DEN: The DendroEcological Network

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine how climate variables influence annual growth of white ash in the northern part of its historical range and before EAB negatively impacts local ash populations.

Principal Investigator: Christopher Hansen and Paula Murakami

Laboratory: Unknown

Recommended Citation: Hansen CF and Murakami PF. 2023. Assessing the influence of climate on white ash growth in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Project Contents: Data for 8 Plots, 130 Trees, 263 Cores

Project Period: 2022-09-01 to ongoing

Species:

Data License: Data is available upon request

Description: We measured annual radial xylem growth of 130 dominant and codominant white ash trees from seven sites in VT and one in NH to compare growth with local climate metrics (precipitation, snow, and temperature). A better understanding of the relative influences of climate on white ash growth is particularly important as the invasive insect, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), is greatly diminishing ash populations throughout its native range. In Vermont, EAB was first detected in 2018. Cores in this study were collected from 2021-2022 and present a novel opportunity to document annual growth in healthy, living trees before the negative impacts of EAB take hold.

Related Publications: No related publications

Project Metadata

Taxonomic standard used: USDA Plants Database

How plots were selected: Plots were chosen to represent different plant hardiness zones in Vermont. The New Hampshire site was collected before the establishment of the current study.

How trees were selected: Approximately 15-20 dominant and co-dominant healthy trees were selected.

Exclusion of trees (if any): Trees with bole or crown damage were excluded.

How cores were collected: Two 5 mm increment cores were extracted from each tree at breast height, 180° from each other, and perpendicular to the slope.

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: 06/26/2023

Last modified: 06/28/2023