Dynamics and Comarisons of Plant Diversity and Aboveground Carbon Storage Between Old-Growth and Second-Growth Maple-Basswood Forests in Southern Minnesota

Abstract

This study investigates understory plant diversity and aboveground carbon storage in the Big Woods of southern Minnesota. Like forests worldwide, the Big Woods is losing habitat and undergoing changing disturbance regimes. These factors can negatively affect ecosystem services and fundamentally change ecosystems with time. To better understand current dynamics, we compared biodiversity and carbon storage between old-growth and second-growth forests common to the Big Woods. We surveyed plant communities and used tree diameter measurements to estimate aboveground carbon storage at several sites throughout southern Minnesota. Ordination and multivariate analysis techniques were used to compare plant communities and linear regression models analyzed effects on estimated carbon storage. Key findings show greater species richness in second-growth sites, but no significant difference in plant community structure or carbon storage between successional stages. This work highlights the change – or lack of change – in biodiversity and carbon storage that can be expected as forests age, which can be valuable to professionals managing and protecting lands with long-term goals in mind. Additionally, these results underscore the importance of considering how old-growth forests are defined, an issue that has gained substantial attention recently. Future research might study these ecosystem services along a broader range of stand ages to uncover when in succession, if at all, substantial differences in forest biodiversity and carbon storage arise.