Objectives: White oak is one of the oldest living tree species found in Vermont, USA. It mainly grows in the Champlain Valley within ecologically significant natural areas such as mesic clay plain forests and dry hemlock-oak forests. This project aims to compile existing white oak chronologies from the Champlain Valley in order to facilitate the sharing of tree ring growth data of this long-lived species. It is our hope to add more Vermont white oak chronologies to this project.
Principal Investigator: Schaberg, P.G., Murakami, P.F., Hansen, C.F., D’Amato, A.W., and Murray, H.F.
Laboratory: Unknown
Recommended Citation: Schaberg, P.G., Murakami, P.F., Hansen, C.F., D’Amato, A.W., and Murray, H.F. 2016. White oak chronologies of the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Project Contents: Data for 4 Plots, 53 Trees, 108 Cores
Project Period: 2016-01-01 to 0000-00-00
Species:
Quercus alba
Data License:
What's this?Description: This is a collection of white oak cores collected in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. Two trees in this collection can be dated back to 1662 and 1630 with one individual probably originating before the year 1580.
Related Publications:
- 2019.Murray, H. F., and A. W. D'Amato. 2019. Stand dynamics and structure of two primary Champlain Valley clayplain forests, Vermont. Northeastern Naturalist 26:95-115 View
Project Metadata
Taxonomic standard used: USDA Plants Database
How plots were selected: Schaberg plots were chosen to provide a broad representation of mature white oak trees in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. Areas with a known history of management over the past several decades were avoided. The D’Amato plot was chosen as one of the best examples of a late-successional valley clayplain forest in the Champlain Valley.
How trees were selected: For the Schaberg plots, approximately 15-20 dominant and co-dominant trees were selected. D’Amato trees were chosen if greater than 10 cm DBH.
Exclusion of trees (if any): For the Schaberg plots, trees with bole or crown damage were excluded.
How cores were collected: For Schaberg trees, two 5 mm increment cores were extracted from each tree at breast height, 180° from each other, and perpendicular to the slope. For the two D’Amato trees, a single increment core was taken at 0.3 m.
How cores were processed: Increment cores were dried, mounted and sanded using standard methods. Tree rings were visually crossdated using the list method, microscopically measured using a Velmex sliding stage unit and MeasureJ2X software (0.001 mm resolution) followed by the use of COFECHA to detect and correct crossdating errors. The D’Amato samples were grouped with a nearby Schaberg site for crossdating via COFECHA.
Exclusion of cores (if any): No.
Added to the database: 05/14/2020
Last modified: 05/14/2020