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Condition and Recent Trends in High-Elevation Red Spruce Populations

  • Chapter
Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 96))

Abstract

The spruce-fir forest and the environment experienced by roots and foliage were described in the first three chapters; we are now ready to examine the first of the two fundamental questions regarding trends in red spruce: Has the condition of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) in the eastern United States really deteriorated, and if so, what is the nature and magnitude of that trend? This first question bears close scrutiny: a search for mechanisms to explain a phenomenon, or the development of management options to ameliorate it, make sense only when it is established that the phenomenon has actually occurred. The second major question, concerning the causal agent(s) and mechanism(s) that could be responsible for any observed downward trend in spruce and spruce-fir condition, is addressed in Sections II and III of this book.

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Authors
  1. David R. Peart
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  2. N. S. Nicholas
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  3. Shepard M. Zedaker
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  4. Margaret M. Miller-Weeks
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  5. Thomas G. Siccama
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 640, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Christopher Eagar

  2. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Timber and Watershed Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 404—Nursery Bottom, Parsons, WV, 26287, USA

    Mary Beth Adams

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Peart, D.R., Nicholas, N.S., Zedaker, S.M., Miller-Weeks, M.M., Siccama, T.G. (1992). Condition and Recent Trends in High-Elevation Red Spruce Populations. In: Eagar, C., Adams, M.B. (eds) Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States. Ecological Studies, vol 96. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2906-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2906-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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