All observations were conducted in Wauseon, Fulton County, located in northwest Ohio (41°33’8”N, 84°8’21”W). Wauseon was selected as our study site because of a rich historical phenological and meteorological dataset collected by Thomas Mikesell, a farmer and Wauseon resident, from 1883–1912. The Wauseon landscape has been agriculturally dominated since at least the 1880’s and is interspersed with hedgerows and woodlots [30 ]. Topographical variation is considered too minimal to cause substantial microclimate variability [31 (link)].
The seven species chosen for observation were Ulmus americana (American elm), Juglans nigra (black walnut), Quercus alba (white oak), Quercus velutina (black oak), Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood), Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac), and Sassafras albidum (sassafras). All species have broad distributions across the eastern temperate forest and none are near the northern or southern edges of their ranges in Wauseon. No IRB, IACUC, or ethics committee approval was required for this study as it was entirely observational and constituted no risk for any living organism. No organisms were harmed or altered by our observations which were exclusively visual.
The seven species chosen for observation were Ulmus americana (American elm), Juglans nigra (black walnut), Quercus alba (white oak), Quercus velutina (black oak), Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood), Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac), and Sassafras albidum (sassafras). All species have broad distributions across the eastern temperate forest and none are near the northern or southern edges of their ranges in Wauseon. No IRB, IACUC, or ethics committee approval was required for this study as it was entirely observational and constituted no risk for any living organism. No organisms were harmed or altered by our observations which were exclusively visual.
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