The frequency and percent surface area covered by necrotic flecking on red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) needles from sapling-sized trees were examined on nine research sites on three mountains in the southern Appalachians. Foliar pigment analysis was conducted on trees from two of the nine research sites. Flecking increased with foliar age on all sites, and on two of the mountains, the area covered by flecks increased with elevation. Above 1720 meters on Clingman's dome, foliar flecking was found to comprise >8% of the upper needle surface area of one-year-old needles. Chlorophyll A and B concentrations increased with foliar age and were greater in trees growing at the mid elevation site (1720 m) than at the high elevation site (1935 m) on Clingman's Dome. Pigment concentrations did not correspond to foliar flecking frequency at the two sites in common. Foliar flecking appears to increase over winter and its widespread occurrence throughout the southern Appalachian suggests that regional, rather than local, site-related phenomena are involved.

Cover title. "Hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, cohosted by Pacific Northwest Laboratory"--Cover.