Ice damage in spruce–fir forests of the Black Mountains, North Carolina

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1487-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. S. Nicholas ◽  
S. M. Zedaker
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Southern Appalachians ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Ecosystem Monitoring ◽  
Fraser Fir ◽  
Average Decrease ◽  
Ice Storms ◽  
Second Growth

Spruce–fir ecosystem monitoring was initiated in 1985 in the southern Appalachians, United States, after reports of a red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) decline in the northeast. Ice storms during the winter of 1986–1987 had a severe impact on spruce–fir forests in the Black Mountains of North Carolina, the location of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in eastern North America. Mortality rates were higher for red spruce than for Fraser fir (Abiesfraseri (Pursh.) Poir.), 8.1 and 2.4%, respectively. Recent ice damage was apparent in 12.4% of surviving overstory stems, with red spruce having a 17% average decrease in height. Frequency of damage to stems tended to increase with increasing elevation. Little is known about the successional dynamics of southern high elevation montane second-growth forests. Our results suggest that ice storms may be an important cause of damage and mortality.

Cherokee Towns and Calumet Ceremonialism in Eastern North America

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Rodning
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Native American ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Southern Appalachians ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Upper Midwest

Calumet ceremonialism was widely practiced by Native American and European colonial groups in the Great Plains and Southeast during the late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century. Cultural practices associated with smoking calumet pipes have roots in the prehistoric past, but the spread of calumet ceremonialism across the Southeast was associated with the spread of European colonists and colonialism. Calumet ceremonialism served the needs for groups to have a means of creating balance, and of setting the stage for peaceful interaction and exchange, during a period marked by considerable instability and dramatic cultural change. The presence of a redstone elbow pipe bowl fragment from the Coweeta Creek site in southwestern North Carolina demonstrates the participation of Cherokee towns in calumet ceremonialism, despite the remote location of this site in the southern Appalachians, far from major European colonial settlements, and far from areas such as the Mississippi River Valley and the upper Midwest where such pipes are much more common.

Is coarse woody debris a net sink or source of nitrogen in the red spruce – Fraser fir forest of the southern Appalachians, U.S.A.?

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 716-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
I F Creed ◽  
D L Morrison ◽  
N S Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Organic N ◽  
Southern Appalachians ◽  
N Dynamics ◽  
Fraser Fir ◽  
N Source ◽  
Ammonium N ◽  
Export Signal

The red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) – Fraser fir (Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir.) forest of the southern Appalachians contains a significant amount of coarse woody debris (CWD) that may affect the nitrogen (N) export signal in streams originating from this N-saturated system. Interpretation of the N sink versus source status of CWD of red spruce and Fraser fir was dependent on the method used. Over a chronosequence of decay, (1) N concentrations suggested a N sink (i.e., a net gain of N of 923% in red spruce and 563% in Fraser fir relative to N in live trees); (2) N contents that reflected changes in density suggested a smaller N sink (i.e., a net gain of N of 218% in red spruce and 125% in Fraser fir relative to N in live trees), but the stoichiometry of N and C suggested a N source in early stages of decay and a N source in the most advanced stage of decay only; and (3) N contents that reflected changes in volume suggested a N source (i.e., a net N loss of –172% in red spruce and –122% in Fraser fir). The C/N ratios in CWD suggested that the shift from a N source to a N sink represented a shift from the mobilization of dissolved organic N to the immobilization of ammonium N and (or) nitrate N. The magnitude of the net change in N contents in both red spruce and Fraser fir was amongst the highest reported in literature, suggesting that CWD plays a particularly important role in N dynamics in N saturated forests.

A Preliminary Study of Geographic Variation in Fraser Fir Seedlings

1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-132
Author(s):  
Bailian Li ◽  
J. B. Jett ◽  
R. J. Weir
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Abies Fraseri ◽  
Fraser Fir ◽  
Commercial Use ◽  
Western North Carolina ◽  
Collar Diameter ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Terminal Buds ◽  
Root Collar

Abstract Open-pollinated progeny of Fraser fir (Abies fraseri: [Pursch] Poir.) from several elevations in each of five provenances were planted in the greenhouse, transplanted to a nursery, and then transplanted to three field locations in western North Carolina. Seedling total height, number of terminal buds, and root collar diameter were examined to determine the magnitude and patterns of variation in seedlings among and within populations. Significant differences among families were detected. Trees from low-elevation (1,500-1,650 m) of southern mountain sources such as Richland Balsam and Clingman's Dome showed better performance in all three field plantings than those from high-elevation and northern sources. Roan Mountain, where most seed is collected for commercial use, showed the least height growth in the study. South. J. Appl. For. 12(2):128-132.

Two hundred year variation of southern red spruce radial growth as estimated by spectral analysis

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Reams ◽  
N.S. Nicholas ◽  
S.M. Zedaker
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Local Maximum ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
Sine And Cosine Functions ◽  
Cosine Functions

Spectral analysis was applied to high-elevation (≥1800 m) old-growth (≥200 years) red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) tree-ring data from eight plots on Clingmans Dome, North Carolina. Low-frequency sine and cosine functions with wavelengths greater than or equal to 10 years accounted for between 76 and 90% of the variation in mean ring widths for all eight sites analyzed. Mean radial growth has increased and decreased no less than nine times over the last 200 years, with no evidence of constant radial growth for extended periods of time. Since the mid-1960s, radial growth has decreased and increased twice and is currently increasing through 1986, the last year of sampling. Growth in 1976 was equal to or greater than pre-1965 levels. A local maximum (mid-1960s) of the periodic cycles in radial growth coincides with the reported downturn in radial growth of red spruce at other locations in the southern Appalachians. Verification of historical growth periodicities can best be evaluated through continual monitoring of trees from a greater number of sites.

Foliar injury symptoms and pigment concentrations in red spruce saplings in the southern Appalachians

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1119-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian P. Andersen ◽  
Samuel B. McLaughlin ◽  
W. Kelly Roy
Keyword(s):  
Surface Area ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Southern Appalachians ◽  
Foliar Injury ◽  
Pigment Analysis ◽  
Widespread Occurrence ◽  
Local Site ◽  
Chlorophyll A And B ◽  
Pigment Concentrations

The frequency and percent surface area covered by necrotic flecking on red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) needles from sapling-sized trees were examined on nine research sites on three mountains in the southern Appalachians. Foliar pigment analysis was conducted on trees from two of the nine research sites. Flecking increased with foliar age on all sites, and on two of the mountains the area covered by flecks increased with elevation. Above 1720 m on Clingman's Dome, foliar flecking was found to constitute >8% of the upper needle surface area of 1-year-old needles. Chlorophyll a and b concentrations increased with foliar age and were greater in trees growing at the mid-elevation site (1720 m) than at the high-elevation site (1935 m) on Clingman's Dome. Pigment concentrations did not correspond to foliar flecking frequency at these two sites. Foliar flecking appears to increase over winter, and its widespread occurrence throughout the southern Appalachians suggests that regional rather than local site-related phenomena are involved.

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