Effects of Prescribed Fire and Thinning on the Spatial Heterogeneity of the Seed Bank in a Mixed Oak Forest

Prescribed fire and thinning are commonly employed management practices in mixed-oak forests of the central Appalachians. The effects of these practices on the soil seed bank are important to consider in order to evaluate the full impact of these treatments on plant community dynamics in the understory. Species composition of the soil seed bank was examined under three treatments: thin, burn, and thin followed by burning, and an untreated...