Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) Sapling Study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: Herbivory Damage and Snow Depth

During the winter 2014-15 there was extensive over-winter herbivory damage to
sapling stems in the Climate Chaneg Across Seasons (CCASE) sapling experiment in the
form of partial or complete girdling from bark consumption. Measurements of the extent of
bark damage, the recovery class of the saplings, and the average snow depth during winter
were made for each experimental treatment.

There were seven treatments for each species of maple. For each species, ten saplings experienced ambient
temperatures (reference), ten experienced growing season warming with no induced freeze-thaw cycles in
winter (warmed), ten in each of four groups experienced warming in the growing season coupled with two, four,
six, or eight soil freeze-thaw cycles in winter (warmed + 2 FTC, warmed + 4 FTC, warmed + 6 FTC, warmed + 8 FTC),
and ten experienced snow removal in winter with ambient temperatures in the growing-season (snow removal).