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Rapid wood decay and nutrient mineralization in an old-growth bottomland hardwood forest
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Matthew C. Ricker*, B. Graeme Lockaby, Gavin Blosser, and William H. Conner
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* Corresponding author. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 400 East Second St., Bloomsburg, PA
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17815 USA. E-mail: mricker@bloomu.edu
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Online Resource 1: Representative photographs of study plots and red imported fire ant (RIFA)
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damage to woody debris in Congaree National Park, South Carolina, USA.
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Fig. S1 Photograph of study plot #2 representative of the well drained natural river levee (painted
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marker represents the center of a 10 m diameter circular plot). Dominant overstory species
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include sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis),
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sugarberry (Celtis laevigata), and pawpaw (Asimina triloba). All plot photographs were taken in
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March 2013. Photo credits: M.C. Ricker
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Fig. S2 Photograph of study plot #6 representative of the moderately well drained hardwood flat
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landscape (painted marker represents the center of a 10 m diameter circular plot). Dominant
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overstory species include sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), sugarberry (Celtis laevigata),
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and various bottomland oaks (Quercus spp.). The flat understory contained many switchcane
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(Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl. ssp. tecta (Walter) McClure) breaks. Photo credits: M.C.
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Ricker
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Fig. S3 Photograph of study plot #12 representative of the somewhat poorly drained transitional
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landscape (painted marker represents the center of a 10 m diameter circular plot). Dominant
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overstory species include various bottomland oaks (Quercus spp.), baldcypress (Taxodium
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distichum), and American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). The transitional landscape
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understory was generally open and high water marks to 1.5 m were present on the tree trunks.
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Photo credits: M.C. Ricker
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Fig. S4 Photograph of study plot #19 representative of the poorly drained backswamp landscape
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(painted marker represents the center of a 10 m diameter circular plot). The overstory was
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dominated by baldcypress (Taxodium distichum). The backswamp landscape understory was
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generally open and high water marks to >2.0 m were present on the tree trunks. Photo credits:
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M.C. Ricker
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Fig. S5 Photograph of red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta) workers actively stripping
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the outer bark and sapwood from freshly fallen woody debris. Photo credits: M.C. Ricker
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Fig. S6 Photographs of red maple (Acer rubrum) wood from Congaree National Park in advanced stages of decay after 459 d in the
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field (July 2012 collection). A: Photograph of significant invertebrate damage to outer bark and sapwood of a wood sample, resulting
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in significant original volume loss. B: Evidence of substantial wood-boring invertebrate activity, borings typically penetrated to the
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inner-most heartwood. Photo credits: M.C. Ricker