ABSTRACT

Competition for available resources—light, water, nutrients, physical space to grow—is a primary driver of plant population dynamics. A tremendous amount of knowledge has been acquired about regeneration dynamics in natural longleaf pine forests. This chapter covers the current body of knowledge with respect to seedling and sapling development in natural longleaf pine forests. It discusses the role that multiple factors have on the establishment, survival, and growth of longleaf pines as they germinate, become established as advanced regeneration, and reach the sapling size class. Stochastic natural disturbance events, distributed unequally over time and space, produce the large size and age variations that are observed in many mature longleaf pine forests. Over time, aboveground and belowground competition results in mixed patterns of longleaf pine seedling survival and growth in response to overstory density. The silviculture of southern pines in the 20th century largely focused on wood and fiber production with a minor focus on other objectives and associated attributes.