Evaluating the Influence of Elevation and Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Radial Growth in Slash Pine (Pinus elliottiivar.elliottiiEngelm) on Cat Island, Mississippi, U.S.A.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Funderburk, W.R.; Carter, G.A., and Anderson C.P., 2016. Evaluating the Influence of elevation and impact of hurricane Katrina on radial growth in slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm) on Cat Island, Mississippi, U.S.A. Hurricane Katrina heavily affected the Mississippi barrier islands, in the northern Gulf of Mexico, on 29 August 2005. On Cat Island, Mississippi, field observations of geographic patterns in poststorm survival of slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm) suggested that its growth and resiliency to storm impact may depend substantially on ground elevation. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating the lifetime mean radial growth rate (in millimeters per year), stem (trunk) diameter (in centimeters), the percentage of change in the radial growth rate for the initial 5-y period after the storm (2006–10) vs. the 5-y period before the storm (2001–05), and the yearly percentage increase in stem radius and basal area for 2001–10 with respect to high-accuracy GPS mea...