A Marked Reduction in the Growth Rate of Sugar Maple Following the Accumulation of Climatic Stress Events in Southern Quebec, Canada
| Authors: | Guillaume Moreau, Alexis Achim, David Pothier |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Type: | Proceedings - Paper |
| Station: | Northern Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-GTR-P-211-paper51 |
| Source: | In: Kern, Christel C.; Dickinson, Yvette L., eds. Proceedings of the first biennial Northern Hardwood Conference 2021: Bridging science and management for the future. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-211. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 241. |
Abstract
Understanding the influence of climatic variation on forest dynamics is of great ecological and economical interest and is essential to prescribe interventions that will facilitate ecosystem adaptation to climate change. However, the retrospective identification of climatic events responsible for the inter-annual variation of tree growth is challenging, notably because both their duration and their subsequent effect can be highly variable in time. In this study, we aimed to (1) quantify empirically the effect of severe climatic events on the short- and long-term growth dynamics of dominant sugar maple (Acer saccharum) trees; (2) compare the effects of different types of climatic events (i.e., drought, winter thaw-freeze, and late frost); and (3) compare the effects of climatic stress events to those of traditional monthly-level climate metrics.