Ecology of Red Maple Swamps in the Glaciated Northeast: A ...

C-J Spruce-Fa
Beech-Birch-Maple
Mite Ptne-Hemlock-Hardwood
in] Oak-Yellow Poplar
Pitch Pine-Hardwood
Fig. 1.3. Major forest regj om of the glaciated
Northeast (after Lull 1968 and
Little 1979).
Limit of Wisconsin
T
data for each physiographic region in the Northeast.
Major Forest Regions
The forests of the glaciated Northeast can be divided
into five major regions (Fig. 1.3), which are
differentiated according to the forest associations that
dominate the upland landscape: spruce-fir, beechbirch-maple,
white pine-hemlock-hardwood, oakyellow-poplar,
and pitch pine-hardwood. As comparison
of Figs. 1.2 and 1.3 suggests, the confition of
the various forest regions is determined largely by
physiography and related climatic fa&.
Table 1.3 identifies the most common tree species
found on upland and wetland sites in the five forest
regions. Red maple swamps occur throughout the
North&, but their relative abundance and floristic
mmposition vary with physiography and forest region
Cenerallx Cdese wetlands are most abundant in the
white pine-hemlock-hardwd region and least abundant
in the spmm-fir region.
Eeologg~ and Distribution of
Red Maple
Red maple is an extremely broadly adapted species
that OGCWS in both wetland and upland habitats
throughout the eastern United States @owells
1965). It is found virtually everywhere east of the
100th meridian where precipitation is adequate to
support tree growth (Fig. 1.4). It occurs on dry,
moist, and wet soils derived from a wide variety of
bedrock types, ranging from acidic granites and
gneisses to basic sedimentary rocks such as limestone.
It grows on dry mountain ridges, in seasonally
flooded depressions with organic or mineral
soils, in mesic hardwood forests, in bored conifer
forests, and in southern bottomlands. Both northern
and southern wetland studies characterize red
maple as a moderately flood-tolerant tree (Hall and
Smith 1955; Teskey and Hinckley 1978a, 197810;
McKnight et al. 1981; Theriot 1988) that is most
common on sites that are intermediate in wetness
between permanent flooding and temporary or intermittent
flooding (Buell and Wistendahl 1955;
Satterlund 1960; Monk 1966; Sollers 1973; Dabel
and Day 1977; Conner and Day 1982; Huenneke
1982). In the glaciated Northeast, red maple predominates
in swamps where soils are saturated or
flooded from late fall through early summer in most
years.
The Society of American Foresters (SAF) currently
recognizes 90 forest cover types in the eastern
United States (Eyre 1980). Redmaple is a major
component (i.e., composes at least 2% of total
stand basal area) in five of these types and is listed
as an associated species in 63 others. It is a major
or associated species in 41 of the 43 forest cover