There are 25 hardwood (H, plot #944-968) and 25 mixed hardwood/conifer
(M, plot #934-943 and 969-983) sites in the Natural Area, a 350+ year
old unmanaged forest site located west of Catlin Lake on Huntington
Wildlife Forest, SUNY ESF. Fifty 5-gallon buckets were sampled
approximately every six months. A bucket was censored if it had been
knocked down or tipped over more than 45 degrees at any point during
that time. Biologists checked buckets occasionally throughout the
sampling period but did not collect seeds until July or November.
All leaves, sticks, seeds and other materials were collected from
buckets and placed in either sturdy paper bags or plastic bags. Sample
bags were labeled with plot number, date, and site name. A note was
made if a bucket was tipped, damaged/inoperable or missing (these
samples were censored). Samples were air-dried in the bags, open and
standing up, in a rodent-proof room for 2-14 days depending on
moisture content of the leaf litter. For each sample, full or partial
seeds (e.g., conifer seed wings) were extracted from the leaf litter
after being spread on a large, white sheet of paper illuminated by a
bright lamp. Seeds were sorted by species or type and counted (see
Data Table below for species information). Species codes are based on
common names. Seeds were compared to the seed collection in the
herbarium.
For tree species other than beech and sugar maple, total seeds were
counted but not viability in collections #1-36 (2006). Starting in
2006, all conifer seeds were sorted by species and seed
viability/completeness was recorded for American beech, sugar maple,
red maple, red spruce and white ash (the XXXX_full).
Conifer seeds can be difficult to count due to their fragility,
similarity, and tendency to be enclosed in the cone. In collection #37
to present day (2006 and later), all conifer seeds are identified to
species. For conifer seed identification, beginning with collection
#37 (2006), 1 RESP nut/embryo = 1 full seed, but 1 wing with no
seed/nut = 1 empty. HEML were counted by the seed/nut only; due to the
fragility of wings it was not possible to count number of empty seeds.
Before collection #37 (pre-2006), attempts were made to identify
conifer seeds but the numbers should be taken as a qualitative
assessment. If a cone fell in the bucket in collections #1-36, the
biologist could identify species (RESP, EAHE); if not, the conifer
seeds were counted in the SP_FI_HE category. Avoid comparing EAHE or
RESP numbers prior to 2006 due to this lack of specificity.
For yellow birch, because of seed processing issues (small, fragile,
numerous), in 2003 (collections #30 and 31), seeds were not enumerated
in the YEBI_total column, but were counted qualitatively as follows:
High >50, Medium 10-50, Low <10, None = 0. Starting in 2004
(collection #32) and until the present time, >50 seeds is marked as
51 but there may have been more seeds than 51, as the biologist
usually stopped counting after 50. Accordingly, some samples contain
estimated YEBI seeds; this is noted in the comments by “est.” or “over
50 YEBI.”
