Impacts of Timber Stand Improvement on the Spread of Invasive Sericea Lespedeza (Lespedeza Cuneata) in Working Pine Forests

摘要: Relatively little research has focused on the control and spread of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) in the pine forests of the southeastern United States despite sericea being one of the most important forest invaders of this region. Timber thinning is a common tool for forestry and wildlife management in southeastern working pine lands; however, thinning intensity varies depending on management goals. Higher-intensity thinning may facilitate the spread of sericea due to increased availability of understory sunlight, though the degree to which this effect could be mitigated by common management practices is unclear. We compared the probability of sericea occurrence along transects in pine stands in central Georgia subjected to prescribed fire, herbicide application, and differing levels of thinning intensity to assess the effects of thinning intensity on sericea occurrence and potential control with fire or herbicides. We found that sericea was generally uncommon and never a major component of the understory vegetation in our study area. When present, sericea was effectively controlled in the first growing season post-treatment by spring burns and herbicide (metsulfuron-methyl) application, but only herbicides provided control for additional years post-treatment. We found no indication that thinning intensity affected sericea spread, potentially due to the historical lack of sericea planting in the study areas. While sericea is a problematic invasive species in Southeastern forests, our results suggest that varying the intensity of timber thinning in working pine lands may have a negligible effect on its spread.