Winter desiccation and solar radiation in relation to red spruce decline in the northern Appalachians

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian L. Hadley ◽  
Andrew J. Friedland ◽  
Graham T. Herrick ◽  
Robert G. Amundson
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
New England ◽  
Cold Hardiness ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Light Period ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Freezing Injury ◽  
Radiation Load ◽  
Northern New England ◽  
Spruce Needles

Exposure to direct solar radiation was correlated with needle death within individual high-elevation red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) shoots following winter injury episodes at six sites in 1980 and 1989. We observed extensive visible needle damage to red spruce in northern New England between March and May of 1989 and determined that it was preceded by desiccation. In an independent growth chamber experiment, red spruce needles were heated to above freezing when exposed to strong illumination in calm subfreezing air. Rapid needle cooling occurred when the radiation load was suddenly reduced at the end of each light period, and needles desiccated severely within 10 days. These separate observations are consistent with three hypotheses: injury results from (i) desiccation, (ii) rapid needle cooling, (iii) freezing injury caused by a reduction in cold hardiness due to solar heating. These three mechanisms are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Influence of thawing rate and fungal infection by Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii on freezing injury in red spruce (Picea rubens) needles

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 918-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Manter ◽  
William H. Livingston
Keyword(s):  
Picea Rubens ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Freezing Injury ◽  
Bud Break ◽  
Freezing Damage ◽  
Northeastern North America ◽  
Plastic Bags ◽  
Thawing Rate ◽  
Spruce Needles ◽  
Needle Loss

Red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) decline has been observed in northeastern North America for the last 30 years. A major inciting stress involved in this decline is freezing injury of foliage. The objectives of this study were the following: (i) to examine how photosynthesis, needle electrolyte leakage, chlorophyll loss, needle reddening, needle loss and bud break respond to single freezing events down to −45 °C on 3-year-old seedlings; (ii) to test if faster thawing rates increase the amount of freezing injury; and (iii) to measure how Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii Bubák inoculations interact with freeze-injured needles. Two trials, one of 60 seedlings and one of 80 seedlings, were conducted. The second trial had half the seedlings covered with plastic bags for doubling the thawing time. Photosynthesis, as measured by gas exchange, was consistently the most sensitive measure, detecting nonvisible injury on uncovered seedlings (p < 0.05) at −25 °C. Measurements detecting freezing damage on covered, slower thawing seedlings were photosynthesis, chlorophyll loss, and percent budbreak. Faster thawing rates increased the amount of injury ca. 2- to 3-fold after freezing to −35 or −45 °C for all measures. Infection by R. kalkhoffii increased 40–83% after freezing needles to −40 or −45 °C. Fungal inoculations caused ca. 40–60% reduction in photosynthesis on needles frozen to −40 or −45 °C. This study suggests that two new factors can increase freezing injury on red spruce needles: a faster thawing rate and fungal (R. kalkhoffii) infection. These results are consistent with the growing knowledge that freezing injury is a complex phenomenon in red spruce.

Assessment of weather-associated causes of red spruce winter injury and consequences to aboveground carbon sequestration

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Schaberg ◽  
Brynne E. Lazarus ◽  
Gary J. Hawley ◽  
Joshua M. Halman ◽  
Catherine H. Borer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New England ◽  
C Sequestration ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Severe Winter ◽  
Injury Event ◽  
Northern New England ◽  
Using Data

Despite considerable study, it remains uncertain what environmental factors contribute to red spruce ( Picea rubens Sarg.) foliar winter injury and how much this injury influences tree C stores. We used a long-term record of winter injury in a plantation in New Hampshire and conducted stepwise linear regression analyses with local weather and regional pollution data to determine which parameters helped account for observed injury. Two types of weather phenomena were consistently associated with elevated injury: (i) measures of low-temperature stress that incite injury and (ii) factors that reduced the length of the growing season and predisposed trees to injury. At this plantation, there was a significant linear relationship between winter injury and growth reductions for 2 years after a severe winter injury event. Analysis using data from three New England states indicated that plantation data reflected a regional response. Using regional data, we estimated a reduction of 394 000 metric tons of C sequestered in living red spruce stems ≥20 cm in diameter growing in New York and northern New England during the 2 years following a severe winter injury event. This is a conservative estimate of reduced C sequestration because injury-induced mortality and other factors were not evaluated.

Effects of soil calcium and aluminum on the physiology of balsam fir and red spruce saplings in northern New England

Trees ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1657-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Boyce ◽  
Paul G. Schaberg ◽  
Gary J. Hawley ◽  
Joshua M. Halman ◽  
Paula F. Murakami
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Soil Calcium ◽  
Northern New England

Patterns of foliar injury to red spruce on Whiteface Mountain, New York, during a high-injury winter

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Boyce
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Freezing Injury ◽  
Adirondack Mountains ◽  
Foliar Injury ◽  
Southern Aspect ◽  
Whiteface Mountain ◽  
A Site

Winter injury to red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) after the winter of 1992–1993 was measured at an elevation of 1050 m at a site on Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Approximately 21% of the 1992 foliage was injured. Damage increased with height in the canopy (P < 0.0001), and was highest on the southern aspect (P < 0.0001), followed by the western aspect, which sustained more damage than the northern and eastern aspects (P < 0.0001). Damage was highest on trees whose canopy was fertilized with nitrogen, intermediate on ground-fertilized trees, and lowest on untreated trees, but differences were not significant (P = 0.45) and were confounded with stand structure differences. The strong aspect and height patterns of damage confirm earlier work showing that solar radiation plays an important role in causing the freezing injury that leads to winter damage in red spruce.

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