The composition, diversity, and heterogeneity of some jack pine (Pinus banksiana) stands in northeastern Ontario

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Abstract
Understory composition, diversity and interquadrat heterogeneity are examined among a series of 23 jack pine (P. banksiana Lamb.) dominated stands in northeastern Ontario. Information on the soils, density, and age structure of the trees was available for each site studied. Composition in both vegetation and soils data sets was explored using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), an efficient trend seeking ordination technique. Following a rotation to congruence of vegetation axes upon those for soil, variation in the soils data accounted for a maximum of 40-50% variance in the first 2 axes of the vegetation analysis. Examination of a residual ordination, after soil effects were removed, indicated a primary gradient related to both canopy type and frequency of disturbance by surface fire. Diversity measures, including richness and N2, showed no relationship to stand age, disturbance frequency, or canopy type. Some indefinite patterns appeared with bryophyte diversity. Interquadrat heterogeneity showed no relationship to stand age, canopy type, or disturbance regime as more than 1 source of spatial pattern was evident among the stands. These results are discussed in relation to the study of succession by indirect methods.