Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction to Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation: Type, Frequency, Severity, and Post-disturbance Structure in Central Hardwood Forests

   • Cathryn H. Greenberg, Beverly S. Collins, W. Henry McNab, Douglas K. Miller, Gary R. Wein

   Pages 1-32

3. Gap-Scale Disturbances in Central Hardwood Forests with Implications for Management

   • Justin L. Hart

   Pages 33-47

4. Oak Decline in Central Hardwood Forests: Frequency, Spatial Extent, and Scale

   • Steven W. Oak, Martin A. Spetich, Randall S. Morin

   Pages 49-71

5. Southern Pine Beetles in Central Hardwood Forests: Frequency, Spatial Extent, and Changes to Forest Structure

   • John T. Nowak, Kier D. Klepzig, David R. Coyle, William A. Carothers, Kamal J. K. Gandhi

   Pages 73-88

6. First Steps Toward Defining the Wind Disturbance Regime in Central Hardwoods Forests

   • Chris J. Peterson, Jeffery B. Cannon, Christopher M. Godfrey

   Pages 89-122

7. Fire as a Once-Dominant Disturbance Process in the Yellow Pine and Mixed Pine-Hardwood Forests of the Appalachian Mountains

   • Henri D. Grissino-Mayer

   Pages 123-146

8. Ice Storms in Central Hardwood Forests: The Disturbance Regime, Spatial Patterns, and Vegetation Influences

   • Charles W. Lafon

   Pages 147-166

9. Multi-millennial Record of Erosion and Fires in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

   • David S. Leigh

   Pages 167-202

10. Frequency and Magnitude of Selected Historical Landslide Events in the Southern Appalachian Highlands of North Carolina and Virginia: Relationships to Rainfall, Geological and Ecohydrological Controls, and Effects

    • Richard M. Wooten, Anne C. Witt, Chelcy F. Miniat, Tristram C. Hales, Jennifer L. Aldred

    Pages 203-262

11. Structural and Compositional Change in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since Protection, 1930s–2000s

    • Julie P. Tuttle, Peter S. White

    Pages 263-294

12. Disturbance, Productivity, and Tree Characteristics in the Central Hardwoods Region

    • Peter A. Wilfahrt, Peter S. White, Beverly S. Collins, Julie P. Tuttle

    Pages 295-317

13. The Historic Role of Humans and Other Keystone Species in Shaping Central Hardwood Forests for Disturbance-Dependent Wildlife

    • Cathryn H. Greenberg, Kendrick Weeks, Gordon S. Warburton

    Pages 319-353

14. Climate Change and the Future of Natural Disturbances in the Central Hardwood Region

    • Virginia H. Dale, M. Joseph Hughes, Daniel J. Hayes

    Pages 355-369

15. Managing Central Hardwood Forests Within the Context of the Historic Range of Variability (HRV): Challenges and Opportunities

    • Eric K. Zenner

    Pages 371-391

16. Back Matter

    Pages 393-400

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This book discusses the historic range of variation (HRV) in the types, frequencies, severities and scales of natural disturbances, and explores how they create heterogeneous structure within upland hardwood forests of the Central Hardwood Region (CHR). The book was written in response to a 2012 forest planning rule which requires that national forests to be managed to sustain ‘ecological integrity’ and within the ‘natural range of variation’ of natural disturbances and vegetation structure. Synthesizing information on HRV of natural disturbance types, and their impacts on forest structure, has been identified as a top need.

• central hardwood region
• forest structure
• hardwood forest
• historic range of variation
• natural disturbance
• Environmental Geography

• USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Asheville, USA

  Cathryn H. Greenberg

• Biology Department, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, USA

  Beverly S. Collins

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