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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2009
- Title: Resilience of Acer rubrum growth after sustaining damage caused by an experimental blowdown
- Author: Susan A Irizarry (Clemson University)
- Abstract:
The growth of Acer rubrum damaged in an experimental blowdown was examined using annual dendrochronological data to determine if the damage had a noticeable effect on tree growth. The experimental blowdown, designed to mimic severe hurricane damage, was initiated in October of 1990 at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA. Using preexisting data sets from this LTER experiment, I determined which A. rubrum were damaged and still living 19 years after the manipulation. I selected trees from four damage classes: bent (n=15), uproot (n=6), snap (n=6), and standing (undamaged, n=15), plus an additional set of trees (n=15) from the adjacent control plot. Each of the trees was cored at breast height (if possible) and annual ring width measured. The raw data was highly variable. I expected that the damaged trees would show decreased growth after the manipulation, with bent trees showing the least drastic decrease and snapped trees declining the most. However, I found that many of the damaged trees actually exhibited an increase in growth during the ten years after the blowdown, relative to the ten years prior to the manipulation. Snapped trees showed the strongest trend with 67% of the trees exhibiting a ≥ 50% increase in growth. Bent and uprooted trees showed similar, but weaker growth trends. I expected the standing trees to increase in growth in response to greater growing space after the manipulation; however, only 47% showed an increase of ≥ 50% in growth and 13% showed ≥ 50% decrease in growth. This study represents an unusual opportunity to test dendrochronology methods used to screen for disturbance, and to examine how damage affects growth of A. rubrum. The results demonstrate the resilience of A. rubrum to damage and can be applied to studying recovery of hardwood stands after large-scale windstorms.
- Research Category: Conservation and Management; Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies
