• DeMaio, Sophia
  University of Maine
  

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) is an ecologically important species that is threatened across its range by the non-native hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adleges tsugae (Annand) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae)). In order to understand potential impacts of hemlock wooly adelgid in southern Maine, we conducted a tree-ring study of 36 sites in southern Maine to evaluate how stress events affected eastern hemlock increments, especially after the 1999-2002 drought.

The primary objectives were to: 1) create a master chronology and identify reduced growth events 2) model abiotic factors associated with differences in drought response among plot and 3) evaluate the impact of the 1999-2002 drought on growth trends across the southern Maine hemlock population.