Date of Award

Spring 5-7-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science - Forestry

Department

Forestry

First Advisor

Dr. Jeremy Stovall

Second Advisor

Dr. Rebecca Kidd

Third Advisor

Dr. Yuhui Weng

Abstract

Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) response to commercial thinning was evaluated in twenty mid-rotation loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stands in East Texas. Yaupon density was recorded before and after thinning in each site, along with groundline diameter, DBH, and height of tagged stems. The study implemented two thinning treatments: fourth row and fifth row removal across all sites. Pre thinning yaupon biomass and stem density were negatively related to overstory pine basal area; however, site-level differences explained a substantial portion of the observed variation. Following commercial thinning, yaupon stem density decreased significantly across all plots (mean reduction ≈ 52%, p = 0.003), and biomass showed a marginal reduction overall (p = 0.086) that became statistically significant when one influential plot with extreme baseline biomass was excluded (p = 0.017). Negative binomial and ANCOVA models incorporating basal area removed and thinning configuration did not detect significant effects of intensity or spatial pattern. Tagged stem growth showed no significant response to change in basal area. These findings suggest that thinning alone is not sufficient for yaupon control without complementary vegetation management.

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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