Project Overview

The northeastern United States is experiencing some of the greatest shifts in climate in the US, with warming winters, increased frequency of extreme precipitation events, and severe droughts. For instance, annual mean temperatures across the northeast have risen ~1.7 °F since the 1930s. Currently, we are lacking adequate information to connect potential montane tree growth and productivity trends across the broader context of the Northern Appalachian region, which is critical to understand adaptation under future climate scenarios. Broad-scale study of tree growth is limited in feasibility due to the cost-restrictive dendrometer instruments (devices that measure the radial, or outward growth of tree stems) required to reliably measure these characteristics. In this project, we captured variation in tree radial growth as measured by traditional and low-cost dendrometers across climate and edaphic gradients linked to elevation, and between different age classes of trees and tree species within Tuckerman’s Ravine (White Mountain National Forest) in New Hampshire. Our project provided valuable comparative data for the performance of traditional point dendrometers, priced at approximately $400 (Ecomatik, Germany), to the performance of low-cost point dendrometers, priced at approximately $100 (TOMST, Czechia), to determine the accuracy of low-cost dendrometers for the study of tree growth dynamics.

Objectives

Overall, we see that a large obstacle for consistent measurement of tree growth rates at meaningful scale is the need to use cost-restrictive dendrometers. Low-cost alternative instruments exist, but there is currently not adequate information on the reliability of these devices to support their use in gathering scientific-grade data. In this study we ask two main questions: (Q1) Can we adequately capture and compare intra- annual tree growth patterns with both traditional and low-cost dendrometers?, and (Q2) can we feasibly implement a low-cost dendrometer network to measure tree radial growth rates across climate/edaphic gradients and between different age classes of trees and tree species both during summer growing periods and colder seasons.

Dataset Availability

Tags

Status - Active

Start date: 2024-10-01

Study Area

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