No Significant Increase in Tree Mortality Following Coring in a Temperate Hardwood Forest
Author
Helcoski, RyanTepley, Alan J.
McGarvey, Jennifer C.
Gonzalez-Akre, Erika
Meakem, Victoria
Thompson, Jonathan R.
Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J.
Issue Date
2019-03-01Keywords
coringincrement borer
wound
damage
mortality
temperate
hardwood
angiosperm increment
framework
decay
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Ryan Helcoski, Alan J. Tepley, Jennifer C. Mcgarvey, Erika Gonzalez-Akre, Victoria Meakem, Jonathan R. Thompson, and Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira "NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN TREE MORTALITY FOLLOWING CORING IN A TEMPERATE HARDWOOD FOREST," Tree-Ring Research 75(1), 67-72, (1 March 2019). https://doi.org/10.3959/1536-1098-75.1.67Journal
Tree-Ring ResearchAdditional Links
https://www.treeringsociety.org/Abstract
The collection of tree-ring data from living trees is widespread and highly valuable in ecological and dendro-climatological research, yet there is concern that coring injures trees, potentially contributing to mortality. Unlike resinous conifers that can quickly compartmentalize wounds, less decay-resistant angiosperms may face more pronounced risk of injury from coring. To test if coring increases mortality rates in temperate hardwood trees, we leverage a unique dataset tracking the mortality of cored and uncored hardwood trees representing 19 species from 10 genera in a 26-ha plot in Virginia, USA. We compare mortality rates between 935 cored trees and 8605 uncored trees for seven years following coring. Annual mortality rates did not differ between cored trees (1.71% yr(-1); 95% CI 1.40 to 2.20) and uncored trees (1.85% yr(-1); 95% CI 1.70 to 2.28) across the full dataset, nor were there differences by genus or size class. These results indicate that the risk of hardwood mortality caused by increment coring is probably lower than previously assumed. However, these results cannot rule out the possibility that coring elevates hardwood mortality in other climates or when trees facemultiple additional stressors that were not influential over the course of our study.Type
Articletext
Language
enISSN
1536-1098EISSN
2162-4585Sponsors
Virginia Native Plants Society grant (VNPS); Smithsonian Scholarly studies grant; Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory; HSBC Climate Partnershipae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3959/1536-1098-75.1.67