Abstract
Within the scientific as well as the popular press there is a growing interest in the declining growth rates and increased mortality of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) in the eastern United States1,2, and the possibility of a causal relationship with anthropogenic pollutants, particularly acidic deposition3–7. To evaluate this relationship we need to consider the long-term (200 year) population trend of this species (which has not been done to date). Potentially long-term changes are being viewed with a short-term perspective, possibly leading to the identification of spurious causal relationships. Using historical and current compositional data from old-growth stands in the spruce–hardwood zone we constructed a 180-year trend in forest composition for central New Hampshire. These data indicate a major decrease in the size of red spruce populations from 1800 to the present. It is proposed that the major driving force of this decline has been a warming trend in both mean annual and mean summer temperatures.
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Hamburg, S., Cogbill, C. Historical decline of red spruce populations and climatic warming. Nature 331, 428–431 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/331428a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/331428a0
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