Spatial Ecology and Restoration of the Longleaf Pine Evosystem

Abstract

Trees of the genus Pinus have been dominant species in the southeastern Coastal Plain (SECP) landscape since the Pleistocene (c. 2 million years). When Spanish conquistadors arrived 500 years ago, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest covered millions of hectares, and was the dominant land cover type throughout the SECP from southeastern Virginia to eastern Texas.