TITLE:

	Understory structure by season following uneven-aged reproduction
	cutting: a comparison of selected measurement methods two and six
	years after treatment.

AUTHORS:

	Victor A. Rudis and Ronald E. Thill
	Southern Research Station
	USDA Forest Service

	James H. Gramann
	Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences
	Texas A&M University

	Joseph Picone and Nirmala Kalidindi,
	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
	Mississippi State University

	Philip A. Tappe
	School of Forest Resources
	University of Arkansas-Monticello

ABSTRACT:

	Choosing  among    silvicultural   cutting  practices requires
	knowledge   of  understory  vegetation  dynamics  and impacted
	resources. Inventory analysts also need methodology with known
	precision to classify forest community structure and degree of
	disturbance from samples  taken in other  seasons. We used two
	field methods (a screenometer and a density board) to quantify
	understory vegetation structure by season within untreated and
	treated areas 2 and 6 years following uneven-aged reproduction
	cutting.    A   third method  used     attributes  from 35  mm
	photographs. Prior to treatment, the 0.6-ha experimental plots
	were part  of   mostly  70-year  old   second-growth shortleaf
	pine-oak  (Pinus echinata-Quercus)  stands averaging 26 square
	meters of basal area  per hectare. Treatments retained 13.8 in
	pine and varied the amount and distribution of hardwood from 0
	to  6.9. The design  included  four landform positions  on the
	Ouachita  National   Forest,   Arkansas.  Vegetative screening
	varied  by height  zone above ground  but  both  field methods
	distinguished  similar  screening  differences   among   known
	treatments. Scene brightness decreased and screening increased
	by year  and degree of  initial cutting disturbance. We report
	methods sufficient to   detect known disturbances, models   of
	summer structure from   measures taken in   other seasons, and
	applications to scenic beauty and wildlife habitat appraisal.

PRESENTER AND CONTACT:

	Victor A. Rudis
	USDA-FS-SRS-FIA, P. O. Box 928
	Starkville, MS 39760-0928
	Phone: 601-338-3109
	Fax: 601-338-3101
	Email: vrudis@usfs.msstate.edu