Search

The rapid loss of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in the southern Appalachian Mountains due to hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae, HWA) infestation has resulted in substantial changes to ecosystem structure and function. Several restoration strategies have been proposed, including silvicultural treatments that increase incident light in forest understories. We conducted a four-year manipulative field experiment on surviving mid-story hemlock trees to investigate the effects of release from light limitation on HWA infestation and physiological parameters, expecting that higher light levels would improve tree carbon balance. Mixed hardwood forest sites were either previously uninfested with HWA (UN), infested with HWA (I), or infested with HWA and had a history of predatory beetle releases for biological control (I+P). At each site, we identified ten eastern hemlock trees in the mid-story and cut ~15 m radius canopy gaps around half of them while leaving the canopy intact over the other half. We compared short- and long-term indices of carbon gain and stress: leaf net photosynthesis (Anet); leaf fluorescence (Fv/Fm); leaf total non-structural carbohydrate concentration ([TNC]); new shoot growth; HWA density; and basal area growth. We found that trees experienced greater leaf-level stress in gaps and when HWA was actively feeding. Despite being more stressed, trees in gaps fixed 2x more carbon than those in reference conditions. High Anet in the spring translated into high leaf [TNC] in the spring, coinciding with when HWA was actively feeding. Although infested and uninfested trees had similar leaf [TNC] maxima, infestation prevented trees from allocating this carbon to shoot and basal area growth; this was particularly true for reference trees. Greater shoot growth in gap trees translated to greater annual basal area growth—by the end of the study, trees in gaps were growing 9x more than trees in reference conditions, and this was generally regardless of infestation status. In terms of growth and carbon balance, eastern hemlock consistently benefited from the increased light and soil moisture found in gaps; there was inconsistent and rather weak evidence that predator beetles conferred an additional advantage. Our results indicate that silvicultural treatments may improve long-term health and survival of infested trees and that integration of such treatments with existing strategies is worthy of continued exploration.