An Annotated Bibliography of Eastern Redcedar

Weather-Related Factors

434. Albertson, F.W. 1940. Studies of native redcedars in west central Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences. 43: 85-95.

Severe drought, which began in 1933, caused heavy mortality to the native redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), which is nowhere common in the Great Plains Region, and, in the area studied, was found to be restricted to north-facing slopes of exposed limestone or protected river banks.

435. Albertson, F.W.; Weaver, J.E. 1945. Injury and death or recovery of trees in prairie climate. Ecological Monographs. 15(4): 393-433.

This study describes the effects of the greatest drought since meteorological records were kept, on forests and trees growing in a prairie climate. The area considered extends from Iowa to Colorado and from Oklahoma to Canada. Data are drawn from a wide range of sources; they include pre-drought surveys of trees and conditions for their growth in grassland, which give a necessary background for an understanding of their injury and death or recovery in different sites. The chief cause of injury was lack of sufficient available water, due to low precipitation and accentuated by one or more of several causes, such as competition for water by grasses, decreased rate of infiltration, and rapid run-off, drying up of streams and springs, and a rapid fall of the water table in ravines and lowland terraces. Other factors were low humidity, high evaporation, desiccating winds, and the inability of trees to accommodate their root systems to the rapidly changing environment. Unrestricted grazing was a common cause of excessive mortality in plantations and windbreaks. Experimental data on the harmful effects of competition with grass on both roots and shoots of trees are presented. Root distribution of the same tree species in different types of soil, including alluvial soil with a high water table, has been noted and the general relation between extent and distribution of roots in different sites and drought resistance is pointed out. Injury and death of woody plants from the effects of drought were often the results of continuous adverse conditions over a long period, but death of trees and shrubs on flood plains and terraces sometimes occurred in a relatively short time if the water table was lowered rapidly. Effects of early drought were wilting, discoloration, withering, or shedding of foliage. An early outward sign of repeated yearly drought among deciduous trees was great reduction in size and number of leaves and defoliation of the outer portions of the crown. Great injury was also often caused by partial or total and sometimes repeated defoliation by grasshoppers, webworms, and leaf-eating larvae of other insects; such attacks usually occurred during years of great drought. Exposure of branches with reduced foliage to high insolation, great heat, and low humidity was a common cause of injury. Desiccation resulted in the death of the smaller branches, and permitted the entrance of wood borers, other insect larvae, and fungi. Desiccation and wood borers caused the death of the branches to proceed rapidly downwards; often the entire tree succumbed. Effect of drought upon the radial growth of uninjured or least injured trees in western Kansas was ascertained. Trees that retained some life at the close of the drought usually remained alive unless infestation by wood borers was so complete or the trees so nearly dead that they were unable to resume growth. Recovery was shown principally by renewed growth locally within the crown. In dry sites, even after 3 or 4 years of good precipitation, leafy branches were sometimes few and foliage was sparse; but where drought had been less severe, the foliage of the renewed portions of the crown was unusually dense. Where moisture was plentiful, the dead branches in the tops of the crowns were often soon obscured by new ones. Sprouts developed from the bases of some trees and grew rapidly. Dead trees were partly replaced by seedlings, but only where the trees grew naturally. In this manner, redcedars (Juniperus virginiana) continued to replace their losses through the drought. Seedlings were not found in plantations, windbreaks, or hedgerows in mixed prairie. The report is illustrated by over 60 photographs.

436. Goebel, C.J.; Deitschman, G.H. 1967. Ice storm damage to planted conifers in Iowa. Journal of Forestry. 65(7): 496-497.

Study of climatological records suggests that damaging ice storms can be expected in Iowa at 7- to 10-year intervals. After the severe ice storm of February 16, 1961, a survey was made of (1) Pinus strobus, (2) P. sylvestris, (3) Thuja occidentalis, (4) Pinus nigra, (5) Picea abies, and (6) Juniperus virginiana, and their relative susceptibility. The survey indicated that: young trees less than 20 feet high did not sustain injury; (1) and (2) suffered greatest damage; (3) and (4) suffered less severely; and (5) and (6) were not affected at all.

437. Hinckley, T.M.; Dougherty, P.M.; Lassoie, J.P.; Roberts, J.E.; Teskey, R.O. 1979. A severe drought: impact on tree growth, phenology, net photosynthetic rate and water relations. American Midland Naturalist. 102(2): 307-316. 29 refs.

An unusually severe drought occurred in central Missouri during the summer of 1976. The drought resulted in an average soil water potential of -26.1 bars in the upper 45 cm of the soil profile in spite of the addition of 4.9 cm of irrigation water. Its effects on phenology, growth, physiological processes, and water relations of white oak (Quercus alba) and eight other species found in this oak-hickory forest were examined. The drought had a dramatic impact on base (presunrise) xylem pressure potential of white oak in both irrigated (-19.6 to -34.3 bars) and nonirrigated specimens (-27.8 to -45.2 bars). Growth was reduced, die-back increased, net photosynthetic rate was depressed to near the compensation point, and phenological patterns in the following year (1977) were altered. An estimation of the number of days on which stomata were closed for most of the photoperiod was compared to the number of days when mature leaves were present. The following ranking of species based on this index of stomatal control was possible (from most to least time spent with stomata closed): sunflower > flowering dogwood = black walnut > sugar maple > northern red oak > white oak = eastern redcedar = black oak. Various drought avoidance mechanisms are also presented and discussed in regard to these eight species. The long periods of low soil water potentials and base xylem pressure potentials experienced during the drought of 1976 did not prevent the recovery of the growth processes that autumn or the subsequent spring. All study species seemed well-adapted to survival and to continued functioning during this severe drought.

438. Holubcik, M. 1960. Damage to trees by wind and snow on 8 and 9 January, 1959 in the Kysihybel Arboretum near Banska Stiavnica. Vedecke Prace Vyskhumneho Ustavu Lesneho Hospodarstva vo Zvolene, Bansk. Stiav. 1: 97-106. Slovak.

The combination of wet snow, unfrozen ground, and a northerly wind (force 6) caused mostly selective damage, i.e., to individual trees with small crowns, or to suppressed trees, but also considerable damage to stands of Thuja occidentalis, Juniperus virginiana, and, in part, to Pinus flexilis. Younger stands of Chainaecyparis lawsoniana, P. nigra, P. rigida, and P. nigra var. calabrica also suffered badly. Other species, e.g., Pinus peuce, Abies spp., and Picea spp., proved resistant.

439. Inoue, Y.; Kakihara, M. 1958. Studies on the snow-damaged forest in Kasuya University Forest. Rep. 9. Kyushu University of Forestry: 1-27. Japanese.

Analyzes the damage done by an exceptional snowstorm (30 cm fall vs. the previous recorded maximum of only 8 cm) in February 1956. Damage on the south and east slopes was greater than else-where. Damage among Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) was greater on gentle than on steep slopes, and in 16-year stands it was greater on the lower slopes than on the upper. C. japonica and pencil cedar (Juniperus virginiana) were more heavily damaged than other species, with a higher incidence in the younger stands, but the thickest and tallest trees suffered most top-breakage. The height above ground of the point of breakage rose with age of tree. Damage increased with stand density, showing the need for suitable thinning. Volume and number of trees damaged are tabulated by species.

440. Maggrett, H.I. 1940. The ability of certain common trees to withstand drought in southeastern South Dakota. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science. 20: 84-90.

The percentage survival values of some common trees, as shown by a field survey extending from 1934 to 1939, were redcedar 97, Chinese elm 97, hackberry 96, ponderosa pine 92, honey locust 88, bur oak 85, American elm 79, cottonwood 78, green ash 63, white willow 63, boxelder 56, and black walnut 55. The average survival value for all was 76 percent.

441. Pallardy, S.G.; Parker, W.C.; Whitehouse, D.L.; Hinckley, T.M.; Teskey, R.O. 1983. Physiological responses to drought and drought adaptation in woody species. In: Randall, D., ed. Proceedings, 2d annual plant biochemistry physiology symposium; 1983 April 6-8; Columbia, MO. Current Topics on Plant Biochemistry Physiology. 2: 185-199. 27 refs.

Discusses published work with sections on plant distribution and site water regime, and recent work on responses to drought and drought adaptation in oak/hickory forest species (including Juniperus virginiana and Juglans nigra).

442. Pool, R.J. 1939. Some reactions of the vegetation in the towns and cities of Nebraska to the great drought. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 66: 457-456.

Observations during the severe drought periods prevailing between 1933 and 1938 in the northern prairie and plains region of the United States have given some indication of the drought resistance of a number of native and introduced tree species. Celtis occidentalis has consistently shown the greatest drought resistance among native hardwoods; other species, in decreasing order of resistance, are Gleditsia triacanthos, Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. lanceolata, Acer saccharinum, Platanus occidentalis, Ulmus americana, and U. fulva. Of the planted hardwoods, Quercus macrocarpa was rather highly resistant, and Ulmus parvifolia did well, though most trees of the latter are too young for a reliable estimate of their susceptibility to be made. Among the conifers, Juniperus virginiana suffered little, and good survival has also been shown by Pinus nigra and P. sylvestris. Most of the other tree species occurring in the region, both hardwoods and softwoods, have suffered very severely.

443. Radu, S. 1960. Injurious effects of snow on Juniperus virginiana and other species. Revista Padurilor. 75(3): 173-176. 6 refs. Rumanian.

Describes injuries caused to exotic conifers, and especially to J. virginiana in the arboretum at Simeria, by a heavy snowfall after prolonged frost in February 1958 (3 times the normal fall for the month fell in 3 days). A large number of junipers (2,679) were uprooted, twisted or broken off. Thuja occidentalis and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana suffered less severely.

444. Stoeckeler, J.H. 1965. Spring frost damage in young forest plantings near La Crosse, Wisconsin. Journal of Forestry. 63(1): 12-14. 21 refs.

Ratings from observations of frost injury (occurring in May 1963) to 13 species in 2- and 3-year-old plantations are: very sensitive-black walnut, white ash, and red oak; moderately sensitive-Norway spruce, white spruce, European larch; slightly sensitive-Austrian pine; and not sensitive-jack, ponderosa, red, Scots and white pines, and eastern redcedar.

445. Traci, C. 1975. The effects of the 1973 drought on the conifer plantations on eroded sites in the Cheia-Macin area in the forest-steppe of N. Dobruja. Revista Padurilor. 90(1): 25-30. Romanian.

Tabulates, by conifer species and site types, the extent of crown killing in mixed conifer/hardwood plantations 8 to 12 years old on sites already described in Rumania. Pinus nigra and (especially) P. sylvestris were severely damaged, mortality being concentrated on the skeletal soils on south facing slopes and at total stand densities more than or equal to 8,000 trees/ha. Juniperus virginiana, P. jeffreyi, and P. ponderosa were undamaged. Most hardwoods suffered little damage apart from premature leaf shedding, but Robinia pseudoacacia was severely damaged. It is concluded that P. nigra and P. sylvestris should form not more than 25-30 percent of the stand, and that P. sylvestris should not be used on the driest sites, which should be planted at a density of 3,000-5,000/ha.

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