Foliar injury symptoms and pigment concentrations in red spruce saplings in the southern Appalachians

The frequency and percent surface area covered by necrotic flecking on red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) needles from sapling-sized trees were examined on nine research sites on three mountains in the southern Appalachians. Foliar pigment analysis was conducted on trees from two of the nine research s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCanadian journal of forest research Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 1119 - 1123
Main Authors Andersen, C.P, McLaughlin, S.B, Roy, W.K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.07.1991
Subjects
altitude
chlorophyll
injuries
leaves
necrosis
Picea rubens
seasonal variation
North Carolina
Tennessee
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Summary:The frequency and percent surface area covered by necrotic flecking on red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) needles from sapling-sized trees were examined on nine research sites on three mountains in the southern Appalachians. Foliar pigment analysis was conducted on trees from two of the nine research sites. Flecking increased with foliar age on all sites, and on two of the mountains the area covered by flecks increased with elevation. Above 1720 m on Clingman's Dome, foliar flecking was found to constitute > 8% of the upper needle surface area of 1-year-old needles. Chlorophyll a and b concentrations increased with foliar age and were greater in trees growing at the mid-elevation site (1720 m) than at the high-elevation site (1935 m) on Clingman's Dome. Pigment concentrations did not correspond to foliar flecking frequency at these two sites. Foliar flecking appears to increase over winter, and its widespread occurrence throughout the southern Appalachians suggests that regional rather than local site-related phenomena are involved.
ISSN:0045-5067
1208-6037
DOI:10.1139/x91-154