Treesearch

Age-related trends in narrow-sense and family heritabilities for black walnut height and dbh from a southern Illinois open-pollinated progeny test are evaluated through age 20 years. Narrow-sense heritability for height tends to be relatively stable between ages 10 and 20 at 0.55 - 0.65 with similar patterns and values for family heritabilities for both height and dbh. Individual phenotypic age-age correlation coefficients increased from approximately 0.1 at age 1 to 0.8 at age 8 and remained above this level through age 20.

Communities of hayscented ferns [Dennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) Moore] are present in many forested areas of Pennsylvania. These ferns can reduce the number and height growth of desirable tree seedlings. A study was conducted to determine the effects of fern frond density on the stem growth and leaf development of bare-root planted white ash (Fraxinus americana L.) seedlings. Treatments of 0, 25, 50, and 100% frond density created conditions of 0, 151, 271, and 448 g/m? of ovendry frond biomass in August. Amount and quality of sunlight passing through the fronds was measured. Shoot...

Problems with soil quality and maintenance of soil productivity occur when management activities are improperly planned and carried out. To ensure that Forest Service management practices do not reduce long-term soil productivity (LTSP), a network of coordinated long-term experiments is being established across the United States. The first LTSP study in the Central Hardwood Region is being established in the Ozark Region of southeastern Missouri, in Shannon County. The study area contained mature upland oak-hickory forest with some oak-pine communities. Within the 17.4-ha (43- acre) study...

Comparison of growth and stem quality parameters of 19-year-old progeny from superior and comparison trees indicates that rigorous phenotypic selection of trees in natural stands may not be an efficient method of parent tree selection for Quercus rubra L. Total tree height, dbh, number of branches in the butt log, fork height, and number of mainstem crooks of progeny from 11 phenotypic select trees and their co-occurring comparison trees were analyzed. Pooled data from 4 test sites indicated no difference in dbh or number of mainstem crooks among select and comparison families. However,...

Pistillate flower abortion in northern red oak and black oak was evaluated in relation to pollination and fertilization. The presence, position, and characteristics of the pollen grains, pollen tubes, and ovules were determined with bright field and fluorescence microscopy. Flower survival counts were made weekly, from late April to mid- September. Both species have rudimentary ovules and small locules during the first growing season. Pollen tubes cease growth during the first growing season in mid-May at the level of the distal end of the perianth and juncture of the three stigmas. In the...

This paper summarizes and compares long-term changes in annual water yield following cutting experiments at four locations in northeastern United States. Substantial increases in water yield of up to 350 mm yr-1 were obtained in the first year by clearfelling hardwood forest vegetation and controlling regrowth with herbicides. Commercial clearcutting of hardwoods with natural regrowth resulted in smaller initial increases in water yield of 110 to 250 mm yr-1. This range in response was due to differences in precipitation and configuration of cuttings. Unless regrowth was controlled with...

Sugar maple declines periodically occur in rural and urban areas. These declines usually follow periods of below-average precipitation leading to the speculation that moisture deficiency is a primary cause of the decline. Sugar maple ecotypes with greater tolerance to drought should have greater longevity and vitality as a result of this tolerance. Sugar maple and black maple trees from the western and southern range of these species purportedly have greater drought tolerance. However, the quantification of physiological, morphological, and anatomical characteristics to explain and...

Fire significantly altered survivorship in southeastern Missouri forests burned at annual and four-year (periodic) intervals since 1949 and 1951. In the ANOVA model tested, treatment, species, pretreatment diameter and the interaction between species and pretreatment diameter were highly significantly related to survivorship. Overall survivorship and survivorship of hickories (Carya spp.) and red oak group species, including scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea Muenchh.), black oak (Quercus velutina Lam.), southern red oak (Quercus falcata Michx.), was greatest in control plots, less in annually...

Atmospheric deposition has been recognized as a significant environmental problem for several decades, but its impact on forest ecosystems in North America remains controversial. In an effort to further elucidate the impacts of atmospheric deposition to forested watersheds in the Mid-Appalachian region, several related watershed studies have been initiated by the U.S. Forest Service in Parsons, WV over the past decade. One of the experiments involved doubling the annual ambient rate of N and S deposition by aerial application of ammonium sulfate to Watershed 9 which had previously been...

Our study evaluated the effectiveness of tree injection and full basal bark treatments using three herbicide formulations at reduced or standard practice rates to release crop trees in an overstocked pole-sized Central Hardwood stand. Herbicides tested included glyphosate (Accord), dicamba only (Banvel CST), and dicamba+2,4-D (Banvel 520). The study was conducted in a mixed hardwood stand in southern Illinois that regenerated following a clearcut harvest 18 years earlier. A highly significant interaction occurred among the six herbicide treatments and the method of application. Full basal...