Southern pine defoliation growth response data

This data publication contains data associated with two studies examining the effects of simulated crown scorch to the survival and growth of southern pine. Studies were done at six plantations located in South Carolina (Aiken and Branchville), Georgia (Bainbridge and Waycross), and Florida (Palatka). Data consists of tree height and diameter at breast height (dbh) measurements for 600 plantation-grown slash pine and 600 plantation-grown loblolly pine between 1986 and 1999 after varying degrees of manual defoliation (0, 33, 66, 95, or 100 percent) were applied during different seasons. The number of annual grown flushes was also recorded on two different occasions. The data also include dbh and tree height measurements, from 1993 to 2012, for 450 plantation-grown longleaf pine after varying degrees of manual defoliation (0, 95, or 100 percent) during the fall and early winter.The purpose of the initial defoliation study was to determine the survival and growth responses of slash pine and loblolly pine to differing degrees of manual defoliation (0, 33, 66, 95, or 100 percent) to simulate the effects of foliage loss from crown scorch during prescribed fires. A second study of longleaf pine seedlings was done to determine the response to manual defoliation (0, 95, or 100 percent) late in the growing season.Original metadata and publication date was 08/13/2014. Diameter and height measurements from 1999 were added to the data on 09/16/2014, along with minor metadata updates. Minor metadata updates on 12/13/2016.