Maple Research

Long-term calcium addition increases growth release, wound closure, and health of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) trees at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

We surveyed and wounded forest-grown sugar maple (Acer sacchamm Marsh.) trees in a long-term, replicated Ca manipulation study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA. Plots received applications of Ca (to boost Ca availability above depleted ambient levels) or A1 (to compete with Ca uptake and further reduce Ca availability). We found significantly greater total foliar and membrane-associated Ca in foliage of trees in plots fertilized with Ca when compared with trees from Al-addition and control plots (P = 0.005).

Publication:: Canadian Jounal of Forest Research
Date:: September 28, 2001

Response of Sugar Maple to Calcium Addition to Northern Hardwood Forest

Watershed budget studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), New Hampshire, USA, have demonstrated high calcium depletion of soil during the 20th century due, in part, to acid deposition. Over the past 25 years, tree growth (especially for sugar maple) has declined on the experimental watersheds at the HBEF. In October 1999, 0.85 Mg Ca/ha was added to Watershed 1 (W1) at the HBEF in the form of wollastonite (CaSiO3), a treatment that, by summer 2002, had raised the pH in the Oie horizon from 3.8 to 5.0 and, in the Oa horizon, from 3.9 to 4.2. We measured the response of sugar maple to the calcium fertilization treatment on W1.

Publication:: Ecology
Date:: November 23, 2005