The forest associations of the Little Lost Man Creek Research Natural Area, Redwood National Park, CA

The old-growth redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest associations of the Little Lost Man Creek Research Natural Area in Redwood National Park, CA, were defined by this study. Eighty stands on a systematic sample grid were inventoried using releve-style sampling procedures of the Zurich-Montpellier (ZM) method of phytosociology. Traditional ZM synthetic procedures and modern multivariate techniques of classification (i.e. two-way indicator species analysis and discriminant analysis) were used to define the associations and to investigate the relationship between the distribution of the associations and topographic and edaphic factors in the natural area. A forest association map derived from the classified sample grid subdivided the vegetation into homogeneous subunits occupying uniform habitats. Three forest associations were defined: the Sequoia sempervirens/Blechnum spicant association at lower elevations on relatively moist, concave lower slopes; the Sequoia sempervirens/Arbutus menziesii association at higher elevations on relatively xeric, convex upper slopes and ridges; and the Sequoia sempervirens/Mahonia pervosa association at mid-elevations on intermediate, relatively mesic sites.