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Survival and growth of underplanted northern red oak on mesic sites in Eastern Tennessee: two-year results

Informally Refereed

Abstract

As part of a replicated oak regeneration study initiated at the University of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Forestry Experiment Station, 180 northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings were allocated equally among three no-cut control stands, which provided an opportunity to chart the survival and growth of understory planted oak seedlings across several growing seasons (2002 and 2003). Seedling survival decreased from 58 percent in 2002 to 43 percent in 2003, while average seedling growth dropped from 15.42 cm in 2002 to –8.52 cm in 2003. Logistic regression found that first-year survival was related to three initial seedling attributes: shoot length, root collar diameter, and number of first-order lateral roots. Two-year survival was significantly related to shoot length (p<0.05). The only significant relationship found for growth was between first-year growth and shoot length with R2=0.29 and a p<0.0001. An exploratory analysis on a subset of seedlings (n=30) relating survival and growth to neighborhood structure found overstory and understory structure to have significant effects on first-year survival, while only overstory structure had an effect on first-year growth and 2-year survival.

Parent Publication

Citation

Olson, Matthew G.; Clatterbuck, Wayne K.; Schlarbaum, Scott E. 2006. Survival and growth of underplanted northern red oak on mesic sites in Eastern Tennessee: two-year results. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-92. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 279-282
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/23395