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Abstract
Rapid and ongoing environmental change and additional anthropogenic stress pose a threat to many forest ecosystems. Environmental stresses including changes in disturbance regimes, altered land use, and introduced species can directly affect native tree and plant abundance and alter natural ecological functions and processes. Small forests face additional vulnerability to these environmental stresses due to their size and isolation or lack of connectivity to other forest ecosystems. As there are a myriad of situations in which to conserve, restore, and manage forest ecosystems at small spatial scales of 50 ha or less, it is imperative that forest land managers and owners, restoration practitioners, and environmental consultants and stewards realize what management tools and restoration efforts are available and understand their ecological consequences.To address some small forest management concerns and restoration challenges, my dissertation research uses a range of methods to better understand small forest ecology and identify management consequences of different tools and restoration efforts. I will first evaluate forest dynamics models that are available and appropriate for small forest use and can help answer questions small forest managers have about their forests. Then, I will demonstrate how
demographic modeling and decision-making frameworks can help guide forest managers to make management decisions about tree population dynamics, using maritime live oak (Quercus virginiana) (MLO) forests on Jekyll Island and other barrier islands along the Georgia, U.S. coast as a case study. I will then continue to explore MLO forest ecology within Jekyll Island by evaluating the effects of deer on native plant and tree seedling abundance and note whether deer are facilitating a camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) invasion using an experiment with deer exclosures on one of the island’s small forests. Finally, I will use multivariate analyses to understand how abiotic and biotic environmental conditions such as soil moisture and adult tree composition affect native plant communities on Jekyll Island.