How can a pine forest change the environment so that it's more favorable for a maple forest than a pine?

Answer 1

I have this exact question in my Biology hmework, hm so far all Ive been able to find in anser to this is the following:

"In a natural setting, it usually does not make an environment more favourable for maple trees. This is from my experience in eastern Canada.

The only exception that comes to mind is when pine forests are planted where desertification has occurred. Desertification is a result of land-clearing (usually for agriculture), which removes almost everything living from a piece of land. This land then suffers from the rapid decline in biodiversity, from a harsher micro-climate, increased soil nutrient leaching, etc. However, the land can be partially restored to its previous state (which was often a tolerant hardwood forest) by planting pine trees.

Most if not all pine trees in eastern Canada grow well (or, better than other species) on sandy, acidic, dry, poor soils. For this reason, they were planted extensively where old worthless farmland was found. People still plant pine seedlings in old farm fields today, but not as much as in the past (1950s - 1970s) when pine plantations were "in". Planting pine trees "can serve as nurse crops, allowing shade-adapted, late-successional species to develop. They can also protect riparian habitats, restore the ecology of degraded sites, and improve the quality of water, air, and soil." In other words, this pine forests creates a shaded, forested ecosystem in which maples (and other trees like beech and yellow birch) can establish more easily. The type of forest that was there in the precolonial era will most likely re-establish with time, although this may take centuries or even millennia."

Hope that helps, but I would keep searching, good luck!