University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2007 Past Fire Regimes of Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens L.) Stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, U.S.A. Georgina DeWeese University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Forest Sciences Commons, and the Other Earth Sciences Commons Recommended Citation DeWeese, Georgina, "Past Fire Regimes of Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens L.) Stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, U.S.A.. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2007. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/150 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Georgina DeWeese entitled "Past Fire Regimes of Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens L.) Stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, U.S.A.." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geography. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Sally P. Horn, Kenneth Orvis, Wayne Clatterbuck Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Georgina DeWeese entitled “Past Fire Regimes of Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens L.) Stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, U.S.A.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geography. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Sally P. Horn _____________________________ Kenneth Orvis _____________________________ Wayne Clatterbuck _____________________________ Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges ______________________________ Carolyn R. Hodges, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) PAST FIRE REGIMES OF TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE (PINUS PUNGENS L.) STANDS IN THE CENTRAL APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS, VIRGINIA, U.S.A. A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Georgina DeWeese August 2007 Copyright © 2007 by Georgina G. DeWeese All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my cockatiel, Cha. She was always there for me and understood when I did not have time to scratch her neck. Most of this dissertation was written with her sitting on my left shoulder. I also dedicate this work to Michelle D. Pfeffer (1981–2006), who was a valuable friend and undergraduate assistant to me for many years. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all those people who helped along the way with this research. This would not have been possible without my advisor, Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer. I know you took a gamble taking me on as a graduate student since I had no previous experience in dendrochronology, and I greatly appreciate it. I also thank Dr. Sally Horn and Dr. Ken Orvis for their guidance and hours of edits and letter of recommendation writing. Thank you to Dr. Wayne Clatterbuck for your guidance and help in the field. Thanks to all my lab mates, geography undergraduates, Forest Service Personnel, and Texas A&M folks for their assistance: Serena Aldrich, Adam Krustchinsky, Paul Rindfleisch, Alexis Green, Jennifer Hoss, John Aldrich, Kirk Stueve, Lauren Spencer, Jeremiah Wagstaff, James Dalton, Judy Dunscomb, Nelson Lafon, Beth Buchanan, Jesse Overcash, Carol Hardy Croy, George Annis, Danny Wright, Butch Shaw, Herbie Huffman, Kenneth Hickman, Jason Hattersley, Zach Pennington, Mitch Kerr, Stockton Maxwell, Beth Atchley, Daniel Lewis, Ashley Heaton, Evan Larson, Alison Miller, Saskia van de Gevel, Pamela Dalal, Chris Underwood, David Mann, Lisa LaForest, Jessica Brogden, Michelle Pfeffer, Preston Roberts, Jason Wight, Anna Compton, Nate Morgan, Philip White, and Justin Hart. Especially thank you to Steve Croy of the Forest Service and Dr. Charles Lafon of Texas A&M University for their guidance and support in the field, as well as to all the granting agencies that made this research possible: The National Science Foundation (DDRI grant SBE-0525734), The Joint Fire Science Program, The Nature Conservancy, and The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. iv Abstract Table Mountain pine is an Appalachian endemic that occurs in a patchy distribution from Georgia to Pennsylvania and is prolific at sites with a history of fire disturbance. The purpose of this dissertation was to reconstruct the fire regimes of Table Mountain pine stands in the Jefferson National Forest, Virginia. Sections from fire- scarred Table Mountain pines were collected at four sites to analyze fire history, while increment cores and stand composition information were collected from macroplots within each fire history site to investigate the possible influence of fires that were more ecologically severe. Results show that fire was frequent before the fire suppression era, with a Weibull median fire return interval between 2–3 years. The majority of fires occurred during the dormant season and beginning of the early growing season. Two of the four sites had a more even distribution of fire seasons, and these sites also had significant Table Mountain pine regeneration. Cohorts of tree establishment were visible in the fire charts of three of these sites, indicating fires that were likely moderate in severity. The canopy at three of the four sites is currently dominated by Table Mountain pine, but the understory at all sites has large numbers of fire-intolerant hardwoods and shrubs. These Table Mountain pine stands will likely succeed to xeric oak and fire- intolerant hardwoods, such as red maple and black gum, in the future. Fire statistics indicate that all four sites currently exist outside their range of historical variation in fire occurrence. v Table Mountain pine was found to be sensitive to climate (monthly precipitation and temperature, PDSI and PHDI, North Atlantic sea surface temperatures, and NAO). Climate analyses revealed that Table Mountain pine growth is reduced when the previous year’s September is drier than normal, the current year’s February is wetter than average, and the winter is colder than average. Results of these climate analyses illustrate a regional climate signal in Table Mountain pine stands. The best overall relationship between Table Mountain pine growth and climate was captured using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, which was used to reconstruct climate at the four sites for superposed epoch analysis (SEA). The SEA found no indication that antecedent weather patterns in previous years pre-condition these stands for fire occurrence. Rather, the SEA showed that fire is significantly associated with drought during the year of fire. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: EVOLUTION, BIOGEOGRAPHY, AND HISTORY OF APPALACHIAN YELLOW PINE: WITH EMPHASIS ON TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE (PINUS PUNGENS)............................................................................1 1.1 Purpose...............................................................................................................1 1.2 Justification........................................................................................................2 1.3 Evolution of the Appalachian Pines...................................................................6 1.4 Biogeography of Appalachian Pines..................................................................8 1.5 History of Fire Regimes in Appalachian Yellow Pine Stands.........................13 1.6 Biogeography of Table Mountain Pine............................................................17 1.7 Previous Studies on Table Mountain Pine.......................................................24 1.7.1 Distribution and Ecology of Table Mountain Pine...........................24 1.7.2 Fire Ecology in Table Mountain Pine Stands...................................30 1.8 Dissertation Objectives ....................................................................................36 1.9 Hypotheses.......................................................................................................37 1.10 Organization of Dissertation..........................................................................38 CHAPTER 2: DESCRIPTION OF STUDY SITES ..........................................................41 2.1 The Native American Question .......................................................................41 2.1.1 Native American Civilizations of the Great Valley and Appalachian Mountains ...................................................................45 2.1.2 Fire and Hunting...............................................................................46 2.1.3 Cherokee Religion and Fire..............................................................48