Simulations of tree rings from trees of undisturbed forest sites are used to describe natural, long-term width trends. Ring-width trends of canopy-sized white oak are simulated from regressions of BAI (ring area) data of real trees. Examples are given of a tree from a typical re-growth forest in Illinois and of a more slowly growing tree from an old-growth forest in Kentucky. The long-term width trend was simulated as being toward constant ring width regardless of growth rate of the tree. Conditions by which either increasing or decreasing ring-width trends could be simulated from the same linear BAI trend are examined. I conclude that curvilinear width trends, either increasing or decreasing, represent width adjustments to changes in growth rate (BAI trend) after which the width trend stabilizes to a near-constant value. Interpretation of ring-width trends of trees from undisturbed stands may be useful in assessing stand disturbance history.

Although the primary purpose of response function analysis is to identify climate variables that have significant associations with tree radial growth, many researchers are also interested in assessing the strength of these associations. Existing response function programs use a liberal criterion to determine how many climate variables should be included in the analysis. The resulting response function models include a large number of predictor variables. The objective of this analysis is to determine if these response function models are over-fitted to the data used to calibrate them, resulting in over-estimation of strength of associations. PRECON was used to produce response functions for white oak chronologies from n = 149 sites, with separate response functions using 34 monthly climate variables or 10 seasonal climate variables. An analysis of goodness-of-fit statistics for response function calibration provided strong evidence of over-estimation of strength of associations. The degree of over-estimation was greater when 34 monthly climate variables were included in the models compared to models with10 season variables. There was much less evidence of over-fitting for the R-verif statistic that reflects strength of association between predicted and actual tree-ring indices that were not included in model calibration. The PRECON R-verif statistic is the best measure of the strength of multivariate growth-climate associations currently available.

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<p dir="ltr">For several decades, the ecological dominance of white oak (<i>Quercus alba</i>) has been declining throughout the species’ native range in eastern North America with failure to recruit new individuals into the overstory. White oak’s decline is concerning as the species is of great cultural, ecological, and economic value. Planting artificial regeneration is one approach to bolstering flagging natural white oak regeneration insufficient in vigor or quantity to supplant mature canopy white oak. Shelterwood harvests and artificial regeneration alone or in combination are frequently suggested to be an effective means of securing sufficient white oak regeneration in central hardwood understories. Because there is a much more comprehensive body of work examining northern red oak (<i>Quercus rubra</i>) than white oak artificial regeneration, managerial prescriptions for artificial regeneration of white oak are commonly generalized from northern red oak prescriptions. If the two species are silvically different, however, they should be managed differently to achieve maximum effectiveness of regenerative prescriptions.</p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr">I conducted both a silvicultural field trial and a more controlled shade and competition study to examine artificial white oak regeneration responses to light and competition gradients. In the silvicultural field trial, I tested the impacts of varied lengths of competition control, geographical seed source, and canopy cover on growth and survival of artificial white oak regeneration within an expanding shelterwood system. After three growing seasons, my results indicated that seedlings grow and survive at the greatest rates in areas of up to approximately 50% canopy closure, or conditions found in harvest gaps.</p><p dir="ltr">In a shade and competition study, I compared artificial northern red oak and white oak growth, morphology, and physiology responses to three light levels (10% or low, 30% or medium, and full sun or high) under the presence or absence of an invasive competitor (Amur honeysuckle (<i>Lonicera maackii</i>)). After two years, my results indicated that medium light levels resulted in the greatest height and diameter growth as well as the greatest nonstructural carbohydrate amounts in both root and shoot organs of both species. Interestingly, my physiology results indicated that northern red oak seedlings displayed lower light compensation points and greater quantum yields than white oak seedlings. These traits potentially indicate greater shade tolerance of northern red oak than white oak. Further, white oak foliar nitrogen in shaded treatments, quantum yield, and light compensation points were impacted more severely by competition than equivalent northern red oak measures, indicating that white oak seedlings may not be as well equipped to handle invasive competition pressures. These results indicate that these two upland oak species are fundamentally different, and these differences should be considered when writing management prescriptions.</p>

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