stand of young trees and a sparse stand of mature trees may result in equivalent canopy
cover. In addition, trees in wetland conditions are often buttressed, a morphological
response of increased cell size, as a result of flooding. Under either circumstance, trees
with greater basal area may not have the greatest canopy cover. The following formula is
suggested for establishing a forest successional status, which more adequately quantifies
the influence of trees on self-organization than chronological age.

 Community Basal Area Canopy Cover = Forest Successional Status

 Table 7.15 compares the chronological age of the research sites with their forest
successional status. Notice the similarity in successional status between the eight-year-
old site and the seventeen-year-old site. Site comparisons made using successional status
rather than age reveal that the oldest site is chronologically fourteen while an eighteen-
year-old site is at a much earlier stage of succession. While this method can quantify the
impact of a developing forest on some aspects of the self-organization of a community, it
does not differentiate between a wetland and upland.


Table 7.15. A Comparison of Chronological Age and Forest Successional Status in
 Constructed Forested Wetlands.

 Forest
 Chronological Forest
 Site Name Successional
 Age (years) Status
 Status
 LP2 Phase 1 0.5 0.00
 C07984 5 0.00
 HP5 Phase 3 6 0.36
 Clear Springs 8 5.48
 East Lobe 10 0.56
 West Lobe 10 0.19
 Cateye 12 1.89
 SP11 14 6.07
 SP6 16 0.16
 Morrow Swamp 17 5.41
 Sink Branch 18 2.48
 Parcel B 19 5.17
 Natural Hardwood ? .
 ??? 35.00
 Swamp


 Individual soil parameters graphed against age provided little information on the
development of wetland soil properties with time. However as expected based on basic
soil science, when soil parameters were graphed against each other, stronger trends


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