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Needs for Additional Research

TNC’s National Vegetation Classification System is the most important development for the study of natural plant communities in the last decade. This uniform, standardized method for classifying plant communities will provide a reliable means for comparing where we are with where we have been. Alternatively, efforts to model the current and projected distributions of plant communities or forest trees can substantially aid our understanding of the distribution of plant diversity throughout the South. For example, Prasad and Iverson (1999) have developed multiple maps of the current and projected distributions of 80 eastern forest trees based on a variety of sets of projected conditions.

Even though trained botanists have been exploring the Southern United States for over 300 years, the mapping of native plant communities has just begun. A full accounting of the variation and geography of species and their communities is critical. This information is essential to make an accurate assessment of the conservation needs of the region.

The greatest challenges to natural plant communities throughout the nation, but particularly in the South, are conversion to agriculture, the creation of tree plantations, and urbanization. The fourth common source of degradation of natural plant communities is the incursion of exotic invasive plant species. There is a great need to investigate more effective methods of control, whether chemical, biological, or physical. There are many safety concerns associated with chemical and biological control methods, but physical methods usually prove slow and expensive. It is impossible to eliminate exotic species from our region, but we can still take steps to reduce their impact on native plant communities and learn to better manage the impacts.

There is currently a management emphasis on the retention and development of old-growth forests, or forest stands with old-growth characteristics, on public land. However, concerns over the habitat needs of wildlife, especially migratory birds, has recently highlighted the broader need for forests with a range of structural traits. Early successional forest stands in particular support a very different array of native plant communities than do mature forests. There is a significant opportunity for research to contribute to a better understanding of the historical abundance and distribution of open areas in the South.

Finally, a future research priority for native plant communities should be restoration ecology. In the past, restoration has meant the establishment of any kind of vegetative cover on denuded landscape such as eroded farmland or strip mines. In the last decade, there has been a significant trend toward restoration of native communities using native plant material. However, the availability of native material is limited, and there is a growing concern about the source of the plant material used in restoration. We have much to learn about the distribution of genetic diversity in the native species commonly used for restoration, and even more to learn about the potential for use in restoration of the majority of plant species native to the South.