Dr. Herb Bormann (Duke PhD, Ecology, 1952) returns to the Bormann plot to observe oak and hickory regeneration failure more than 50 years after his studies (~March 2006, with Acer rubrum fully in bloom).

For more on ecology and statistics of the forest-change data of the Bormann plot and the Duke Forest at large, see:
Bormann, F.H. 1953. The statistical efficiency of sample plot size and shape in forest ecology. ECOLOGY 34: 474-487.
Ickstadt, K. and R. Wolpert.
McDonald, R.I., R.K. Peet, and D.L. Urban. 2002. Environmental correlates of oak decline and red maple increase in the North Carolina Piedmont. CASTANEA 67: 84-95.
McDonald, R.I., R.K. Peet, and D.L. Urban. 2003. Spatial pattern of oak regeneration limitation in a complex forest environment. Journal of Vegetation Science 14: 441-450.