperature than to differences in moisture. Species differed considerably in their response breadths across the interactive gradients, with moisture response bearing little relationship to temperature response. Seeds of Acer saccharum, Crataegus mollis, Fraxinus americana, Gleditsia triacanthos, Morus rubra, and Prunus serotina were sown into old-field vegetation patches dominated by eight different plant species, across three different soils. Acer and Morus emergence exhibited no significant differences among vegetation patches. Emergence of other tree species differed among patch types, but identity of the vegetation (often early successional) most conducive to emergence typically varied from year to year. Emergence of most species responded more strongly to vegetation than to soil series. High Fraxinus and Prunus emergence was associated with dampened temperature ranges, while high Crataegus emergence was associated with low amounts of plant litter. Despite great variability, vegetation differences can predict tree seedling emergence better than do year-to-year or soil differences. Extrapolations from the laboratory experiments predicted approximate levels of overall seedling emergence in the field, but prevailing temperatures and moisture differences among plant neighborhoods alone were not sufficient to explain observed differences in seedling emergence among these patches.