Comparing The Benedict/Johnson Forest Biomass And The Self-Thinning Law

is a process that occurs after a natural disaster or disturbance that rearranges the composition of species over a given amount of time. This causes restoration of plant species in a disturbed area to replace one another. There are two types of succession, primary and secondary. Primary succession is described as a habitat that lack plants and organic soil and secondary is described as a habitats that have been were disturbed, do not have any plant life but contain organic soil. Succession of new species connects to the plant communities’ competition over light, nutrients, and water. This competition can lead to a certain species richness or percent similarity within a given area. The disturbance that happened in the Benedict/Johnson Forest
The negative density-dependent growth of plants demonstrates that plants that are grown at high densities have harder access to resources such as light, soil nutrients, and water (Ricklefs 2014). This affects the overall growth of the plant. This causes high competition amongst plants trying to grow after a disturbance. The self-thinning law shows this relationship graphically and predicts the survival and growth of tree seedlings (Ricklefs 2014). The slope of the line should be approximately -3/2, which is the self-thinning law. The purpose of this experiment is to see how a tornado has affected the growth and progression of the Benedict/Johnson Forest Preserve. I hypothesize that there will be no difference in biomass among the young, intermediate, and mature parts of the forest. Also, I hypothesize that percent similarity will be higher in the intermediate and mature parts of the forest. Lastly, I hypothesize the relative humidity and canopy cover will not have a significant affect on the three locations measured at the Benedict/Johnson Forest