Relationships between Vegetational Strata in the Pine Barrens of Central Long Island, New York

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Abstract
The structure of forest stands of central Long Island, N. Y., was analyzed to determine relationships between the three principal strata: the tree stratum, a scrub oak stratum, and a heath-shrub layer termed a heath-shrub synusia. The analyses showed that the coverages of scrub oak were highest in pitch pine-dominated stands and declined in oak-dominated stands. The importance and vigor of the heath-shrub synusia, measured as biomass, declined with increasing scrub oak cover as well as with increasing oak basal area. Species importance within this synusia also varied with changing canopy conditions. The factors controlling these relationships could not be fully assessed in this study, but it is suggested that two somewhat independent agencies are involved as communities develop through succession: growth and competition between heath-shrub synusia species following recovery from disturbance, and changes in the influences of the tree canopy and scrub oak strata on the shrub synusia as they change in composition and density.