| Plant communities in post-agricultural (secondary) forests frequently lack herbs found in forests with no history of agricultural disturbance (primary), but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to determine if certain factors could limit the early establishment, growth or fecundity of forest herbs in secondary forests. In this study conducted at six paired, primary and secondary forests in central New York, no differences were found between primary and secondary forests with regard to tested properties of soil, canopy cover, mycorrhization rates, seed germination rates or seedling growth of selected forest herbs. Average biomass and fruit-set of one-year-old Maianthemum racemosum transplants did not differ between stand types or between fenced plots and plots exposed to deer herbivory. These results suggest that some other factors might be responsible for the impoverishment of plant communities within secondary forests in this region.;Keywords: Primary forests, soil properties, deer herbivory, seedling growth, mycorrhizae, Maianthemum racemosum. |
