Chipola College Marianna, Florida Dr. David Hilton Dr. Santine Cuccio Kari Kind-Adams Carole Chandler Lori Holland Debbie Yglesias

Latin name: Pinus palustris  Can live 500 years  Have a deep taproot (2-3 meters)  Require sandy soil  Found in Southeastern US  Uses: turpentine, timber, resin  97% of native longleaf pine forests have disappeared  Home to red-cockaded woodpecker

 5-12 years  Resistant to fire  May take years to reach ankle height

 Can grow 1.5 meters in one season  Early part of this stage pines are vulnerable to fire  Later in stage (2.5 meters) they are resistant

 150 years until maturity is reached  Can grow to meters tall  Can measure 0.7 meters in diameter  Highly resistant to fire

Is there a correlation between longleaf pine height and diameter? Can tree height be accurately predicted by measuring stem diameter? Hypothesis There is a strong correlation between longleaf pine height and diameter, at least for a period of time.

 Random sample of 20%  Only living trees were counted  Failure rate: 58%

 Measured height to the top of the needles

 Measured diameter 5 centimeters from the base of plant

Diameter (cm)Height (m)

Height (m) Diameter (cm)

Height (m) Number of Trees

 There appears to be a strong positive correlation between longleaf pine diameter and height at four years old.  How long this trend continues will be assessed again in 2 years as part of the longitudinal study.

 Barry Stafford, Jackson County Forester  Aaron Kinkaid, Forest Area Supervisor