Plant community composition of a tidally influenced, remnant atlantic white cedar stand in Mississippi

Abstract

Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides [L.] B.S.P.) is a common tree species along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida but is relatively uncommon along the Gulf of Mexico Coast (Little 1950a; Laderman 1987, 1989). Korstian and Brush (1931) observed large populations of Atlantic white cedar in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, but these stands were not thoroughly evaluated and subsequent logging may have degraded or eliminated some. Stands in Alabama have been severely depleted (Ward 1987). Only one stand in Mississippi (Eleuterius and Jones 1972) has been quantitatively studied and results published in the literature. Ward and Clewell (1989) presented the most comprehensive description of known Atlantic white cedar locations along the Gulf of Mexico coast, but the majority of stands they discussed included only a general location and little community composition data. In addition to the stand along Bluff Creek (described by Eleuterius and Jones 1972), Ward and Clewell (1989, page 11) reported that in Mississippi, Atlantic white cedar occurs along ...tributaries of the Escatawpa River and Pascagoula River, Jackson County; and branches of the Catahoula River, Pearl River County. McCoy and Keeland (2005) provided a more comprehensive description of Atlantic white cedar locations in Mississippi. They listed this species in five counties with the main concentration near the Alabama border in Jackson County. This sparse occurrence of Atlantic white cedar in Mississippi may reflect how few large stands remain. © 2007 Springer.