Objectives: Tree cores were collected to compare growth rates of two important native tree species (white oak (Quercus alba L.) and red maple (Acer rubrum L.)) across urban and reference forest sites of three major cities in the eastern United States (New York, NY (NYC); Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD).
Principal Investigator: Nancy F. Sonti, Richard A. Hallett, Kevin L. Griffin, and Joe H. Sullivan
Laboratory: Unknown
Recommended Citation: Sonti NF, Hallett RA, Griffin KL, Sullivan JH. 2015-2016. White oak and red maple tree cores from urban forest patches and reference sites.
Project Contents: Data for 18 Plots, 170 Trees, 336 Cores
Project Period: 2015-10-01 to 2016-08-31
Species:
Acer rubrum
Quercus alba
Data License: 
What's this?Description: Tree cores were collected to compare growth rates of two important native tree species (white oak (Quercus alba L.) and red maple (Acer rubrum L.)) across urban and reference forest sites of three major cities in the eastern United States (New York, NY (NYC); Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD). Trees were selected from secondary growth oak-hickory forests found in New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD, as well as at reference forest sites outside each metropolitan area.
Related Publications:
- 2019.Sonti NF, Hallett RA, Griffin KL, Sullivan JH. 2019. White oak and red maple tree ring analysis reveals enhanced productivity in urban forest patches. Forest Ecology & Management 453: 117626 View
Project Metadata
Taxonomic standard used: USDA Plants Database
How plots were selected: In all three metropolitan areas, urban forest patches and references forest sites were selected based on the presence of red maple and white oak canopy dominant trees in patches of at least 1.5 hectares with slopes less than 25%, and well-drained soils of similar soil series within each metropolitan area. Within each city, several forest patches were selected to capture the variation in forest patch site conditions across an individual city. All reference sites were located in protected areas outside of the city and within intermix wildland-urban interface landscapes, in order to target similar contexts of surrounding land use and population density (Martinuzzi et al. 2015). Several reference sites were selected for each city, located within the same protected area considered representative of rural forests of the region.
How trees were selected: White oaks were at least 38.1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), red maples were at least 25.4 cm DBH, and all trees were dominant or co-dominant canopy trees. The trees had no major trunk cavities and had crown vigor scores of 1 or 2 (less than 25% overall canopy damage; Pontius & Hallett 2014).
Exclusion of trees (if any): Not provided
How cores were collected: From Fall 2015 to Summer 2016, increment cores were collected from each tree using a 5.15 mm diameter increment borer (Haglöf, Sweden). Cores were collected at a height of 1.4 m and attempted to capture as many years of growth as possible. Permission was not granted to core trees at one urban site in NYC, so increment cores from 170 trees were used in the analysis (Table S2). Two cores were removed from the cross-slope sides of each tree and stored in plastic trays for transport.
How cores were processed: After being mounted and sanded, the cores were scanned at high resolution, and ring width measurements as well as earlywood/latewood boundaries were made using the CooRecorder software program (Larsson, 2003).
Exclusion of cores (if any): Some trees only had one usable core due to trunk rot, or on occasion when the borer got stuck in a large tree and it was not worth trying to get a second core.
Added to the database: 06/02/2020
Last modified: 06/02/2020