Objectives: Trees growing in this provenance planting represent the historical range of green ash. The objective of this study was to determine how genetics and the environment influence annual growth. Information gained here may be particularly useful for future restoration efforts of ash species impacted by EAB in the north.
Principal Investigator: Paul Schaberg, Paula Murakami, Christopher Hansen, Gary Hawley
Laboratory: Schaberg lab
Recommended Citation: Schaberg PG, Murakami PF, Hansen CF, Hawley GJ. 2023. Assessing environmental and genetic influences on green ash in a range-wide provenance test near the species’ northern range limit.
Project Contents: Data for 1 Plot, 44 Trees, 82 Cores
Project Period: 2021-10-19 to 2023-01-31
Species:
Fraxinus pensylvanica
Data License: Data is available upon request
What's this?Description: We measured annual radial xylem growth of 44 green ash trees from a range-wide provenance planting in Burlington, VT and compared growth with local climate metrics (precipitation, snow and temperature). A better understanding of the relative influences of genetics and climate on green ash growth is particularly important as the invasive insect, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), is greatly diminishing green ash populations throughout its native range. In Vermont, EAB was first detected in 2018. At the time of our core collection, 2019, EAB was not detected in the provenance planting. The timing of this study presented a novel opportunity to document annual growth in living trees before the negative impacts of EAB.
Related Publications: No related publications
Project Metadata
Taxonomic standard used: USDA Plants Database
How plots were selected: The plot used is a replicate within a range-wide provenance experiment located on the campus of the University of Vermont and is one of many planted throughout the range of green ash (see Steiner et al. 1988 for more information about other plots).
How trees were selected: Since the plot was established in 1978 many trees have died. We cored as many healthy trees as was possible that represented five USDA Plant Hardiness Zones (3 through 7).
Exclusion of trees (if any): We avoided trees with double stems. Trees with bole or crown damage were also excluded.
How cores were collected: Two 5 mm increment cores were extracted from each tree at breast height, 180° from each other.
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.
Exclusion of cores (if any): A small number of cores were discarded since they were poorly correlated with the master chronology (i.e., below Pearson critical correlation 99% confidence levels) due to unusual growth trends that were not representative of overall growth at the site.
Added to the database: 11/07/2022
Last modified: 11/07/2022