Loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf (P. echinata Mill.) pine seedlings are frequently top damaged during their frst few years by browsing animals, insects, or forestry operations, but little quantitative information exists on the factors affecting recovery. Thus, we conducted two separate studies to evaluate potential recovery of seedlings from top damage under controlled conditions. The fi...

A set of 21 loblolly pine families produced by crossing trees from east Texas were tested for resistance to fusiform rust disease. The parents of these families were surviving trees in stands that experienced extensive mortality in the 1960s due to southern pine beetle infestation. Seedlings were grown in tubes in a greenhouse and artificially inoculated with C. quercuum from five different sou...

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations cover a large geographic area of the southeastern USA and supply a large proportion of the nation's wood products. Research on management strategies designed to maximize wood production while also optimizing nutrient use efficiency and soil C sequestration is needed. We used minirhizotrons to quantify the effects of incorporating logging residues into ...

The thinning of loblolly pine plantations has a great potential to influence the fluxes and storage of carbon within managed stands. This study looked at the effects of thinning on aboveground carbon and mineral soil carbon storage, 14-years after the thinning of an 8-year-old loblolly pine plantation on the piedmont of Virginia. The study also examined soil respiration for one year following t...

Net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem production (NEP) are often used interchangeably, as their difference, heterotrophic respiration (soil CO2 efflux, RSH = NPP−NEP), is assumed a near-fixed fraction of NPP. Here, we show, using range-wide replicated experimental study in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations that responds differently than NPP to fertilization drought treatments, ...

Crown structure, absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) and growth were analyzed in 300 replicated loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliotti) clones to: (1) quantify genetic variation in crown structural traits, growth and APAR at the species, family and clonal levels; and (2) estimate within-family genetic and environmental influences on measu...

Loblolly pine (Pin1r.s tae(/(i L.) seedlings were grown in co~npetition with native weeds using soil and seed bank collected from recently chopped and burned areas near Appornattox, Virginia. One-year-old seedlings were planted and weeds allowed to germinate from the native seed bank while being exposed to COz (ambient and elevated approximately 700 ppm) and water (water stressed and well water...

Snags are standing dead trees that are an important component in the nesting habitat of birds and other species. Although snag availability is believed to limit populations in managed and non-managed forests, little data are available to evaluate the relative effect of stand conditions and management on snag occurrence. We analyzed point sample data from an intensive forest inventory within an ...

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) exhibits genetic resistance to fusiforrn rust disease (incited by the biotrophic fungus, Cronartiurn quercuum f. sp. fusifom) and pitch canker disease (incited by the necrotrophic fungus, Fusarium circinatum). In this study, a total of 14,015 loblolly pine cuttings from 1,065 clones were screened in controlled greenhouse conditions to identify phenotypes of clones...

We compared radiation-use efficiency of growth (epsilon;), defined as rate of biomass accumulation per unit of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, of forest plots exposed to ambient (approximately 360 micro l l-1) or elevated (approximately 560 micro l l-1) atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]). Large plots (30-m diameter) in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation, which containe...