The influence of drought on red oak group species growth and mortality in the Missouri Ozarks

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1119-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Jenkins ◽  
Stephen G. Pallardy

The effects of drought on growth of red oak group species were studied by examining basal area increment and ring width index patterns of dominant Quercuscoccinea Muenchh. (scarlet oak) and Quercusvelutina Lam. (black oak) trees sampled in 1990–1991 on 62 continuous forest inventory plots located across the southeastern Missouri Ozark Mountains. Trees of both species were older on plots that had suffered high mortality and showed post-1979 reductions in growth rate compared with trees growing on low-mortality plots. Quercuscoccinea trees from high-mortality plots that were dead at the time of sampling exhibited a distinct flattening in growth rate after the mid-1930s, although death did not occur for many years. Severe droughts in 1980 and 1986–1988 were associated with further accentuated reductions in growth rate in dead trees. Dead Q. coccinea that had grown on plots with lower mortality showed comparable reductions in basal area index and similar post-1979 growth patterns, but the departure in basal area index between living and dead trees occurred 2 decades later and was associated with a severe drought during 1953–1956. Additionally, dead trees on lower mortality plots grew faster than living trees for many years before the 1953–1956 drought, suggesting that rapid early growth rates may predispose trees to early death under certain conditions. The ring width index chronologies of both species growing on high- and low-mortality plots were significantly correlated with Palmer drought severity index values, further emphasizing that drought has an important influence on growth of red oak group species in the Missouri Ozarks. Analysis of first differences of ring width index chronologies indicated that severe drought had an additional persistent effect involving long-term reductions in the sensitivity of growth to climate. The results are consistent with previously hypothesized mechanisms of stand dieback and emphasize the role of severe droughts in predisposing trees to eventual death.


IAWA Journal ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid de Kort

A comparison was made of diameter growth and wood structure in 26 trees of Douglas fir of different vitality cJasses in a decJining, c. 50- years old stand in De Peel (southeastern Netherlands). Ring width patterns agree cJosely but not perfectly with vitality cJasses as estimated by external appearance of the crown. The 'diseased' vitality cJasses all show growth reductions over the last 20 to 30 years. In the most diseased cJass no wood had been formed at all at the stern base over the last 4 to 10 years. The onset of growth reduction may be connected with the effect of air pollution in the last 40 to 50 years. The most striking result was the inverse relationship between growth rate in the first 10 to 15 years of growth, and growth rate in the last decades: all trees which are healthy at present showed slow radial growth when young, and all diseased to dead trees exhibited fast growth in their youth.



Holzforschung ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuula Jyske ◽  
Seija Kaakinen ◽  
Urban Nilsson ◽  
Pekka Saranpää ◽  
Elina Vapaavuori

AbstractThe effects of thinning intensity on wood structure and chemistry of Norway spruce [Picea abies(L.) Karst.] have been studied in a long-term thinning experiment established in the 1960s in south-western Sweden. The experiment comprised datasets of unthinned control trees and trees of four thinning treatments, in which thinning operations of different intensities were carried out. These thinning operations were applied either once, three, or five times over the course of the stand rotation. Thinning intensities varied from 0% to 60% based on the stand basal area (BA) before thinning: (A) 5×20% (i.e., 20% of the BA removed five times); (B) 3×40% (i.e., 40% of the BA removed three times); (C) 1×60% (i.e., 60% of the BA removed once); and (D) 5×40% (i.e., 40% of the BA removed five times). Altogether 60 trees that were 67 years old were sampled 38 years after the treatment onset. Radial growth rate, wood density, tracheid properties, and the chemical composition of wood were studied in detail. All four thinning treatments increased growth rate and decreased wood density; however, treatment D showed the greatest change. Single, heavy thinning in treatment C resulted in unfavourable intra-stem variation in ring width and wood density. No significant differences in tracheid properties and wood chemistry were found between the treatments. We conclude that only a remarkable increase in growth rate would induce detrimental changes in tracheid properties and wood chemistry in the context of thinning.



2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Voelker ◽  
Rose-Marie Muzika ◽  
Richard P. Guyette

Abstract Repeated oak decline and mortality events have occurred in the Ozark region for decades and probably longer. We sampled an age sequence of 1,259 black and scarlet oaks (Quercus velutina Lam. and Quercus coccinea Muench.) to better describe the process of oak decline and mortality in the red oak group (subgenera Erythrobalanus). Trend in basal area increment (BAI) over the most recent 40 years was used to establish three vigor classes for trees with decreasing, stable, or increasing growth (Declining, Stable, or Healthy). We compared crown condition measures with absolute BAI and boundary line BAI, a measure of radial growth adjusted for tree size. A pulse of mortality was found to occur just subsequent to the most recent drought, although decline often started decades previously. Time series of individual tree BAI suggests that half of all oak decline events were incited by one or two drought-related step-changes in growth and variance. Predisposing factors to decline generally showed significant but weak relationships with crown conditions. Surviving oaks growing in high-mortality stands had poorer crown conditions and grew more slowly than trees in low-mortality stands. When recently dead trees were accounted for, the same high-mortality stands had significantly greater predecline basal area and stocking than low-mortality stands. Thus, a less competitive growth environment may afford some buffer to drought stress before oak decline but does not appear to help afflicted stands improve their growth and vigor.



2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
F. Tokár ◽  
E. Krekulová

The paper evaluates the growth, structure, production, quality, leaf area index and dendrochronology of 100 years old Austrian pine (Pinus nigra ARNOLD) monoculture situated in the forest type group Fageto-Quercetum in the locality Horné Lefantovce (Nitrianska Streda Forest District, Topoľčianky Forest Enterprise). Codominant trees, trees with stem of high quality, with medium-sized crown, medium dense and straight crown are the most abundant in the stand. The tree number in the stand is 1,024 trees/ha, basal area 51.75 m2/ha, growing stock 571.56 m3/ha, aboveground biomass stock 348.76 t/ha and leaf area index 21.85 ha/ha. Dendrochronological analyses examined the response in individual sample trees and minimum annual ring width was found in 1920, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1933, 1938, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1963, 1968, 1976, 1982, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2001. Marked maximum values of annual ring width in the years 1919, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1936, 1937, 1941, 1948, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1997 were found as a positive productive feature. Beginning in the year 1993, dry Austrian pine trees occurred in the stand as a result of the fungal infection by Sphaeropsis sapinea (Fr.) Dyko et Sutton.



2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 8341-8352 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Hember ◽  
W. A. Kurz ◽  
J. M. Metsaranta

Abstract. By taking core samples, dendroecological studies can reconstruct radial growth over the lifespan of a tree, providing a valuable way to estimate the sensitivity of tree productivity to environmental change. With increasing prevalence of such studies in global change science, it is worth cautioning that the incremental growth rate of a sub-dimension of a tree organ, such as annual ring width (w), does not respond to extrinsic perturbations with the same relative magnitude as the primary production of that organ. For example, if an extrinsic force causes a two-fold increase in the absolute growth rate of stemwood biomass (AGR), it should only theoretically translate into a 1.3-fold increase in w, or a 1.7-fold increase in basal area increment (BAI), when a 2:1 ratio in resource allocation to lateral and apical meristems is assumed. Expressing the magnitude of a response in relative terms does not, therefore, provide a valid means of comparing estimates of relative growth derived from measurement of different dimensional traits of the tree. From our perspective, enough conformity to facilitate comparison of environmental sensitivity across studies of tree growth is warranted so we emphasize the benefit of dimension analysis to transform measurements of w and BAI into the AGR. Although conversion to AGR introduces an error from the use of allometric equations, the approach is widely accepted in mainstream ecology and global change science at least partially because it avoids discrepancies in response magnitude owing to differences in dimension. Studies of organ elongation have historically provided invaluable information, yet it must be recognized that they systematically underestimate the response magnitude of primary production, and confound comparisons of growth sensitivity between many dendroecological studies that focus on w and studies of primary production.



Trees ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Christopoulou ◽  
Nikolaos M. Fyllas ◽  
Barbara Gmińska-Nowak ◽  
Yasemin Özarslan ◽  
Margarita Arianoutsou ◽  
...  

Abstract Key message Long Bosnian pine chronologies from different mountains are shaped by different climatic parameters and can help identify past drought events and reconstruct landscape histories. Abstract We developed a 735-year-long Pinus heldreichii chronology from the southern distribution limit of the species, expanding the available database of long Bosnian pine chronologies. Tree-ring growth was mainly positively correlated with growing degree days (GDD: r1950–2018 = 0.476) while higher temperatures during both winter and growing season also enhanced growth (TWT: r1950–2018 = 0.361 and TGS: 0.289, respectively). Annual precipitation, during both calendar and water years, had a negative but weaker impact on annual tree growth. The newly developed chronology correlates well with chronologies developed from the neighboring mountains. The years with ring width index (RWI) lower than the average were found to correspond to cool years with dry summers. Still, the newly developed chronology was able to capture severe drought events, such as those in 1660, 1687, and 1725. Several old living trees had internal scars presumably caused by fires. Therefore, old mature trees could be used for fire history reconstruction in addition to climate reconstruction. Although the presence of lightning scars indicates an important natural agent of fire ignition, human activities associated with animal grazing could also be an underlying reason for fires in the region.



2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. eabb7118
Author(s):  
E. Harris ◽  
E. Diaz-Pines ◽  
E. Stoll ◽  
M. Schloter ◽  
S. Schulz ◽  
...  

Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas whose atmospheric growth rate has accelerated over the past decade. Most anthropogenic N2O emissions result from soil N fertilization, which is converted to N2O via oxic nitrification and anoxic denitrification pathways. Drought-affected soils are expected to be well oxygenated; however, using high-resolution isotopic measurements, we found that denitrifying pathways dominated N2O emissions during a severe drought applied to managed grassland. This was due to a reversible, drought-induced enrichment in nitrogen-bearing organic matter on soil microaggregates and suggested a strong role for chemo- or codenitrification. Throughout rewetting, denitrification dominated emissions, despite high variability in fluxes. Total N2O flux and denitrification contribution were significantly higher during rewetting than for control plots at the same soil moisture range. The observed feedbacks between precipitation changes induced by climate change and N2O emission pathways are sufficient to account for the accelerating N2O growth rate observed over the past decade.



1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (20) ◽  
pp. 2559-2564 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Gregory

The ratio of ray and ray cell initials to fusiform initials of the vascular cambium relative to radial growth rate as reflected in the secondary xylem was studied in stems of Acer saccharum Marsh. Ray initials increased in size as they aged, slowly when growth rate was low, rapidly when it was high, but there was little fluctuation in the number of rays per unit of tangential area; as the cambium increased in circumference, the older, larger rays diverged and new small rays arose in intervening areas, thus maintaining a uniform unit area population independent of growth rate. However, since ray size increased rapidly when growth rate was high, the unit area population of ray cells rose abruptly with accelerating growth rate: the relative volume of xylem ray tissue rose from 8.6 to 12.7% of the total xylem volume when annual ring width increased from 1 to 7 mm. When fast growth was not maintained, the unit area population of ray cells declined slowly as the large rays diverged.



1987 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Singh ◽  
P. N. Gururaja Rao

In sugar cane, investigations made earlier (Singh & Gururaja Rao, 1985) have shown that high-yielding varieties have higher net assimilation rate than low-yielding types. Similarly, differences in progeny means for relative growth rate and net assimilation rate have been reported by George (1965). In other crops also, varietal differences in leaf area index and net assimilation rate have been reported (Watson, 1947). It appears that in this crop, limited attempts have been made to study all the growth characteristics. This paper describes the differences in most of the growth characteristics in six sugar-cane varieties.



2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-439
Author(s):  
K. M. Ladan ◽  
M. G. Abubakar ◽  
J. Suleiman

The Study was conducted to evaluate the effect of solid and liquid organic fertilizer on growth and yield of rosselle in 2016 cropping season at Institute of Agricultural Reserve Zaria, Samaru (11011’N 07038E and 686m) and Institute of Horticultural Research Farm Bagauda (12000’N 8031”Em 488m) in Northern Guinea Savannah and Sudan Savannah Ecological Zones of above sea level Nigeria. Treatments consisted of four levels of solid poultry manure (0.0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0) tons/ha and five levels of liquid organic manure from Grand Total Organic Fertilizer Limited (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.9) litres/ha, which were factorially combined in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times. Data on growth parameter were collected on plant height (cm), plant dry weight (g), leaf Area index crop growth rate (CGR) Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Net assimilation rate (NAR) while data on yield parameters like number of calyx per pant, 100 seed weight (g) and  calyx yield per hectare kg/ha were collected. Results showed that plant height, plant dry weight(g), 100 seed weight(g) and calyx dry yield kg/ha had a significant increase with application of 2.0 litres/ha of liquid fertilizer than other rates. While application of solid poultry manure at 3.0ton/ha significantly increases plant height, net assimilation rate, leaf area index and calyx dry weight when compared with other rates. From the results obtained, the combination of 2.0 litres/ha liquid organic fertilizer and 3.0 ton/ha solid poultry manure produce the highest calyx yield at both location.



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