scholarly journals Foliar Traits of Sugar Maples and Black Maples Near 43 °N Latitude in the Eastern and Central United States

1999 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolston St. Hilaire ◽  
William R. Graves

Selection of sugar maples (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and black maples (Acer saccharum Marsh. ssp. nigrum Desm. or Acer nigrum Michx. f.) that will be more resilient than existing cultivars in managed landscapes could be facilitated by defining relationships between geographic origin and foliar traits critical to leaf function. We examined variation in leaf morphology and anatomy of both taxa, known collectively as hard maples, near 43 °N latitude and tested for relationships between foliar traits and the longitude of origin from 70 ° to 94 °W longitude. Leaves exposed to direct solar radiation were sampled from up to 20 trees indigenous at each of 42 sites during 1995 and 1996. All leaves from east of 75.84 °W and from 92.73 °W and further west expressed morphological characters associated with sugar maple and black maple, respectively; leaves with intermediate traits were found between these two longitudes. Leaves from 90 ° to 94 °W had the highest surface area due to increases in the areas of middle and proximal portions of laminae. Up to 1162 trichomes/cm2 were present on the abaxial surface of laminae from west of 85 °W, while laminae from further east were glabrous or had ≤300 trichomes/cm2. Laminae from western habitats also had relatively high stomatal frequency, and stomatal apertures of laminae west of 91 °W were particularly narrow. Longitude did not affect specific weight and thickness of laminae, which averaged 5.5 mg·cm-2 and 90 μm, respectively. Principal component analysis of laminar traits showed existence of two clusters. A large group dominated by data from trees in New England also contained data from trees as far west as ≈93 °W longitude; data for trees further west were clustered separately. Although phenotypic continua were defined, laminae west of 93 °W were distinct, which suggests trees selected there may function differently in managed landscapes than trees selected from native populations further east.

HortScience ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 660g-661
Author(s):  
Rolston St. Hilaire ◽  
William R. Graves

Its more westerly native range and apparent xeromorphic foliar traits have led to speculation that black maple (Acer nigrum Michx.f.) is more drought resistant than sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). We examined differences in morphology and anatomy of leaves of trees of these species indigenous near the 43°N latitude in the midwestern and eastern United States. Leaves were collected during July, Aug., and Sept. 1995, from 10 trees in each of 24 sites at longitudes of 71°W in Maine to 94°W in Iowa. Density of trichomes on abaxial surfaces and lamina surface area showed quadratic relationships with longitude and were greatest for leaves from westerly sites in Iowa. The percentage of total lamina surface area partitioned in the two most basipetal lobes increased linearly with longitude. Abaxial surfaces had 6 to 960 trichomes/cm2, lamina surface area was 28 to 176 cm2, and surface area partitioned in basipetal lobes was 5% to 9%. A quadratic regression function related increases in trichome density to decreasing mean annual rainfall at collection sites. Specific leaf mass ranged from 3.5 to 7.6 mg·cm–2 and did not relate to longitude. Scanning electron microscopy showed leaves throughout the range had similar trichome morphology, and light microscopy is being used to examine variation in leaf anatomy and stomatal traits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 861-862
Author(s):  
Scott W. Bailey ◽  
Robert P. Long ◽  
Stephen B. Horsley

Cleavitt et al. (2018, Can. J. For. Res. 48(1): 23–31, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0233 ) report a lack of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) regeneration in Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), Watershed 5 (W5), following whole-tree clearcut harvesting and purport that harvesting-induced soil calcium depletion contributed to regeneration failure of this species. In New England, clearcutting is a silvicultural strategy used to promote less tolerant species, especially birch (Betula spp.; Marquis (1969), Birch Symposium Proceedings, USDA Forest Service; Leak et al. (2014), doi: 10.2737/NRS-GTR-132 ), which is just the outcome that the authors report. While this study reports an impressive, long-term data set, given broad interest in sugar maple and sustainability of forest management practices, we feel that it is critical to more fully explore the role of nutrition on sugar maple dynamics, both prior to and during the experiment, and to more fully review the scientific record on the role of whole-tree clearcutting in nutrient-induced sugar maple dynamics.


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Roger Harris ◽  
Jody Fanelli

Abstract Red maple (Acer rubrum L. ‘Franksred’) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh. ‘Green Mountain’) trees were grown in a 56 liter (15 gal) pot-in-pot system for two years. During the second year of production, root growth was observed through observation plates fitted into the container sidewalls, and shoot extension was periodically measured. Root growth began in early March, approximately one month before budbreak for both species. Root growth dramatically slowed down at the onset of budbreak, but quickly resumed and was concurrent with shoot elongation. Root growth slowed dramatically in the fall when substrate temperatures dropped to 5–7C (40–45F). Root growth stopped during the winter for red maple, but some nominal root growth continued throughout the winter for sugar maple. Red maples had over 5 times more total root length against observation plates at the end of the experiment than sugar maples.


1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. L. Gross

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) stands of the Owen Sound and Wingham districts in southwestern Ontario were sampled to assess the importance of cankers caused by Eutypella parasitica Davidson and Lorenz. Stands in the Owen Sound District had Eutypella cankers on 7.4% of the sugar maples. Cankered trees had an average cull loss of 12.4% total cubic volume and 49.2% merchantable cubic volume. The incidence of cankering was significantly less for the Wingham District where maple stands have better overall timber quality than do stands in the Owen Sound District. The incidence of Eutypella canker was a positive function of the percentage content of maple in a stand, maple tree density, and maple tree size. Cull loss due to cankers was related to canker size and tree size and to the position of the canker with respect to log production. Regression models illustrating these relationships are presented.


2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1847-1857 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Marçais ◽  
P M Wargo

Abundance of rhizomorphs of Armillaria was characterized in 1995-1996 in 32 plots located in sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) stands in the Susquehannock State Forest (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.). All of the plots were thinned, and half of the plots were limed in 1985 when the plots were established. Frequency and abundance of Armillaria rhizomorphs in soil samples, on dead wood food bases (stumps, snags, fallen logs), and on the root collar of living sugar maples were determined in each plot. Rhizomorph vigor was evaluated by measuring their ability to colonize fresh striped maple (Acer pennsylvanicum L.) stem sections in the soil, or potato tubers in the laboratory. Isolates of Armillaria were obtained from rhizomorphs in the soil samples and species were determined by somatic incompatibility tests. Armillaria calvescens Bérubé & Dessureault was the major species present, representing about 66% of the isolates. Armillaria gemina Bérubé & Dessureault and Armillaria mellea (Vahl:Fr.) Kummer were also identified in the plots. Frequency of rhizomorphs in the soil, on food bases, abundance of rhizomorphs on root collars, as well as the proportion of rhizomorphs per plot that regenerated and (or) colonized fresh substrates were all correlated. However, abundance of ectotrophic rhizomorphs on the root collar was only weakly correlated with the other components of rhizomorph abundance and vigor. Frequency of the rhizomorphs as well as their ability to colonize fresh substrates were greater in plots either limed or with a high proportion of the basal area in sugar maple prior to thinning. By contrast, abundance of ectotrophic rhizomorphs on root collars was not affected by these factors.


2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-David Moore ◽  
Claude Camiré ◽  
Rock Ouimet

In the 1980s, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) dieback was observed across its range in Quebec. In spite of the recovery of the majority of stands during recent years, some have continued to show signs of dieback progression. At the Lake Clair Watershed experimental station, a study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of liming on the nutrition, vigor, and growth of sugar maple in an acid soil, poor in available Ca and Mg. A completely randomized experiment was established and selected sugar maples were treated in 1994 with dolomitic lime in amounts of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 t·ha-1. Four years after the lime application, improvements in foliar concentrations of N, P, Ca, and Mg were noted. Liming increased the radial growth of sugar maple by 45% for rates from 1 to 10 t·ha-1 and by 90% for rates of 20 t·ha-1, compared with the control trees. The beneficial effects of lime on dieback appeared only very slightly at the third and fourth years after treatment. The negative impact of liming on sugar maple K nutrition could be mitigated by application of potassium sulphate.


1945 ◽  
Vol 23c (6) ◽  
pp. 192-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. P. V. Johnson

Sap flow from the stumps of sugar maples was over five times as great as that from the trunks of the same trees, which were detached in November, January and March. There was no consistent variation in the sugar concentration of sap samples drawn from stumps and trunks, but samples taken from points above girdles were consistently higher in sugar than those taken from below.Sap flow is attributed mainly to the activities of living cells, and it is suggested that the oxygen concentration of the sap and the release of hydrostatic pressure in tapped trees are related to cell activities.The beneficial effect of alternating cold nights and warm days on sap flow is attributed to an increase in availability of oxygen to the living cell through the agency of the relative solubility levels of oxygen in water at low and high temperatures.


Author(s):  
Ping Ren ◽  
Eryuan LEY Liang ◽  
Patrica Raymond ◽  
Sergio Rossi

Assisted migration, the human-mediated movement of species and populations, is one adaptive strategy to climate change. Plant phenology affects the survival and distribution of species to local conditions, and its potential modifications need to be explored in the context of assisted migration. We conducted identical experiments in January and April (experiment I and II) and monitored the timing of bud break in sugar maple (<i>Acer saccharum</i> Marshall) under cooling and longer photoperiod to simulate a northward migration. The budbreak in experiment II started 55 days earlier than experiment I. In experiment I, longer photoperiod was more effective than warming in advancing bud break. Compared to experiment II, cooling and long photoperiod had stronger effect in experiment I . Our results demonstrated the significant effect of chilling and confirmed that photoperiod outweighs temperature in initiating bud break when the chilling requirement is unfulfilled. These findings suggest that the future mild winters in the southern range of sugar maple may reduce chilling accumulation and result in the delayed bud break. Sugar maples migrating northward could benefit from longer day lengths, which could partly counteract the delayed effects of colder springs in northern regions, thus ensuring a sufficient growth period.


HortScience ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 513e-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Pair

In 1983, a trial was initiated to compare numerous selections of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) for adaptability to stressful conditions in south central Kansas (zone 6). Included were seedlings of Caddo maple, a southern ecotype, collected from a population native to central Oklahoma. Selected trees have shown superior resistance to scorch and leaf tatter compared to cultivars in the trade. Pre-dawn measurements indicated higher xylem water potential than `Green Mountain' and `Fairview' under drought stress. Leaf emergence of Caddo maples has been earlier in the spring, and fall color develops later than other sugar maples. Propagation of potential cultivars with early fall color has been principally by T-budding on Caddo understock in July and August, although side-veneer grafting in winter has been successful. In addition to superior summer leaf quality, growth in caliper and total height has been greater than other A. saccharum cultivars.


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