Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:40 pm
Ed,
Yes. Mid-Atlantic and Midwest represents an area of overlap. The idea of growing zones also enter the picture as surrogates for climate. Degree days and that sort of thing. I recall an old article in America Forests in which some un-attuned fellow tried to prove where the regions of maximum tree height occurred for each species. He relied on the tree height measurements in the National Register. He came to the conclusion that the maximum height of a species occurred just north of the center of the range of the species. Of course we don't need to get into the pitfalls of his approach. However, it did cause me to think long and hard about where I saw the best of a species. I'm still absorbing and mentally calibrating observations. It is a complicated subject.
Bob
Yes. Mid-Atlantic and Midwest represents an area of overlap. The idea of growing zones also enter the picture as surrogates for climate. Degree days and that sort of thing. I recall an old article in America Forests in which some un-attuned fellow tried to prove where the regions of maximum tree height occurred for each species. He relied on the tree height measurements in the National Register. He came to the conclusion that the maximum height of a species occurred just north of the center of the range of the species. Of course we don't need to get into the pitfalls of his approach. However, it did cause me to think long and hard about where I saw the best of a species. I'm still absorbing and mentally calibrating observations. It is a complicated subject.
Bob