DEN: The DendroEcological Network

Objectives: Trees growing in this provenance planting represent the historical range of American chestnut from North Carolina to Maine. The objective for this study was to determine how genetics and the environment modulate chestnut physiology and growth needed to guide breeding and management efforts in the restoration of American chestnut.

Principal Investigator: Paul Schaberg, Paula Murakami, Kendra Collins, Chris Hansen, Gary Hawley

Laboratory: Schaberg Lab

Recommended Citation: Schaberg PG, Murakami PF, Collins KM, Hansen CF, Hawley GJ. 2022. Phenology, cold injury and growth of American chestnut in a range-wide provenance test.

Project Contents: Data for 1 Plot, 109 Trees, 208 Cores

Project Period: 2012-04-01 to 2018-10-30

Species:

Data License:

Description: We measured tree rings for 107 open-pollinated American chestnut and compared annual growth with winter shoot injury, spring foliar budbreak and leaf-out, spring foliar frost injury, and climate variables (temperature and moisture).

Related Publications:

1. Progeny test: assessing the influence of genetics and the environment on American chestnut at its northern range limit View
2. Phenology, cold injury and growth of American chestnut in a range-wide provenance test View

Project Metadata

Taxonomic standard used: Other

How plots were selected: Plots were previously established as part of a larger provenance-silvicultural study.

How trees were selected: Trees were selected to represent the historical range of American chestnut (13 seed sources) planted at this site.

Exclusion of trees (if any): Trees with significant crown damage, declining crown health or significant chestnut blight were excluded from the collection of tree cores.

How cores were collected: Two xylem increment cores (5 mm) were extracted from opposite sides of each tree at approximately 30 cm above the base of each tree. Coring at this height was necessary to avoid branching and allowed for a consistent place from which to extract cores from all trees.

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 for the site.

Added to the database: 03/04/2022

Last modified: 11/07/2022