Effects of different sources and rates of sulphur on the growth and foliar nutrition of nitrogen-fertilized lodgepole pine

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 728-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
R P Brockley
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Modest Improvement ◽  
S Application ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Foliar S

The effects of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, alone and in combination with different sources and rates of sulphur (S), on foliar nutrients and tree growth are reported over 3 and 6 years, respectively. After 3 years, foliar S levels in the N+S treatments were significantly higher than those in N-only treatments at all six study locations. Temporal patterns of foliar S response varied significantly with S source. When applied as ammonium sulphate (AS), foliar levels increased sharply in year 1 and slowly declined over the next 2 years. Conversely, additions of elemental S (S0), in the form of S0 – sodium bentonite fertilizer, usually did not increase foliar S concentration in year 1, but had increasingly positive effects on foliar S in years 2 and 3. An increase in the S application rate from 50 to 100 kg/ha resulted in only a modest improvement in foliar S concentration for both S sources. Differences in individual-tree basal area increment between N and N+S treatments were statistically significant in only two of six trials. Prefertilization levels of foliar N and sulphate S, and probable induced deficiencies of nonadded nutrients following N fertilization, largely explained basal area and height responses to N and N+S additions at the six study sites. Despite delayed oxidation, S0 was as effective as the more readily available AS in stimulating radial growth after 6 years. However, the relative effectiveness of S source varied with S application rate in two trials. In both cases, basal area increment was positively related to application rate when S was applied as AS. Conversely, the effect of application rate was distinctly negative when S0 was applied. Despite large differences in short-term availability of AS and S0, the results from this study support the conclusion that the two S sources are likely equally effective in alleviating S deficiencies and in promoting tree growth of S-deficient lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia Engelm.).

Individual-tree basal area growth models for jack pine and black spruce in northern Ontario

2004 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianjun Zhang ◽  
Changhui Peng ◽  
Qinglai Dang
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Mixed Stands ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Basal Area Growth ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Area Growth

Individual-tree models of five-year basal area growth were developed for jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) in northern Ontario. Tree growth data were collected from long-term permanent plots of pure and mixed stands of the two species. The models were fitted using mixed model methods due to correlated remeasurements of tree growth over time. Since the data covered a wide range of stand ages, stand conditions and tree sizes, serious heterogeneous variances existed in the data. Therefore, the coefficients of the final models were obtained using weighted regression techniques. The models for the two species were evaluated across 4-cm diameter classes using independent data. The results indicated (1) the models of jack pine and black spruce produced similar prediction errors and biases for intermediate-sized trees (12–28 cm in tree diameter), (2) both models yielded relatively large errors and biases for larger trees (> 28 cm) than those for smaller trees, and (3) the jack pine model produced much larger errors and biases for small-sized trees (< 12 cm) than did the black spruce model. Key words: mixed models, repeated measures, model validation

Intertree competition in uneven-aged ponderosa pine stands

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 1719-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
C W Woodall ◽  
C E Fiedler ◽  
K S Milner
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Tree Size ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Diameter Class ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Sapwood Area ◽  
Competition Indices

Intertree competition indices and effects were examined in 14 uneven-aged ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum Engelm.) stands in eastern Montana. Location, height, diameter at breast height (DBH), basal area increment, crown ratio, and sapwood area were determined for each tree (DBH >3.8 cm) on one stem-mapped plot (0.2-0.4 ha) in each sample stand. Based on tree locations, various competition indices were derived for each sample tree and correlated with its growth efficiency by diameter class. In addition, trends in individual tree attributes by diameter class and level of surrounding competition were determined. For trees with a DBH <10 cm, growth efficiency was most strongly correlated with the sum of surrounding tree heights within 10.6 m. The index most highly correlated for larger trees was the sum of surrounding basal area within 6.1 m. Regardless of tree size, individual tree growth efficiency, basal area increment, and crown ratio all decreased under increasing levels of competition, with the effect more pronounced in smaller trees. These results suggest that individual trees in uneven-aged stands experience competition from differing sources at varying scales based on their size, with response to competition diminishing as tree size increases.

Genetic variation in basal area increment phenology and its correlation with growth rate in loblolly and slash pine families and clones

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 961-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica I Emhart ◽  
Timothy A Martin ◽  
Timothy L White ◽  
Dudley A Huber
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Growth Traits ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Pinus Elliottii ◽  
Slash Pine ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Basal Area Growth ◽  
Area Growth

We quantified basal area increment phenology over a 2-year period in one loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and four slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) full-sib families propagated as rooting cuttings. In 2002, basal area growth started in March and stopped in October for both species, while in 2003, initiation and cessation occurred 2 weeks earlier for all families. In both years, peaks in basal area increment occurred in short (2–3 week) periods in the early spring for all families, followed by linear basal area growth until cessation. While there were significant size differences among taxa (species and families) at age 6 and 7 years, genetic differences in basal area growth rate were only expressed during short, discrete time periods primarily in the spring and fall. Basal area growth rate increased during periods when water soil availability increased (up to 300 mm), but an excess in water availability in the soil had a negative impact on growth. Within-family individual-tree broad-sense heritabilities ranged from 0.01 to 0.37 for all traits. In general, heritabilities were higher for growth traits than for phenological traits for all families. Both the strength and direction of correlation estimates of phenological traits with growth rate varied across families and years.

Predicting basal area increment in a spatially explicit, individual tree model: a test of competition measures with black spruce

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Mailly ◽  
Sylvain Turbis ◽  
David Pothier
Keyword(s):  
Black Spruce ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Competition Index ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Spatial Indices ◽  
Crown Shape ◽  
Spruce Stands ◽  
Competition Indices

A current trend in the development of forest stand models is to use spatially explicit, individual-tree information to simulate forest dynamics with increased accuracy. By adding spatial information, such as tree coordinates, crown shape, and size, it is hypothesized that the computation of the model's driving function is improved over traditional competition indices, especially when simulating multistoried stands. In this paper, we want to test whether computationally demanding competition indices outperform traditional indices in predicting mean basal area increment. The study was undertaken in old, uneven-aged black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands in northeastern Quebec, Canada. The predictability of individual tree growth rates was related to crown dimensions and other stand and tree variables measured in the field. Data were collected from 90 trees coming from stands of varying site quality (range 9.6–16.5 m height at 50 years, age taken at 1 m) and age (range 66–257 years). Hegyis's distance-dependent competition index was found to be the most strongly correlated competition measure (r = 0.57) with mean basal area growth of the last 20 years. This value, 12% higher than the value obtained from the best distance-independent competition index (r = 0.45), clearly shows that precision gains can be achieved when estimating basal area increment with spatial indices in black spruce stands. Using indices computed from virtual hemispherical images did not prove superior to simpler distance-dependent indices based on their individual correlations with basal area increment. When included in a basal area increment model for the last 20 years of growth, however, the gains in precision were comparable to Hegyi's competition index. This indicates that indices derived from a hemispherical approach have some value in spatially explicit forest simulations models but that further tests using younger stands are needed to confirm this result in black spruce stands.

Modeling the numerical relationships between chronic ambient sulphur dioxide exposures and tree growth

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H. Legge ◽  
M. Nosal ◽  
S.V. Krupa
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Sampling Location ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Processing Plant ◽  
Pine Tree ◽  
Sampling Locations ◽  
Increment Growth

An exponential growth curve model was developed for Pinuscontorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm. × Pinusbanksiana Lamb, (lodgepole × jack pine) trees from basal area increment data collected from five ecologically analogous sampling locations (AI to AV) in the vicinity of a sulphur recovery sour gas processing plant emitting sulphur (S) gases (mainly SO2) in the West Whitecourt study area near the town of Whitecourt in west-central Alberta, Canada. The mean basal area increment growth declined by 1.2%, 1.4%, 0.8%, and 0.6% between 1959 and 1981 at sampling locations AI AII, AIII and AIV, respectively, in comparison to the reference sampling location, AV. Since 1974 there has been an increase in wood production at the impacted sites, AI to AIV. This was most likely the result of the significant and progressive reductions in total sulphur gas emissions from 1963 to 1981, of 58 403 to 6782 t S/year, respectively. A multivariate nonlinear, polynomial Fourier regression model was applied to explain the relationships between the ambient SO2 exposures at the five sampling locations and changes in pine tree basal area increment growth. The regression model included the ambient SO2 exposure parameters: (1) number of episodes (an episode is equivalent to single or successive occurrences of 0.5-h mean concentrations of ≥10 ppb); (2) cumulative integral of exposures (concentration with respect to time); and (3) peak episodal concentrations. The model parameters were estimated using the least squares approach. The MPF regression model captured the actual effects of the episodicity of SO2 exposures on radial tree growth of pine species and provided a high degree of forecasting power because of the use of the integral of the SO2 exposures. Peak episodal SO2 concentrations or the number of episodes appeared not to play as important a role in the model as the integral.

scholarly journals Development of a Mixed-Effects Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model for Oaks (Quercus spp.) Considering Forest Structural Diversity

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenwen Wang ◽  
Xinyun Chen ◽  
Weisheng Zeng ◽  
Jianjun Wang ◽  
Jinghui Meng
Keyword(s):  
Basal Area ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Structural Diversity ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Mixed Effects Model ◽  
Central China ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Final Model ◽  
Quercus Spp

In the context of uneven-aged mixed-species forest management, an individual-tree basal area increment model considering forest structural diversity was developed for oaks (Quercus spp.) using data collected from 11,860 observations in 845 sample plots from the 7th (2004), 8th (2009), and 9th (2014) Chinese National Forest Inventory in Hunan Province, south-central China. Since the data was longitudinal and had a nested structure, we used a linear mixed-effects approach to construct the model. We also used the variance function and an autocorrelation structure to describe within-plot heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation. Finally, the optimal mixed-effects model was determined based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), log-likelihood (Loglik) and the likelihood ratio test (LRT). The results indicate that the reciprocal transformation of initial diameter at breast height (1/DBH), relative density index (RD), number of trees per hectare (NT), elevation (EL) and Gini coefficient (GC) had a significant impact on the individual-tree basal area increment. In comparison to the basic model developed using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, the mixed-effects model performance was greatly improved. In addition, we observed that the heteroscedasticity was successfully removed by the exponent function and autocorrelation was significantly corrected by AR(1). Our final model also indicated that forest structural diversity significantly affected tree growth and hence should not be neglected. We hope that our final model will contribute to the scientific management of oak-dominated forests.

scholarly journals Species Mixing Effects on Height–Diameter and Basal Area Increment Models for Scots Pine and Maritime Pine

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Riofrío ◽  
Miren del Río ◽  
Douglas Maguire ◽  
Felipe Bravo
Keyword(s):  
Scots Pine ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Maritime Pine ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Mixing Effects ◽  
Basal Area Growth ◽  
Area Growth ◽  
Species Mixtures

Models that incorporate known species-mixing effects on tree growth are essential tools to properly design silvicultural guidelines for mixed-species stands. Here, we developed generalized height–diameter (h-d) and basal area growth models for mixed stands of two main forest species in Spain: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.). Mixed-effects models were fitted from plot measurement and tree rings data from 726 Scots pine and 693 Maritime pine trees from mixed and pure stands in the Northern Iberian Range in Spain, with the primary objective of representing interactions between the species where they are interspersed in mixtures of varying proportions. An independent dataset was used to test the performance of the h-d models against models previously fitted for monospecific stands of both species. Basal area increment models were evaluated using a 10-fold block cross-validation procedure. We found that species mixing had contrasting effects on the species in both models. In h-d models, the species-mixing proportion determined the effect of species interactions. Basal area growth models showed that interspecific competition was influential only for Maritime pine; however, these effects differed depending on the mode of competition. For Scots pine, tree growth was not restricted by interspecies competition. The combination of mixed-effect models and the inclusion of parameters expressing species-mixing enhanced estimates of tree height and basal area growth compared with the available models previously developed for pure stands. Although the species-mixing effects were successfully represented in the fitted models, additional model components for accurately simulating the stand dynamics of mixtures with Scots pine and Maritime pine and other species mixtures require similar model refinements. Upon the completion of analyses required for these model refinements, the degree of improvement in simulating growth in species mixtures, including the effects of different management options, can be evaluated.

A new method for evaluating forest thinning: growth dominance in managed Pinus resinosa stands

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 843-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Bradford ◽  
Anthony W. D’Amato ◽  
Brian J. Palik ◽  
Shawn Fraver
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Pinus Resinosa ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Red Pine ◽  
New Method ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Individual Tree Growth

Growth dominance is a relatively new, simple, quantitative metric of within-stand individual tree growth patterns, and is defined as positive when larger trees in the stand display proportionally greater growth than smaller trees, and negative when smaller trees display proportionally greater growth than larger trees. We examined long-term silvicultural experiments in red pine ( Pinus resinosa Ait.) to characterize how stand age, thinning treatments (thinned from above, below, or both), and stocking levels (residual basal area) influence stand-level growth dominance through time. In stands thinned from below or from both above and below, growth dominance was not significantly different from zero at any age or stocking level. Growth dominance in stands thinned from above trended from negative at low stocking levels to positive at high stocking levels and was positive in young stands. Growth dominance in unthinned stands was positive and increased with age. These results suggest that growth dominance provides a useful tool for assessing the efficacy of thinning treatments designed to reduce competition between trees and promote high levels of productivity across a population, particularly among crop trees.

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