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Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF318

White Pine Needle Decline in Walden Woods and Weston MA 2017-2018

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Data

Overview

  • Lead: Brian Donahue, Jason Aylward, David Foster
  • Investigators: Joshua Rapp, Roi Karlinski
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: 2017
  • End date: 2018
  • Status: complete
  • Location: Lincoln MA, Weston MA
  • Latitude: +42.32 to +42.46 degrees
  • Longitude: -71.35 to -71.27 degrees
  • Elevation: 24 to 77 meter
  • Datum: WGS84
  • Taxa: Bifusella linearis, Lecanosticta acicola, Lophophacidium dooksii, Pinus strobus (eastern white pine), Septorioides strobi
  • Release date: 2023
  • Language: English
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.318.3
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: short-term measurement
  • Research topic: conservation and management; invasive plants, pests and pathogens
  • LTER core area: primary production, population studies, disturbance patterns
  • Keywords: defoliation, forest dynamics, fungi, pine
  • Abstract:

    White Pine Needle Decline (WPND) is a suite of four fungal pathogens that attack third, second and in extreme cases first year needles of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). Premature needle shedding reduces photosynthetic activity and in turn reduces growth rates and overall health of the eastern white pine, an ecologically and economically valuable species in the Northeast United States.

    Our long-term forest dynamics plots in Weston and Walden Woods are ideal for monitoring these pathogens’ effects on overstory and understory pine. The unique aspect of our study sites is the dense population of understory pine. Many of our plots are typical old-field white pine stands and are densely stocked from lack of cutting. Densely stocked stands have been shown to be more affected by WPND than more open stands (McIntire, 2017).

  • Methods:

    In 2017, 443 dominant and codominant trees located across 105 forest dynamics plots in Walden woods (several thousand acres of woods surrounding Walden pond in Concord and Lincoln, MA) were randomly selected for WPND crown and Caliciopsis canker assessments. In 2018, 695 overstory white pine located in long-term forest dynamics plots on town conservation land in Weston, MA were also assessed. Subsets of these trees (87 trees in Walden Woods and 60 in Weston) were further sampled for uncompacted live crown and crown diameter measurements.

    Understory white pine in all plots was assessed for the presence or absence of WPND and Caliciopsis canker and the density of understory plants was estimated. A subset of these trees was re-measured in 2018.

    Crown position, transparency, crown light exposure, crown dieback, crown diameter, and uncompacted crown ratio data were collected according to guidelines in Schomaker et al, 2007. Crown health was sampled according to Wyka et al, 2017. Caliciopsis canker overstory assessments were made according to Munck et al, 2015.

    Literature Cited

    Munck, I. A., Livingston, W., Lombard, K., Luther, T., Ostrofsky, W. D., Weimer, J., Wyka, S., Broders, K. (2015). Extent and Severity of Caliciopsis canker in New England, USA: an emerging disease of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.). Forests 6:4360-4373.

    Schomaker, Michael E., Zarnoch, Stanley J., Bechtold, William A., Latelle, David J., Burkman, William G., Cox, Susan M. (2007). Crown-condition classification: a guide to data collection and analysis. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-102. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 78 p.

    Wyka, S. A., McIntire, C. D., Smith, C., Munck, I. A., Rock, B. N., Asbjornsen, H., Broders, K. D. (2018). Effect of Climatic Variables on Abundance and Dispersal of Lecanosticta acicola Spores and Their Impact on Defoliation on Eastern White Pine. Phytopathology, 108(3), 374-383.

    Wyka, S. A., Smith, C. , Munck, I. A., Rock, B. N., Ziniti, B. L., Broders, K. (2017). Emergence of white pine needle damage in the northeastern United States is associated with changes in pathogen pressure in response to climate change. Glob Change Biol, 23: 394-405.

  • Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

  • Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

  • Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

  • Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

  • License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

  • Citation: Donahue B, Aylward J, Foster D. 2023. White Pine Needle Decline in Walden Woods and Weston MA 2017-2018. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF318 (v.3). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5219cbd4c5cf34daa2d7b25dbe19643f.

Detailed Metadata

hf318-01: Walden plot locations

  1. type: waypoint or tract
  2. ident: plot number
  3. latitude: latitude (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
  4. longitude: longitude (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
  5. y.proj: y projection, WGS84 (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  6. x.proj: x projection, WGS84 (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  7. symbol: symbol on GPS device representing plot
  8. altitude: altitude (unit: foot / missing value: NA)
  9. model: GPS model used to record waypoint

hf318-02: Weston plot locations

  1. type: waypoint or tract
  2. ident: plot number
  3. latitude: latitude (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
  4. longitude: longitude (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
  5. y.proj: y projection, WGS84 (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  6. x.proj: x projection, WGS84 (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  7. comment: stand identification
  8. symbol: symbol on GPS device representing plot
  9. model: GPS model used to record waypoint
  10. desc: stand identification

hf318-03: overstory crown data

  1. town: location of plot
    • lincoln/concord: greater Walden Woods area
    • weston: Weston, MA
  2. stand: stand name
  3. plot.number: plot number
  4. quad: quadrant location
    • NE: northeast
    • NW: northwest
    • SE: southeast
    • SW: southwest
  5. tag: tag number associated with tree
  6. year: year of sampling
  7. date: date of sampling
  8. species: species code
    • PINSTR: Pinus strobus, eastern white pine
    • ACERUB: Acer rubrum
    • quealb: Quercus alba
    • querub: Quercus rubra
  9. dbh: diameter at breast height (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  10. crown.health: estimate of foliage infected by the WPND complex
    • 0: healthy tree
    • 1: bottom third of canopy showing signs of needle damage
    • 2: bottom two-thirds of canopy showing signs of needle damage
    • 3: crown infected throughout
  11. transparency: amount of skylight visible through the microholes in the live portion of the crown, i.e. where foliage or remnants of foliage occur, in 5% increments with the upper number of the range recorded (1-5%=5, 6-10%=10, etc) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  12. light.exposure: crown light exposure
    • 0: no direct light exposure
    • 1: direct light from top or one side
    • 2: direct light from top and one side, or 2 sides without the top
    • 3: direct light from the top and 2 sides
    • 4: direct light from the top and 3 sides
    • 5: 100% direct sunlight (direct light from top and 4 sides)
  13. crown.dieback: crown die-back reported in 5% increments with the upper number of the range recorded (1-5%=5, 6-10%=10, etc) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  14. notes: notes

hf318-04: crown measurement data

  1. town: location of plot
    • lincoln/concord: greater Walden Woods area
    • weston: Weston, MA
  2. stand: stand name
  3. plot: plot number
  4. tag: tag number associated with tree
  5. year: year of sampling
  6. date: date of sampling
  7. species: species code
    • PINSTR: Pinus strobus, eastern white pine
  8. quad: quadrant location
    • NE: northeast
    • NW: northwest
    • SE: southeast
    • SW: southwest
  9. crown.class: position of the tree in the forest canopy
    • 1: dominant trees
    • 2: codominant trees
    • 3: intermediate trees
    • 4: suppressed trees
  10. dbh: diameter at breast height (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  11. crown.diameter.x: crown diameter at widest distance between the driplines of 2 live branches (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  12. crown.diameter.y: crown diameter perpendicular to widest measurement of crown diameter (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  13. tree.height: tree height (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  14. crown.base: crown base height (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  15. crown.height: top of crown height, often the same as tree height (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  16. notes: additional notes

hf318-05: white pine needle decline and caliciopsis

  1. town: location of plot
    • lincoln/concord: greater Walden Woods area
    • weston: Weston, MA
  2. stand: stand name
  3. plot: plot number
  4. year: year of sampling
  5. date: date of sampling
  6. wpnd.understory: presence of white pine needle decline on understory pine
    • p: present
    • a: absent
  7. wp.understory: estimate of white pine density
    • count: 10 or fewer
    • 20: 11-20
    • 30: 21-30
    • 40: 31-40
    • 50: 41 or more
  8. wpnd.understory.per: estimate of percentage of white pine understory trees that have WPND (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  9. caliciopsis.canker.understory: presence of cankers on understory pines
    • p: present
    • a: absent
  10. notes: additional notes taken at plot level