Title: Assessment of weather-associated causes of red spruce winter injury and consequences to aboveground carbon sequestration

Author: Schaberg, Paul G.; Lazarus, Brynne E.; Hawley, Gary J.; Halman, Joshua M.; Borer, Catherine H.; Hansen, Christopher F.

Year: 2011

Publication: Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 41: 359-369.

Abstract: Despite considerable study, it remains uncertain what environmental factors contribute to red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) foliar winter injury and how much this injury influences tree C stores. We used a long-term record of winter injury in a plantation in New Hampshire and conducted stepwise linear regression analyses with local weather and regional pollution data to determine which parameters helped account for observed injury. Two types of weather phenomena were consistently associated with elevated injury: (i) measures of low-temperature stress that incite injury and (ii) factors that reduced the length of the growing season and predisposed trees to injury. At this plantation, there was a significant linear relationship between winter injury and growth reductions for 2 years after a severe winter injury event. Analysis using data from three New England states indicated that plantation data reflected a regional response.