Hardwood competition reduces loblolly pine plantation productivity

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2133-2140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry R. Clason

A hardwood suppression treatment applied in a 7-year-old loblolly pine (Pinustaeda L.) plantation enhanced productivity through a 27-year rotation that included two commercial thinnings. By age 27, the suppression treatment reduced the hardwood overstory but did not alter the species diversity of the understory vegetation. Pine diameter at breast height, basal area, and merchantable volume for suppressed and check treatments averaged 29.4 and 26.6 cm, 27.1 and 21.6 m2/ha, and 182 and 141 m3/ha, respectively. Harvest volumes for the respective treatments were 27.8 and 12.8 m3/ha with treatment mean total volume growth being 201.3 and 145.1 m3/ha. Besides reducing total volume yields by 27%, hardwood competition had a significant effect on product volume distribution. Check treatment sawtimber volume was 52.5 m3/ha less than the suppressed treatment. Lower sawtimber yields reduced check treatment revenue potential at age 27 by $1442.32/ha. If the revenue losses based on age 27 stumpage value were discounted at 8%, then the cost of an age 7 hardwood suppression treatment could not exceed $305.58/ha for a 27-year rotation. After 20 years, an early hardwood suppression treatment improved the multiple use potential of a loblolly pine plantation.

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.R. Smith ◽  
R.M. Farrar Jr. ◽  
P.A. Murphy ◽  
J.L. Yeiser ◽  
R.S. Meldahl ◽  
...  

Data were collected on open-grown loblolly pine (Pinustaeda L.), longleaf pine (Pinuspalustris Mill.), and shortleaf pine (Pinusechinata Mill.) and analyzed to provide predictive equations of crown width and maximum potential basal area growth for crown competition and growth and yield models. The measurements were taken on 115 open-grown loblolly pine trees and 76 shortleaf pines in southeastern Arkansas. The longleaf pine data consisted of 81 open-grown trees from southern Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. A circle and an ellipse were tested as geometric models of the vertically projected crown. No significant differences between the tree shapes were found based on analyses of length and azimuth of the largest crown diameter, and the circle was chosen as an appropriate model. This indicated that only the distance between trees, not their orientation to one another, need be included in models of crown competition based on crown contact. Predictive equations of mean crown width based on diameter at breast height were fitted for each species for use in models of crown competition. A Chapman–Richards growth rate function with an intercept term was fit to periodic annual inside-bark basal area growth based on initial inside-bark basal area to provide empirical estimates of maximum basal area growth rates for growth and yield modeling of the given species. Additionally, equations to predict double bark thickness as a function of diameter at breast height were fit for each species to facilitate the use of the equations with outside-bark measurements of diameter.


1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 168-174
Author(s):  
Michael G. Shelton ◽  
Paul A. Murphy

Abstract Growth was monitored for 4 yr in a thinned stand in southern Arkansas with three pine basal areas (70, 85, and 100 ft2/ac) and three hardwood basal areas (0, 15, and 30 ft2/ac); pretreatment basal areas averaged 119 and 33 ft2/ac for pines and hardwoods, respectively. Treatments were arranged in a 3 X 3 factorial randomized complete block design with three replicates, yielding 27 permanent 0.20 ac plots. Growth variables were regressed with residual pine and hardwood basal areas. Pine basal area and volume growth increased with the pine stocking level after thinning and decreased with the level of retained hardwoods. For basal area and merchantable volume, hardwood growth largely compensated for losses in the pine component, and thus, hardwood retention had little net effect on the total growth of the stand. The greatest impact of hardwood retention was on the stand's sawtimber growth, because hardwoods did not contribute to this product class. Each 1 ft2/ac of retained hardwood basal area reduced pine sawtimber growth by 6 to 10 bd ft Doyle/ac/yr, depending on the pine stocking. Because large differences existed in the value of timber products, retaining 15 and 30 ft2/ac of hardwoods reduced the value of timber production by 13 and 24%, respectively, at 4 yr after thinning. South. J. Appl. For. 21(4):168-174.


1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Terry R. Clason

Abstract A hardwood suppression treatment applied to a 7-year-old, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation enhanced projected productivity through a 35-year rotation that included three commercial thinnings. By age 22, growth data showed that hardwood removal treatments had larger pines and smaller hardwoods than check treatments. Fifteen-year pine basal area and merchantable volume growth on hardwood removal plots exceeded the check plots by 25 and 27%. Projected growth between ages 22 and 35 indicated that 28 years after early hardwood removal thinned plantation merchantable volume yields improved by 840 ft³ per acre. South. J. Appl. For. 15(1):22-27.


1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Jokela ◽  
Stephen C. Stearns-Smith

Abstract Data from six fertilizer trials established in semimature southern pine stands (five slash pine, Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii; one loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L.) were analyzed to determine the efficacy of single vs. split fertilizer treatments. Both fertilizer treatments supplied an elemental equivalent of 200 lb nitrogen (N)/ac and 50 lb phosphorus (P)/ac; however, the first treatment was delivered as a single dose, and the second treatment was a split N application (i.e., 50 lb N and 50 lb P/ac (initial); 150 lb N/ac (2 yr later). Cumulative responses of fertilized plots were still significantly greater than the controls in five trials after 8 yr and averaged 43% (15.7 ft²/ac) and 39% (607 ft³/ac) for basal area and stand volume growth, respectively. In general, no significant differences in either the magnitude or duration of response were detected between the single and split N fertilizer treatments. This suggests that delaying a portion of the N application for 2 yr will not diminish the level of growth responses attained. Therefore, land managers have flexibility in using either application method when implementing midrotation fertilizer prescriptions. South. J. Appl. For. 17(3):135-138.


1989 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 116-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda S. Heath ◽  
H. N. Chappell

Abstract Response surface methodology was used to estimate six-year volume growth response to 1 application of 200 lb nitrogen per acre in unthinned and thinned Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands of breast height age (bha) 25 years or less. Regional mean fertilizer response was 16% in unthinned stands and 20% in thinned stands. Site index had an increasingly inverse effect on response as basal area increased in both unthinned and thinned stands. Response varied little over site index in regions of low basal area, decreased moderately as site index increased in the intermediate region, and decreased rapidly in the high basal area region. West. J. Appl. For. 4(4):116-119, October 1989.


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 928-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finto Antony ◽  
Lewis Jordan ◽  
Richard F. Daniels ◽  
Laurence R. Schimleck ◽  
Alexander Clark ◽  
...  

Wood properties and growth were measured on breast-height cores and on disks collected at different heights from a thinned and fertilized midrotation loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.) plantation in the lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina. The study was laid out in a randomized complete-block design receiving four levels of nitrogen (N) fertilizer: unfertilized control and 112, 224, and 336 kg/ha plus 28 kg/ha of phosphorus with each treatment. The effect of fertilization was analyzed for the whole-disk and for a 4 year average following fertilization on data collected from breast-height cores and from disks. The fertilization treatments did not significantly affect whole-disk wood properties but significantly increased radial growth. Fertilization rate of 336 kg/ha N significantly reduced 4 year average ring specific gravity and latewood specific gravity. Wood properties of trees that received 112 and 224 kg/ha N were not affected following treatment. There was no height related trend in wood property changes due to fertilization. Fertilization significantly increased ring basal area and earlywood basal area. In summary, there was a decline in wood properties and an increase in basal area growth immediately after fertilization; both depended on the rate of fertilizer applied irrespective of height.


Author(s):  
S.E. Bassey ◽  
S. Ajayi

This research estimated aboveground tree stand level Biomass in Erukot Forest of Oban Division, Cross River National Park. A total of 872 individual trees were identified and measured for diameter at breast height and total height (dbh ≥ 5cm). The 872 individual trees spread across 51 species belonging to 25 different tree families. Simple random sampling was used with sampling intensity of 0.3% to lay 15 nested plots (7m x 7m, 25m x 25m and 35m x 35m). Diameter at breast height, total height and specific density of each wood species were used to determine aboveground biomass for each tree. Conversion factors were applied to estimate stand level green and dry biomass, sequestered carbon and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in the study area. Simple linear regression models were fitted into the stand level growth data for the forest (basal area and volume). The mean diameter at breast height and mean total height were 38.5cm and 18.5m respectively. Mean basal area of 39.8 m2 ha-1 was obtained with a mean volume of 177.3 m3 ha-1 . Average green biomass, dry biomass, carbon stock and carbon-dioxide emission of 521.8113 ton ha-1 , 341.5880 ton ha-1 , 183.196 ton ha-1 and 694.2067 ton ha-1 respectively were obtained in the study area. Stand level biomass model developed for the forest showed that common logarithm of volume per hectare is significantly related to common logarithm of stand biomass (R2 = 58%). The actual and predicted biomasses were not significantly different (Paired T-test at p ˂ 0.05). Estimated bias of 0.10% for the stand biomass model means that the developed model can be used to predict the aboveground biomass of the study area without any adjustment. The research has provided easy to use regression model for determining aboveground biomass at stand level. This is very useful for carbon trade and assessment of carbon-dioxide emissions through deforestation in the study area. The model is also a tool for assessing the wood productivity of the study area and for better management of the park. Keyword: Sequestered carbon, aboveground biomass, dry biomass, conversion factor


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjell Karlsson ◽  
Lennart Norell

The probability that an individual tree will remain in even-aged Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands subjected to different thinning programmes was modelled, using data from a thinning experiment established in 25 localities in southern Sweden. A logistic regression approach was used to predict the probability and the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test to evaluate the fit. Diameter at breast height (DBH), quadratic mean DBH, thinning intensity, thinning quotient, basal area, number of stems per hectare, stand age, number of thinnings, and site index were used as explanatory variables. Separate analyses for stands thinned from below, stands thinned from above, and unthinned stands were performed. The modelled probability graphs for trees not being removed, plotted against their diameter at breast height, had clear S-shapes for both unthinned stands and stands thinned from below. The graph for stands thinned from above was bell-shaped.


2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Guillemette ◽  
Marie-Claude Lambert

Four methods of estimating diameter at breast height (DBH) were used on 558 northern hardwood stems, located in 6, 0.25-ha plots, to compare their effects. The first method was a diameter tape reading and the second was a systematic reading, along a predefined axis, taken with a calliper. The last 2 methods were both obtained from the arithmetic mean of 2 different pairs of calliper readings taken at right angles. The first pair was directed along the major bole axis and the other pair along the minor axis. The 4 methods were compared in terms of mean tree diameter, plot basal area and plot volume. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in parameter estimates among methods, and the differences varied according to species (Acer saccharum Marsh. and Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) and tree size class. Differences among methods were more evident for larger DBH classes, which contribute most to the significant differences observed for both the plot and stand basal area and volume. Overall, tree DBH, plot basal area and plot volume provided by these 4 methods ranked in this ascending order: mean calliper reading directed along the minor axis, systematic calliper reading, mean calliper reading directed along the major axis, and diameter tape. The difference in stand basal area or volume between the estimates obtained with a systematic calliper reading and a diameter tape was 1.1 m2/ha with a mean basal area of about 21 m2/ha, or 10.5 m3/ha with a mean stand volume of 169 m3/ha. Because of the magnitude of these differences, it is recommended the method of DBH estimation be specified in studies, to be careful when crossing databases or models using different methods of DBH estimation, and to always maintain the same method of DBH estimation when remeasuring a plot. Key words: northern hardwoods, dendrometer, diameter tape, calliper, caliper, DBH measurement, basal area, volume


1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 128-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Murphy ◽  
Michael G. Shelton

Abstract The effects of three levels of residual basal area (40, 60, and 80 ft2/ac), maximum dbh (12, 16, and 20 in.) and site index (< 81 ft, 81 to 90 ft, and >90 ft) on the growth of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands after 5 yr of uneven-aged silviculture were determined from plots located in south Arkansas and north Louisiana. Designated levels of basal area and maximum dbh were achieved by harvesting; a q factor of 1.2 (using 1 in. dbh classes) was imposed on all plots as closely as possible. Stand-level models were developed for annual per acre net volume growth (merchantable cubic feet, sawtimber cubic feet, and sawtimber board feet, Doyle rule) and annual per acre survivor growth, ingrowth, and mortality components of basal area growth. Growth for all volume measures increased with an increase in basal area. Site index did not significantly affect merchantable cubic-foot growth but had a positive effect on sawtimber growth in both cubic feet and board feet, Doyle. Increases in maximum dbh decreased merchantable and sawtimber cubic-foot growth but increased growth for board-foot volume, Doyle. South. J. Appl. For. 18(3): 128-132.


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