Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Restoration of American chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.)Borkh.) is currently underway in eastern North American forests.American chestnut and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) trees historically co-occurred in these forests.Today, hemlock-dominated forests are in decline due to hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) infestation, and as such, may serve as appropriate habitat for chestnut reestablishment.To investigate this notion, I evaluated the performance of American chestnut seedlings planted under healthy eastern hemlock-dominated canopies.Two process-oriented greenhouse experiments were also performed to study the response of American chestnut to drought stress and to test the competitive performance of chestnut against red maple (Acer rubrum (L.)), the most abundant hardwood found in the understory of regional hemlock-dominated forests.After two growing seasons, mean chestnut seedling survival in the field experiment was 6.6%.Seedling survival was significantly higher among trees that lacked a protective tree tube, suggesting low light levels played a major role in seedling mortality.In the drought stress experiment, American chestnut exhibited significantly higher mortality under a severe drought treatment compared to the control group.The moderate stress treatment also responded poorly to drought; however, results did not differ significantly with the control group.In Lindsay Scott, Justin Schwalenburg, and Gideon Daniel for their assistance in the field.
Author: Nathan A. Daniel
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Forestry
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W922249169