Hacker, W. D.

Kulhavy, David

Ross, W. G.

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Stephen F. Austin State UniversitySFA ScholarWorksFaculty Publications Forestry1994Growth Models of Loblolly and Shortleaf PineRed-Cockaded Woodpeckers Nesting TreesW. D. HackerArthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityW. G. RossArthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityDavid KulhavyArthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, dkulhavy@sfasu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/forestryPart of the Forest Sciences CommonsTell us how this article helped you.This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Forestry at SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publicationsby an authorized administrator of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact cdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu.Recommended CitationHacker, W. D.; Ross, W. G.; and Kulhavy, David, "Growth Models of Loblolly and Shortleaf Pine Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers NestingTrees" (1994). Faculty Publications. Paper 319.http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/forestry/319GENERAL NOTESGROWTH MODELS OF LOBLOLLY AND SHORTLEAF PINERED-COCKADED WOODPECKER NESTING TREESW. DAVID HACKER, WILLIAM G. Ross, AND DAVID L. KULHAVYTexas Departmenl oJ Transportation, Division oJ Environmenlal AJJairs,Austin. Texas 78701 (WDH) and College oJ Forestry, Stephen F Austin State University,Nacogdoches, Texas 75962 (WGR. DLK)The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis Viellot) was originally found throughoutthe pine forest region of the southeastern United States (USFWS, 1985) but is now on theendangered specie Ii t (USFWS, 1993). Red-cockaded woodpeckers excavate nesting androo ting cavities exclu ively in living pine trees. Becau e of the fragmented nature of standscontaining suitable cavity trees in the southern United States, and particularly in the loblolly(Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf (P. echinata Mill.) pine stands in the national forests in Texa ,intensive management is needed. Information on cavity tree growth parameters is one ofmany aspect of red-cockaded woodpecker ecology that needs to be explored to devise adequatemanagement plans. The objective of this note is to develop height growth models based onage of loblolly and shortleaf pine red-cockaded woodpecker nesting trees.Following a eries of tornadoes, wind thrown red-cockaded woodpecker nesting trees fromthe Angelina and Davy Crockett National Forests in Texa were subjected to stem analysis.The tree were broken off in a random fashion by the tornadoes. They were then piecedback together to allow the fallen loblolly and shortleaf pine trees to be cut at the root collarand sectioned at 61 centimeter intervals. A section was removed from the top of each log.These sections were then taken to the laboratory where they were sanded and growth ringsTABLE I. Regression coefficients and asymptotic standard errors for the Chapman -Richardsfunction parameters.Speciesboth speciesloblolly pineRegression Asymptoticr2Coefficient Std. Error113.557 5.818 .9690.015 0.002-0.107 0.054short leaf pine106.7670.015-0.147140.9400.010-0.2069.0850.0040.0938.4960.0010.039.962.976188 THE TEXAS JOURNAL OF SCIENCE-VOL. 46, NO.2, 1994100,..--------------------------,hortlea1loblolly80.--..+-'Q) 60Q)-...........+-'...c0)Q) 40...c2010 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1005OL--------------------------'oage (years)FIGURE I. Relationship of height (feet) versus age (years) for loblolly pine and shortleafpine.counted and recorded. True heights within the bolts of wood were estimated using the techniquerecommended by Carmean (1972).Sampled trees ranged in age from 77 years to 123 years with an average of 99 years anda standard deviation of 13.3 years. These trees ranged in height from 23.2 to 32.9 meterswith a mean of 27.9 meters and a standard deviation of 3.0 meters. The stem analysis treesyielded 462 height-age pairs, of which, 179 were loblolly pine and 283 were shortleaf pine.Three trees were not used because heart rot rendered them useless. Because these trees werefrom nesting colonies of an endangered species, it was impossible to extract more data (barringanother natural calamity).A height growth model using the Chapman-Richards (1959, 1961) function:Y = b l [I.O-EXP(-b,*Age»)]1/I-bJ Iwhere: Y = Tree height (feet); bi = parameters to be determined [I]produced an excellent fit (r' = .969) when applied to the entire data set. A plot of the residualsshowed no adverse biases or trends. The same method was applied to the data by species.Regression coefficients, standard errors, and r"s for all regressions are shown in Table I.After inserting the regression coefficients from Table I into the Chapman-Richards function,the following equations resulted:loblolly pine Height = 106.767 [1.0-EXP(-0.015*Age)]"-'" [2]shortleaf pine Height = 140.940 [I.O-EXP(-O.OIO*Age)]o.", [3]When plotted, these models display curves (Fig. I) that follow the growth patterns of treesGENERAL OTES 189selected by red-cockaded woodpeckers for nesting. Because of the limited sample size, thesemodels do not represent the universe of all loblolly and shortleaf pine cavity trees, but maybe a useful reference for further studies.LITERATURE CITEDCarmean, W. H. 1972. Site index curves for upland oaks in the Central states. Forest Sci ..18:102-120.Chapman, D. G. 1961. Statistical problems in population dynamics. Pp. 147-162, in Proceed.Fourth Berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability (J. eyman, ed.),Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley, California.Richards, F. J. 1959. A flexible growth function for empirical use. J. Exp. Bol., 10:290-300.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1985. Red-cockaded woodpecker recovery plan. U.S. Fishand Wildl. Serv., Atlanta, Georgia. 88 pp.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1993. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. U.S.Fish and Wildl. Serv., 50 CFR 17.11.40 pp.FIRST RECORD OF A NATIVE AMERICAN ELK(CERVUS ELAPHUS) FROM TEXASRUSSELL S. PFAUDepartment of Biology. Midwestern State University. Wichita Falls. TX 76308Reported sightings of American elk in the 1800's (Bailey, 1905) indicate that this speciesinhabited certain regions of Texas, although there are no modern voucher specimens (Stanglet aI., 1994) or fossil records (Dalquest and Schultz, 1992) to substantiate these claims. Thefirst physical evidence of native C. elaphus from Texas is reported herein.On 17 April 1993, the distal portion of a tibia (Fig. I), identifiable as an adult C. elaphus,was found in a cutbank of a small tributary of Pony Creek, II km north-northeast of Seymour,Baylor County, Texas. The cutbank exposes fine clay sediments and three layers of gravel,each layer being about three inches thick. The tibia was at the base of the lowest gravellayer, two feet beneath the level of the surrounding flood plain.The distal end of the tibia of C. elaphus differs from that of Bison bison in the followingcharacter: longitudinal ridges (muscular lines) found on the posterior side of B. bison areabsent in C. elaphus; a tuberosity present on the anterior side is positioned further fromthe distal end than in B. bison (Fig. I A); the shaft in C. elaphus is more slender than thatof B. bison.A radiocarbon (mass spectrometer) date of 295 +/- 50 YBP (Beta Analytic, Inc. #62592)was obtained from a fragment of the bone. It is uncertain whether this specimen repre entsa member of a substantial population of elk that once lived in the area or only a wanderingindividual. There are many records of elk from Oklahoma, and a native population existedin the Wichita Mountains until /881 (Stangl et aI., 1992). It is quite possible, taking thewide ranging and migratory habits of this animal into account, that individuals occasionallywandered south from these areas. This specimen is housed in the Midwestern State UniversityCollection of Fossil Vertebrates (MWSU 12946).I wish to thank W. W. Dalquest and F. B. Stangl, Jr. for their help in preparing thismanu cript and Jesse Rogers, Academic Vice President of Midwestern State University, forfunding the age determination of the bone.

Growth Models of Loblolly and Shortleaf Pine Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers Nesting Trees

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Growth Models of Loblolly and Shortleaf Pine Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers Nesting Trees

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