Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
09:23
JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
Published on: March 21, 2025
Agricultural legacies in forest environments: tree communities, soil properties, and light availability
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Corson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. kathryn.flinn@mail.mcgill.ca
Summary
Secondary forests recover many attributes within 100 years, but retain legacies of agriculture like reduced soil nutrients and altered species composition. This impacts temperate deciduous forest recovery and management.
Area of Science:
- Forest Ecology
- Land Use Change
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Past land use, especially agriculture, significantly influences temperate deciduous forest recovery.
- Disturbances like deforestation can cause lasting environmental changes affecting vegetation patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term impacts of historical agriculture on forest ecosystems.
- To compare environmental conditions, tree communities, soil properties, and light availability between primary and secondary forests.
Main Methods:
- Compared 20 adjacent pairs of primary (never cleared) and secondary (reforested after 85-100 years) forests in central New York.
- Assessed tree community structure, soil physical and chemical properties, and understory light.
Main Results:
- Secondary forests showed greater basal area but similar stem density compared to primary forests.
- Species composition differed significantly; primary forests dominated by Acer saccharum/Fagus grandifolia, secondary by Acer rubrum/Pinus strobus.
- Secondary forest soils had less organic matter, carbon, and phosphorus, with more homogenized properties.
- Understory light and most soil physical/chemical properties (pH-related) were similar between forest types.
Conclusions:
- Post-agricultural forests can recover many ecological attributes within a century.
- Key legacies of agriculture include reduced soil nutrients, spatial homogenization of soil, and altered species composition.
- Understanding these legacies is crucial for managing and restoring temperate deciduous forests.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Soil Microbial Ecology
Soil microbial ecology is defined by highly diverse, spatially structured communities that drive nutrient cycling, organic matter turnover, and overall ecosystem stability. Although a gram of soil can contain thousands of bacterial and archaeal taxa, the ecological processes they mediate are even more crucial for sustaining terrestrial life.Microhabitats and NichesSoil is a heterogeneous mixture of minerals, organic matter, water, and air. Microbes inhabit distinct microhabitats formed by...
02:17Ecological Succession
Ecological succession is influenced by the processes of facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. Facilitation occurs when early successional species create more favorable ecological conditions for subsequent species, such as enhanced nutrient, water, or light availability. In contrast, inhibition happens when early successional species create unfavorable ecological conditions for potential successive species, such as limiting resource availability. In some cases, later successional species...
02:23The Soil Ecosystem
Plants obtain inorganic minerals and water from the soil, which acts as a natural medium for land plants. The composition and quality of soil depend not only on the chemical constituents but also on the presence of living organisms. In general, soils contain three major components:
02:11The Roles of Bacteria and Fungi in Plant Nutrition
Plants have the impressive ability to create their own food through photosynthesis. However, plants often require assistance from organisms in the soil to acquire the nutrients they need to function correctly. Both bacteria and fungi have evolved symbiotic relationships with plants that help the species to thrive in a wide variety of environments.
02:16Light Acquisition
In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
01:24Freshwater Microbial Ecology
Freshwater systems such as streams, rivers, and lakes exhibit distinct physical and biological characteristics that influence their microbial communities. These environments are broadly categorized into lotic systems—those with flowing waters like streams and most rivers—and lentic systems, which include still or slow-moving waters such as lakes, ponds, and marshes.In lentic systems, phytoplankton drive primary production, generating autochthonous organic carbon. In contrast, lotic systems...