New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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Red beech death in the Maruia Valley South Island, New Zealand

G. P. HOSKING
D. J. KERSHAW

New Zealand Forest Service
Forest Research Institute
Private Bag, Rotorua, New Zealand

Abstract Many red beech trees died in parts of the Maruia Valley between 1978 and 1980 follow- ing an outbreak of the scale insect Inglisia fagi. Annual diameter increment of trees and climatic data suggest the primary cause to be a series of spring droughts between 1974 and 1978. In the worst affected stands of mixed red and silver beech a large proportion of the red beech trees died. Release from competition was reflected in the greatly increased growth rate of the residual silver beech which generally was not heavily attacked by the scale insect; early response of surviving red beech was limited because of reduced foliage.

Keywords Nothofagus; beech scale; beech mor- tality; drought

Received 14 June 1984; accepted 24 September 1984
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1985, Vol. 25 : 201-211
0028-825X/85/2302-0201$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1985

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (557K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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