The Cottonwood Common Garden in 2016
By Fort Collins Science Center
March 2016 (approx.)
Detailed Description
From 2009 to 2016, researchers allowed cottonwoods to grow in this common garden plot, enabling them to determine the sex of each tree and to study phenology of diameter growth, flowering and seed release. As cottonwoods grew taller and older, their phenology became more conservative, stopping growth earlier. Because trees were beginning to die from competition for light, researchers cut them all back to the ground on January 21, 2017. They now cut them back every year to remove the confounding effect of age.
Sources/Usage
Public Domain.
Related
FORT Cottonwood Common Garden
FORT scientists established a Common Garden at the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2005 to study the phenology of riparian cottonwood in relation to annual variation in temperature. Phenology is the seasonal timing of life history events including leaf opening, flowering, seed release, bud formation and leaf senescence.
Related
FORT Cottonwood Common Garden
FORT scientists established a Common Garden at the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2005 to study the phenology of riparian cottonwood in relation to annual variation in temperature. Phenology is the seasonal timing of life history events including leaf opening, flowering, seed release, bud formation and leaf senescence.