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Characterization Of Central Iowa Forests With Permanent Plots, James W. Raich, Donald R. Farrar, Ruth A. Herzberg, Eenam Sin, Cindy L. Johnson-Groh

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

We describe a standard methodology for establishing and inventorying the woody vegetation in 0.1-ha permanent forest plots and we utilize the data from 86 plots to characterize the mature forest vegetation of central Iowa. Obvious differences existed between bottomland hardwoods and upland forest stands, but disturbed uplands contained species typical of bottomlands. Little-disturbed upland forest plots included a variety of species associations, but variation among plots was continuous. The trees dominating the mature upland forests of central Iowa grow in a wide variety of habitats, with the result that predictability of stand structure at any location is limited. Stands on …