Zachary Sutton Make Up Lab 5 Forest Restoration Dendrochronology (1)

LAB 5 Make Up: FOREST RESTORATION DENDROCHRONOLOGY Student Answer Sheet EXERCISE 1: Growth in Unrestored & Restored Forest- Collecting Data QUESTION 1 (2 points): Thinking back to the field trip last week, which forest (restored or unrestored) had trees with a larger DBH (diameter)? Based on the DBH, can you tell which forest has OLDER trees? The forest with the larger tree diameter’s was the restored one. With DBH you can’t tell which trees are older because the size of the tree depends on how much nutrients the tree gets. QUESTION 2 (2 points): Which forest (restored or unrestored) do you expect to have trees with wider tree rings? Why? I expect the restored forest to have trees with wider rings because it means they are getting more nutrients and this is to be expected in the restored forests. Record all results in the tables below and calculate the averages for each set of cores. (2 points) Unrestored Forest Plot Core # Tree Age (total # of rings from bark to pith) Tree DBH (cm) (radius x 2) Average Ring Width- entire tree (cm) (Radius/tree age) Average Ring Width - last 10 years (cm) (cm/10) Unrestored 2 67 18.2 0.14 0.13 Unrestored 4 76 34.6 0.23 0.18 Unrestored 6 73 21.4 0.15 0.12 Unrestored 8 63 24.8 0.20 0.11 Unrestored 10 72 20.6 0.14 0.07 Unrestored 12 85 39.6 0.23 0.08 Unrestored 14 53 26 0.25 0.23 Unrestored 16 96 40 0.21 0.13 Average- all Unrestored Cores 73.13 28.15 0.19 0.13 Restored Forest Plot

Core # Tree Age (total # of rings from bark to pith) Tree DBH (cm) (radius x 2) Average Ring Width- entire tree (cm) (Radius/tree age) Average Ring Width - last 10 years (cm) (cm/10) Restored 1 90 50.6 0.28 0.32 Restored 3 94 51. 0.27 0.2 Restored 5 99 47.6 0.24 0.19 Restored 7 97 44.4 0.23 0.17 Restored 9 94 48.8 0.26 0.19 Restored 11 91 50.4 0.28 0.3 Restored 13 87 42 0.24 0..21 Restored 15 90 43.6 0.24 0.14 Average- all Restored Cores 92.75 47.3 0.26 0.22 EXERCISE 2: Growth in Unrestored & Restored Forest- Analyzing the Data QUESTION 3 (3 points): How does the average ring width (entire tree) for the trees in the restored forest plot compare to those in the unrestored plot? How can you explain this? The avergae ring width for the trees in the restored forest were bigger than the unrestored forest plot. This means that the size between rings is bigger overall bue to the received nutrients. QUESTION 4 (3 points): How does the average ring width (the last 10 years) for the trees in the restored forest plot compare to those in the unrestored plot? How can you explain this? (Keep in mind that the restoration treatment happened 10 years before the tree cores were collected) The average ring width for trees in the restored forest in the last 10 years is also bigger than the trees in the unrestored forest plot. This means that after the restoration of the forest the tree rings continued to grow bigger. Graph the “ Average Ring Width- last 10 years ” for each tree in both forest plots. Use a different symbol or color for the two datasets and be sure to include a title for your graph. (2 points) 2