Download Rachel Markey, “Observed Phenology and Winter Injury of Seedlings Within the Northern  Forest Mesocosm (NFoRM) Climate Change Experiment”, Aiken Forestry Sciences 

Rachel Markey, “Observed Phenology and Winter Injury of Seedlings Within the Northern Forest Mesocosm (NFoRM) Climate Change Experiment”, Aiken Forestry Sciences Laboratory at the University of Vermont and US Forest Service, March 2015 One of the most observable responses to global climate change is the alteration of plant phenology, which has large effects on productivity and species interactions. Climatic change may also have increased effects on plant injury, which could influence phenological cycles by altering a plant’s ability to break bud. This study seeks to explore the effects of increased warming and snow removal caused by global climate change on the ecosystem processes of the Northern Forest. Between April and July of 2014, the phenology and winter injury of seedlings of four tree species (​
Castanea dentata, Prunus serotina, Populus tremuloides, Betula papyrifera) was measured at the Aiken Forestry Sciences Laboratory in South Burlington, VT. A scoring methodology was prepared to quantify seedling phenology, while winter injury was quantified by tip dieback, bud injury, and foliar injury to the nearest centimeter. Species was found to have a significant effect (Split­Plot ANOVA, p=<.0001, ⍺=0.05) on seedling winter injury. Southern species (​
Castanea dentata ​
and ​
Prunus serotina) ​
that are at the northern edge of their range exhibited more winter injury than northern species, which may be attributed to winter chilling, photoperiod, and temperature. These factors are driving forces in influencing dominant tree species phenology in the Northeast, which may explain why these species also demonstrated lower mean phenology scores.