New England forests are facing environmental stressors that will require tree species to adapt or shift their geographic ranges. Research into genetic differentiation between populations along environmental gradients can illustrate the capacity for tree species to respond to novel stressors, and assisted migration and other management strategies rely on this kind of research to anticipate the success of tree regeneration in altered environmental conditions. Common garden experiments are designed to test for local adaptation between populations and are critical to inform assisted migration management. However, common gardens are often open field experiments that do not mimic the actual conditions of tree regeneration. In this project I will build off previous common garden experiments and test the survival, growth, genetic variation, and plasticity in morphological traits of red maple (Acer rubrum) in a forest understory experiment. The seeds will be sourced from a latitudinal gradient along the east coast from Georgia to Maine and planted in a series of twelve understory experiments under four different forest canopy compositions. This work will untangle the potential for rapid response to environmental change and geographic range shifts in this species and will inform forest conservation efforts in New England.