Short-term bryoid and vascular vegetation response to reforestation alternatives following wildfire in conifer plantations

Question: How are dynamics of early-seral post-fire vascular plant and bryoid (terrestrial mosses, lichens, and fungi) vegetation impacted by reforestation activities, particularly manual vegetation removal and planting density? Does the relationship between vegetation dynamics and vegetation removal differ between harsh (west-facing) and moderate (east-facing) aspects? Location: Five high-severity burn plantation forests of Pseudotsuga menziesii in southwestern Oregon, USA. Methods: Plantations severely burned in a recent wildfire were planted with conifer seedlings as a four-species mixture or a monoculture, at two different densities, with and without manual vegetation removal. A subset of plots was also planted on a contrasting aspect within each plantation. The contrasting aspects differed in potential solar insolation and were indicative of moderate (eastern exposure) and harsh (western exposure) site conditions. Covers of shrub, herbaceous and bryoid vegetation layers were measured during reforestation activities 2-4 yr after the fire. Dynamics of structural layer cover and community composition were compared among treatments with analysis of variance and multivariate analyses (non-metric multidimensional scaling and blocked multi-response permutation procedure). Results: Structural layer cover and community composition differed between areas that received reforestation treatments and untreated areas. However, variability within treatments in a plantation was greater than variability within treatments across plantations. Effects of vegetation removal on composition and structure were more evident than effects of planting or altering planting density. Vegetation removal decreased cover of tall and low shrub and the bryoid layer, and increased herbaceous layer cover. Bryoid community and low shrub structural layer responses were more pronounced on moderate aspects than on harsh aspects. Vegetation removal shifted vascular plant community composition towards exotic and annual species. Conclusions: These reforestation treatments may be implemented without substantially altering early-seral vegetation community composition dynamics, especially in areas with harsh site conditions. Site conditions, such as aspect, should be evaluated to determine need and potential effects of reforestation before implementation. Monitoring for exotic species establishment should follow reforestation activities.