Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States PDF Author: Mary B. Adams
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461229065
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
In the early 1980s there were several published reports of recent, unexplained increases in mortality of red spruce in the Adirondack Mountains and the northern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. These reports coincided with documentation of reductions in radial growth of several species of pine in the southeastern United States, and with the severe, rapid, and widespread decline of Norway spruce, silver fir, and some hardwoods in central Europe. In all of these instances, atmospheric deposition was hypothesized as the cause of the decline. (Throughout this volume, we use the term "decline" to refer to a loosely synchronized regional-scale deterioration of tree health which is brought about by a combination of stress factors. These may be biotic or abiotic in nature, and the combinations may differ from site to site. ) Heated public debate about the causes and possible cures for these forest declines ensued. Through the course of this debate, it became clear that information about forest health and air pollution effects on forests was inadequate to meet policymakers' needs. Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States addresses that gap for eastern spruce fir forests and represents the culmination of a great deal of research conducted in recent years. The focus is on red spruce because the decline of red spruce was both dramatic and inexplicable and because of the great amount of information gathered on red spruce.

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States PDF Author: Mary B. Adams
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461229065
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
In the early 1980s there were several published reports of recent, unexplained increases in mortality of red spruce in the Adirondack Mountains and the northern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. These reports coincided with documentation of reductions in radial growth of several species of pine in the southeastern United States, and with the severe, rapid, and widespread decline of Norway spruce, silver fir, and some hardwoods in central Europe. In all of these instances, atmospheric deposition was hypothesized as the cause of the decline. (Throughout this volume, we use the term "decline" to refer to a loosely synchronized regional-scale deterioration of tree health which is brought about by a combination of stress factors. These may be biotic or abiotic in nature, and the combinations may differ from site to site. ) Heated public debate about the causes and possible cures for these forest declines ensued. Through the course of this debate, it became clear that information about forest health and air pollution effects on forests was inadequate to meet policymakers' needs. Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States addresses that gap for eastern spruce fir forests and represents the culmination of a great deal of research conducted in recent years. The focus is on red spruce because the decline of red spruce was both dramatic and inexplicable and because of the great amount of information gathered on red spruce.

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States PDF Author: Christopher Eagar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781461229070
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
This book focuses on the recent decline of red spruce and the role of acid rain and associated air pollutants in this decline. The purpose of the book is to summarize a large body of recent research on this important environmental issue. The book is divided into 3 sections: Section I summarizes the features of spruce-fir forests in the Eastern U.S. and examines the ecology of the forests, their soils, and the atmospheric conditions experienced by these forests. Section II looks at experimental results from many air pollution studies and evaluates mechanisms of air pollution effects on red spruce trees. Section III synthesizes the current state of knowledge regarding the widespread red spruce decline in forests of the eastern United States.

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States

Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783540977865
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description


Last Stand of the Red Spruce

Last Stand of the Red Spruce PDF Author: Robert A. Mello
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Discusses the effect of air pollution on forests, explains why the government should take action to stop or reduce acid rain, and assesses the extent of the threat to American forests.

Symptomatology & Trend of Tree Condition of Red Spruce & Balsam Fir

Symptomatology & Trend of Tree Condition of Red Spruce & Balsam Fir PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Balsam fir
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description


Decline and Mortality of Red Spruce in West Virginia

Decline and Mortality of Red Spruce in West Virginia PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Spruce
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description


Responses of Northern U.S. Forests to Environmental Change

Responses of Northern U.S. Forests to Environmental Change PDF Author: Robert A. Mickler
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461212561
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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Book Description
Five years of research carried out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services' Northern Global Change Program, contributing to our understanding of the effects of multiples stresses on forest ecosystems over multiple spatial and temporal scales. At the physiological level, reports explore changes in growth and biomass, species composition, and wildlife habitat; at the landscape scale, the abundance distribution, and dynamics of species, populations, and communities are addressed. Chapters include studies of nutrient depletion, climate and atmospheric deposition, carbon and nitrogen cycling, insect and disease outbreaks, biotic feedbacks with the atmosphere, interacting effects of multiple stresses, and modeling the regional effects of global change. The book provides sound ecological information for policymakers and land-use planners as well as for researchers in ecology, forestry, atmospheric science, soil science and biogeochemistry.

Climate Responses of Red Spruce (Picea Rubens Sarg.) and Its Associated Forest Community Along Elevational Gradients in the Northeastern United States

Climate Responses of Red Spruce (Picea Rubens Sarg.) and Its Associated Forest Community Along Elevational Gradients in the Northeastern United States PDF Author: Brittany Verrico
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Red spruce
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
The composition of forest communities and the distributions of individual tree species are both strongly tied to climatic conditions through species-specific physiological tolerances to the abiotic environment. As a result, spatial and temporal variation in climate, both natural and anthropogenically induced, exert strong influence on tree species distributions and their adaptations to local conditions. In order for trees, which are sessile, to persist in a rapidly changing environment, genetic variation and/or phenotypic plasticity must be maintained to facilitate adaptive evolution. While strong local adaptation to current climate has been reported for trees sampled across broad spatial landscapes (e.g., latitude), few studies have investigated microgeographic adaptation, or adaptation occurring within the dispersal neighborhood, despite the common occurrence of tree populations distributed across steep fine-scale environmental gradients (e.g., elevation). Understanding the spatial scale of local adaptation and the capacity for adaptive evolution is a key issue under ongoing climate change, as many forest tree species become exposed to climate conditions outside of their current adaptive optima. In this dissertation, I used multidisciplinary approaches to investigate how climate shapes biodiversity across and within forest tree species. I utilized a long-term forest tree inventory dataset to examine how species composition along an elevational climate gradient in the northeastern United States has responded to anthropogenic environmental change. I found that complex species-specific responses have led to an overall reduction in beta diversity in recent years, yielding a more homogeneous community, with the combined effects of sulphate deposition and warming temperatures being the two main drivers of this change. To assess how intraspecific diversity responds to this elevational climate gradient, I focused on red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.), a coniferous tree abundant in high elevation spruce-fir forests of Vermont and other cool, mountainous locales throughout eastern North America. Utilizing population genetic techniques, I found limited genetic structure in red spruce populations along elevational gradients, pointing to extensive gene flow. However, divergent selection between elevations has been strong enough to overcome high gene flow, allowing for local climatic adaptation in quantitative traits such as bud phenology and cold tolerance. Finally, I established a common garden study replicated along an elevational gradient of planting sites to test the spatial scale at which local adaptation to climate and phenotypic plasticity occurs and quantified genetic variation for these processes. Significant heritable genetic variation was found for both local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in families collected from fine- and broad-spatial scales for bud phenology and growth-related traits. Using the transfer distance between family source and planting site climates to predict the response of functional traits, I found strong evidence of local adaptation to source climate shaping bud phenology traits among broad-scale families yet impacts of transfer distance on overall early-life fitness were weak at both spatial scales. The magnitude of performance and bud phenology plasticity was similar between spatial scales, and plasticity in phenology traits (from either scale) did not confer a performance advantage. Altogether, this work advances our understanding of how climate influences both the forest and the trees, at timescales spanning decades, and at spatial scales from hundreds of kilometers to the bottom versus the top of the same mountain. Understanding the drivers of forest community structure and the evolutionary mechanisms that trees can implement to counter the effects of a rapidly changing environment are imperative to help predict species responses to future climatic and environmental change.

Forest Ecology

Forest Ecology PDF Author: Arnold van der Valk
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048127955
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
This volume provides an overview of recent advances in forest ecology on a variety of topics, including species diversity and the factors that control species diversity, environmental factors controlling distribution of forests, impacts of disturbances on forests (fires, drought, hurricane), reproduction ecology of both trees and understory species, and spatial organization of forests. Previously published in Plant Ecology, Volume 201, No.1, 2009.

Report to Congress

Report to Congress PDF Author: National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Acid deposition
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description