Two hundred year variation of southern red spruce radial growth as estimated by spectral analysis: Comment

Spectral analysis was applied to high-elevation (≥1800 m) old-growth (≥200 years) red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) tree-ring data from eight plots on Clingmans Dome, North Carolina. Low-frequency sine and cosine functions with wavelengths greater than or equal to 10 years accounted for between 76 and 90% of the variation in mean ring widths for all eight sites analyzed. Mean radial growth has increased and decreased no less than nine times over the last 200 years, with no evidence of constant radial growth for extended periods of time. Since the mid-1960s, radial growth has decreased and increased twice and is currently increasing through 1986, the last year of sampling. Growth in 1976 was equal to or greater than pre-1965 levels. A local maximum (mid-1960s) of the periodic cycles in radial growth coincides with the reported downturn in radial growth of red spruce at other locations in the southern Appalachians. Verification of historical growth periodicities can best be evaluated through continual monitoring of trees from a greater number of sites.

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Two hundred year variation of southern red spruce radial growth as estimate by spectral analysis: Reply

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x94-297 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 24 (11) ◽

pp. 2305-2311 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gregory A. Reams ◽

N.S. Nicholas ◽

S.M. Zedaker

Keyword(s):

Spectral Analysis ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Red Spruce

not available

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Red spruce decline on Whiteface Mountain, New York. II. Relationships between apical and radial growth decline

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x90-187 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 1415-1421 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

David C. LeBlanc ◽

Dudley J. Raynal

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Red Spruce ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

Spruce Decline ◽

Growth Decline ◽

Whiteface Mountain ◽

The 1960S ◽

Crown Dieback ◽

The Relationship

Understanding the relationship between apical and radial growth decline can contribute toward the evaluation of hypotheses regarding causal mechanisms of red spruce decline. The etiology of red spruce decline in montane spruce-fir forests of the northeastern United States includes loss of foliage at branch apices, crown dieback, and unreversed radial growth decline since the 1960s. Demographic analyses of crown damage and radial growth decline for red spruce on Whiteface Mountain, New York, indicate that large, canopy-emergent trees with exposed crowns exhibit greater decline than codominant trees within an intact canopy. In this paper, radial growth decline is shown to have been coincident with decreased apical growth and increased incidence of injury to terminal leaders. Incidence of leader mortality is greatest for canopy-emergent red spruce or trees with exposed crowns, similar to patterns described for radial growth. This relationship suggests that the post-1960 decline of red spruce on Whiteface Mountain is caused, at least in part, by stresses that act directly on the crown.

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Synchronie large-scale disturbances and red spruce growth decline

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x93-173 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (7) ◽

pp. 1361-1374 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gregory A. Reams ◽

Paul C. Van Deusen

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Large Scale ◽

Red Spruce ◽

Southern Appalachians ◽

Time Interval ◽

Growth Reduction ◽

Usda Forest Service ◽

Tree Ring Data ◽

Growth Decline

Tree-ring data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory & Analysis and other independent sources were used to study coincidence of changes in growth and large-scale disturbances. Numerous studies report that mean radial growth of red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) declined synchronously throughout its range in the early 1960s. We use red spruce tree-ring data from most of the major studies to show that the synchronicity of red spruce growth decline is likely the outcome of the large-scale disturbances that occurred throughout the northeastern red spruce ecosystem in the late 1930s to early 1950s. Large-scale disturbances are either not detectable or not present in the same time interval in the southern Appalachians. This appears to correspond to an absence of a 1960s radial growth reduction in this region.

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Assessing relationships between red spruce radial growth and pollution critical load exceedance values

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2015.09.029 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 359 ◽

pp. 83-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Benjamin J. Engel ◽

Paul G. Schaberg ◽

Gary J. Hawley ◽

Shelly A. Rayback ◽

Jennifer Pontius ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Critical Load ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Red Spruce ◽

Critical Load Exceedance

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Bootstrap confidence intervals for red spruce ring-width chronologies and an assessment of age-related bias in recent growth trends

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x90-176 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 1326-1331 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Edward R. Cook

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Confidence Intervals ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Ring Width ◽

Red Spruce ◽

Tree Age ◽

Bootstrap Confidence Intervals ◽

Age Related ◽

Growth Increase ◽

Recent Trends

Bootstrap confidence intervals are developed for mean ring-width chronologies of red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.). These confidence intervals are robust, easy to compute, and useful for determining the "significance of recent trends in radial growth that may be related to forest decline. By comparing the mean chronologies of different age-classes of red spruce trees in two different collections, it is shown that a serious age-related bias may result if the series are blindly averaged without considering the differences in growth rate related to tree age and stand dynamics. However, even when age differences are taken into account, there is evidence for a common increase in radial growth rate of red spruce in the 1950s followed by rapid and sustained decrease after 1960. The cause of this widespread growth increase and decrease has not yet been established, and some current hypotheses are discussed.

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Stand history: an alternative explanation of red spruce radial growth reduction

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x90-036 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 250-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Gregory A. Reams ◽

Manuela M.P. Huso

Keyword(s):

Growth Rates ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Red Spruce ◽

Radial Increment ◽

Growth Reduction ◽

Subsequent Increase ◽

Growth Release ◽

Growth Increase ◽

The 1960S

We classified red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) sites from northern Maine by radial growth release history. Two major releases were apparent for a majority of the sites. The first was a reduction and subsequent increase in radial increment in 1920. The second was an increase in radial increment from 1935 to 1955. Red spruce radial growth reduction in the 1960s is apparent only for sites released from 1935 to 1955 (approximately 54% of the sites in this study). These sites are now approaching the radial growth rates of the unreleased stands. Birch dieback is suggested as a probable contributor to the 1935–1955 red spruce growth increase and subsequent 1960s growth reduction.

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