Guidelines for the Pine Paper Literature Summary

Your assignment for the Factors affecting Pine Distribution Lab (Part I)meeting is to read and summarize an article related to the germination and growth of pine seedlings. You have each been assigned a paper to summarize; see the second page of this document which contains a list of all the papers and student ID’s, listed by lab section. Find your student ID, then click on the name of the author on that row. This will take you to JSTOR, one of the library’s electronic resource databases. You can then download a PDF copy of your paper by following the instructions on the JSTOR website.

Your summary for the pine paper review should contain the following elements:

  1. Citation – At the top of your summary, you should provide the complete citation for the paper you are reviewing. This citation should follow the format used in the literature citation section of a formal lab report or review paper.
  2. Observations – Provide a brief summary of the prior observations that motivated the study. These can typically be found in the introduction to your paper.
  3. Hypothesis being tested – Summarize the central idea being tested by the researcher(s). Again, this is usually found in the introductory section of your paper.
  4. Methods – Briefly summarize the experimental approach used by the researcher(s), focusing on the type of data they collected to test their idea(s), NOT the details of their procedures.
  5. Results – What did the data the researcher(s) collected tell them about their original idea?
  6. Conclusions – Given the information above, what conclusions did the author(s) reach?

Your summary should be no longer than 1.5 pages, double-spaced, with standard top, bottom and side margins. You only need to focus on the information in your article that relates specifically to pines. If your article contains information on other tree species, you do not have to include this information. In Chapter 6 of A Short Guide to Writing about Biology, Jan Pechenick (2004) provides an overview of how to write a summary of a research article if you need more help.

The summary is due at the beginning of the lab period for the week of 20 October. You should bring two copies, one to submit and one to discuss with your review group. See next page to access the paper that you have been assigned:

Paper / Monday Lab Section / Wednesday Lab Section / Friday Lab Section
McQuilkin, W. E. 1940. The natural establishment of pine in abandoned fields in the Piedmont plateau region. Ecology 21:135-147
Oosting, H. J. and P. J. Kramer. 1946. Water and Light in Relation to Pine Reproduction. Ecology 27: 47-53.
Kramer, P. J, H. J. Oosting and C. F. Korstian. 1952. Survival of pine and hardwood seedlings in forest and open. Ecology 33: 427-430.
Bormann, F. H. 1953. Factors determining the role of loblolly pine and sweetgum in early old-field succession in the piedmont of North Carolina. Ecological Monographs 23: 339-358.
Ferrell, W. K. 1953. Effect of environmental conditions on survival and growth of forest tree seedlings under field conditions in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Ecology 34:667-688.
Pinder, J. E. III, F. B. Golley and R. F. Lide. 1995. Factors affecting limited reproduction by loblolly pine in a large old field. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122: 306-311.
Paper / Approach / Findings
McQuilkin, W. E. 1940. The natural establishment of pine in abandoned fields in the Piedmont plateau region. Ecology 21:135-147 / Observational field study comparing several locations of one season. / 1° distance from seed source
2° soil moisture as affected by erosion, topogr., herb cover, soil type, but not “controlling”
Oosting, H. J. and P. J. Kramer. 1946. Water and Light in Relation to Pine Reproduction. Ecology 27: 47-53. / Observational field study comparing several locations of one season.
Why pines fail to grow under large pines. / Low moisture not important in explaining lack of pine seedlings in forest. Full sunlight necessary for survival (more resistant to fire & drought due to better root system).
Kramer, P. J, H. J. Oosting and C. F. Korstian. 1952. Survival of pine and hardwood seedlings in forest and open. Ecology 33: 427-430. / Experimental seed plots established for 4 different species under 3 light and 2 moisture conditions, and followed for two years. / High light needed for good pine survival.
Soil moisture at levels tested was not important.
Bormann, F. H. 1953. Factors determining the role of loblolly pine and sweetgum in early old-field succession in the piedmont of North Carolina. Ecological Monographs 23: 339-358. / Observational field study and greenhouse experiments.
Why pines fail to grow under large pines. / Address pine abundance relative to sweet gum. Size of seed source important. Drought & bare soil not important b/c loblolly adapted to this.
Ferrell, W. K. 1953. Effect of environmental conditions on survival and growth of forest tree seedlings under field conditions in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Ecology 34:667-688. / Experimental multispecies seed plots established. / Light and good, moist soil increased survivorship, but light gives edge over competitors.
Pinder, J. E. III, F. B. Golley and R. F. Lide. 1995. Factors affecting limited reproduction by loblolly pine in a large old field. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122: 306-311. / Observational field study performed over multiple years / Not clear on exact mortality source but occurs btwn seed arrival and 1st year. Dispersal distance also important.

Your name:

First Group Synthesis of Pine Papers

After discussing the paper that was read by members of your group, prepare a short synthesis of the major conclusions of that paper. List all factors affecting Loblolly Pines that were examined in this study and state whether each of these factors was found to be important. If multiple factors were found important, rank these according to the authors’ assessment of these factors.

Names:

Second Group Synthesis of Pine Papers

Fill out the following matrix based on your discussion. List factors examined in the paper (e.g. light, temperature…, or even “unidentified factors affect 1st year…) influencing the abundance and distribution of Loblolly Pines. Indicate whether the results suggest that the factor was of primary importance (score as “1”), of secondary importance (“2”), not found to be significant (“ns”), ore not considered in the study (leave blank).

Factors influencing the abundance and distribution of Loblolly Pines examined in each paper:

/

McQuilkin, W. E. 1940. The natural establishment of pine in abandoned fields in the Piedmont plateau region. Ecology 21:135-147

/ Oosting, H. J. and P. J. Kramer. 1946. Water and Light in Relation to Pine Reproduction. Ecology 27: 47-53. / Kramer, P. J, H. J. Oosting and C. F. Korstian. 1952. Survival of pine and hardwood seedlings in forest and open. Ecology 33: 427-430. / Bormann, F. H. 1953. Factors determining the role of loblolly pine and sweetgum in early old-field succession in the piedmont of North Carolina. Ecological Monographs 23: 339-358. / Ferrell, W. K. 1953. Effect of environmental conditions on survival and growth of forest tree seedlings under field conditions in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Ecology 34:667-688. / Pinder, J. E. III, F. B. Golley and R. F. Lide. 1995. Factors affecting limited reproduction by loblolly pine in a large old field. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122: 306-311.

Why might there have been differences in the factors that were found to be important among papers examining the same factors.

Overall, what is the concensus of your group on the two most important factors influencing the abundance and distribution of Loblolly Pines: