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). These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook
Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at
the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and
maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research
Station.