Crown structure and growth efficiency of red spruce in uneven-aged, mixed-species stands in Maine

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 1233-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A Maguire ◽  
John C Brissette ◽  
Lianhong Gu
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Tree Size ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
South Central ◽  
Tree Leaf

Several hypotheses about the relationships among individual tree growth, tree leaf area, and relative tree size or position were tested with red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) growing in uneven-aged, mixed-species forests of south-central Maine, U.S.A. Based on data from 65 sample trees, predictive models were developed to (i)estimate the amount of foliage held by individual trees from sapwood cross-sectional area and (ii)define the relationship between stem volume growth and three variables: total foliage area, relative position in the stand, and the degree of past suppression. A model that included variables representing tree size (or relative social position) and degree of past suppression (live branch whorls per unit crown length) indicated that stem volume growth first increased but later decreased over leaf area when other variables were held constant. Growth efficiency declined with increasing tree leaf area, although greater height and diameter enhanced growth efficiency and greater past suppression diminished growth efficiency. The decline in growth efficiency with greater leaf area likely is attributable to one or several of the factors previously identified as contributing to growth declines in mature, even-aged stands.

Influence of age on growth efficiency of Tsuga canadensis and Picea rubens trees in mixed-species, multiaged northern conifer stands

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 2032-2042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S Seymour ◽  
Laura S Kenefic
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Tsuga Canadensis ◽  
Picea Rubens ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
Fundamental Relationship ◽  
Negative Effect

Well-known patterns in the fundamental relationship between tree-level stemwood volume increment (VINC) and projected leaf area (PLA) are examined and quantified for Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière (eastern hemlock) and Picea rubens Sarg. (red spruce) growing in managed, mixed-species, multiaged stands in east-central Maine, U.S.A. Both species follow a sigmoid pattern, suggesting a peak growth efficiency (GE, stemwood volume growth per unit of PLA) in mid- to upper-canopy trees with PLAs of less than half that of the largest trees sampled. Tree age negatively influenced the VINC–PLA relationship in the expected manner: at a given PLA, older trees produce less stemwood than younger ones. The combined effect of leaf area and age is accurately modeled with a Weibull-like function in which the asymptote is an index of tree maturity defined as tree age relative to an estimated maximum for the species. Although previous studies have independently documented both the sigmoid relationship between VINC and PLA and the negative effect of age, their conclusions have been confounded by the strong correlation between age and mean tree PLA. This study addresses both issues simultaneously, and is the first to demonstrate a decline in GE with age independent from the effect of increasing PLA.

Estimating individual tree leaf area in loblolly pine plantations using LiDAR-derived measurements of height and crown dimensions

2005 ◽  
Vol 213 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 54-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Roberts ◽  
Thomas J. Dean ◽  
David L. Evans ◽  
John W. McCombs ◽  
Richard L. Harrington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Loblolly Pine ◽  
Pine Plantations ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Tree Leaf ◽  
Crown Dimensions

The effect of local stand structure on growth and growth efficiency in heterogeneous stands of ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine in central Oregon

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 2217-2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas B Mainwaring ◽  
Douglas A Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Projection Area ◽  
Sapwood Area ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Crown Projection Area

Basal area and height growth were analyzed for individual trees in uneven-aged ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex. Loud.) stands in central Oregon. Basal area growth was modeled as a function of other stand and tree variables to address three general objectives: (1) to compare the predictive ability of distance-dependent versus distance-independent stand density variables; (2) to determine the degree to which small trees negatively affect the growth of overstory trees; and (3) to test for differences in growth efficiency between species and between indices of spatial occupancy used to define efficiency (area potentially available, crown projection area, and a surrogate for total tree leaf area). Distance-dependent variables were found to improve growth predictions when added to models with only distance-independent variables, and small trees were found to have a quantifiably negative effect on the growth of larger trees. While volume growth efficiency declined with increasing levels of spatial occupancy for lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine volume growth efficiency was greatest at the highest levels of crown base sapwood area and crown projection area. The behavior in ponderosa pine resulted from the previously recognized correlation between tree height and total leaf area or crown size. The final statistical models distinguished between the positive effect of relative height and the negative effect of increasing tree size.

scholarly journals Early Selection of Douglas-Fir across South Central Coastal Oregon, USA

2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Dean ◽  
R. W. Stonecypher
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Douglas Fir ◽  
Early Selection ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Direct Selection ◽  
South Central ◽  
Coos Bay ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Age Range

Abstract Details are given of three first-generation progeny tests (CB1, CB2 and CB3) of coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [MIRB.] FRANCO var. menziesii) planted in the Coos Bay region of south-central coastal Oregon in 1973. The three tests included 15 polymix families based on a 10-pollen mix, and 27 families openpollinated on the ortet. The present study gives heritabilities and additive genetic correlations for growth measured between two and 17 years after planting. Correlated responses are estimated for volume at 17 years from early selection for height and diameter. Between four and 17 years after planting the individual heritability (h2) of height of coastal Douglas-fir across the Coos Bay tests was quite stable between h2 = 0.18 and 0.22. The heritability of stem diameter age-forage was consistently much lower than for height. In the critical age range for early selection between five and 10 years the individual heritability of diameter ranged from h2 = 0.07 to 0.10. The additive genetic correlations involving volume-17 and height or diameter increased to high values of rA = 0.80 to 0.84 between eight to 10 years after planting. Before seven years the absolute values of juvenilemature correlations were much lower. The higher heritability of height made this trait the best criterion for early indirect selection to improve mature stem volume growth. Across these Coos Bay tests, early selection on stem height measured at 5-8 years after planting was estimated to produce almost 40% more gain per year in volume-17 compared with direct selection at 17 years on volume-17 itself. The recommendation for maximizing gain per year in mature volume of coastal Douglas-fir at Coos Bay is to select on height at 7-8 years when the mean height of trees in tests should be around 4.5 to 5.5 meters.

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.

Production ecology of Thuja occidentalis

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1155-1164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip V. Hofmeyer ◽  
Robert S. Seymour ◽  
Laura S. Kenefic
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Sapwood Area ◽  
Thuja Occidentalis ◽  
Production Ecology ◽  
The Relationship

Equations to predict branch and tree leaf area, foliar mass, and stemwood volume were developed from 25 destructively sampled northern white-cedar ( Thuja occidentalis L.) trees, a species whose production ecology has not been studied. Resulting models were applied to a large sample of 296 cored trees from 60 sites stratified across a soil gradient throughout northern Maine. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to assess alternative forms of the relationship between volume increment (VINC) and projected leaf area (PLA); analysis of covariance was used compare stemwood growth efficiency (GE) among soil-site classes, light exposure classes, and the presence of decay. Stem volume was estimated with Honer’s equation ( T.G. Honer. 1967. Forest Management Research and Services Institute ) with refitted parameters. PLA was best predicted with Maguire and Bennett’s nonlinear model ( D.A. Maguire and W.S. Bennett. 1996. Can. J. For. Res. 26: 1991–2005 ) using sapwood area or crown length and the ratio of tree height to diameter at breast height. A sigmoid model form captured the relationship between VINC and PLA more precisely and with less bias than the simple power function; this implies that the relationship between GE and PLA reaches a peak rather than decreases monotonically. At PLAs >50 m2, GE gradually declined with increasing crown size and was significantly influenced by site and light exposure. With PLA, site, and light held constant, decayed trees had a significantly lower (by 11%) GE than sound stems, a finding not previously reported for other tree species.

Regenerating white spruce, paper birch, and willow in south-central Alaska

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
E C Cole ◽  
M Newton ◽  
A Youngblood
Keyword(s):  
Picea Glauca ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
White Spruce ◽  
Site Preparation ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Dendroctonus Rufipennis ◽  
Relative Growth Rates ◽  
South Central ◽  
Interior Alaska ◽  
Paper Birch

The current spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) epidemic in interior Alaska is leaving large expanses of dead spruce with little spruce regeneration. Many of these areas are habitat for moose (Alces alces). To establish spruce regeneration and improve browse production for moose, paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh), willow (Salix spp.), and three stocktypes (plug+1 bareroot, and 1+0 plugs from two nurseries) of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) were planted in freshly cutover areas on Fort Richardson, near Anchorage. Four vegetation-management treatments were compared: broadcast site preparation with herbicides, banded site preparation with herbicides, mechanical scarification, and untreated control. Spruce seedlings had the greatest growth in the broadcast site preparation treatment (p < 0.01). Stocktype was the most important factor in spruce growth, with bareroot transplant seedlings being the tallest and largest 5 years after planting (p < 0.001). In the first 3 years, relative stem volume growth was greater for plug seedlings than for bareroot seedlings (p < 0.001). By year 4, relative growth rates were similar among all stocktypes. Treatment effects for paper birch and willow were confounded by moose browsing. Results indicate spruce can be regenerated and moose browse enhanced simultaneously in forests in interior Alaska.

Reconstructing structural development of even-aged larch stands in Siberia

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 580-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Osawa ◽  
Anatoly P Abaimov ◽  
Olga A Zyryanova
Keyword(s):  
Power Distribution ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Stand Density ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Volume Distribution ◽  
Structural Development ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Stem Size ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
Time Observation

A method was proposed for quantitatively reconstructing structural development over time of even-aged monospecific forests and was applied to a larch (Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr.) stand in Siberia. It relies on samples obtained at one-time observation and some simple assumptions considered general in even-aged stands. Tree-ring data taken from breast height of a group of the largest trees and those measured at various stem heights of several individuals representing the range of tree sizes in the plot are used for the estimation. Stand density and parameters of stem volume distribution at a given time in the past were calculated with the "stem slenderness index," and with an assumption of the -3/2 power distribution for the distribution function of stem size, respectively. By developing time-dependent allometric relationships for individual tree attributes, the whole-stand values of stem volume and its increment were reconstructed for several decades of stand development. Estimated history of the changes in stand density, total stem volume, and stem volume growth for the dense larch stand examined, mostly agreed with a separate estimation by the self-thinning assumption.

Stand structure and growing space efficiency following thinning in an even-aged Douglas-fir stand

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 859-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Stand Structure ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Stand Density ◽  
Douglas Fir ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Projection Area ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Space Efficiency ◽  
Individual Trees

The growth of individual trees from four thinning treatments in a 64-year-old Douglas-fir (Pseudotsugamenziesii (Mirb.) Franco) stand was analyzed to determine desirable residual stand structures after thinning. Dominant and codominant trees had the highest individual tree stem volume growth rates over the previous 5 years, and accounted for most stand volume growth in thinned and unthinned stands. Two measures of growing space, crown projection area and sapwood basal area (a surrogate for leaf area), were used to measure how efficiently individual trees used their growing space. Crown classes were useful in characterizing growing space efficiency (volume growth per unit of growing space) only in the unthinned treatment. In thinned treatments, tall trees with medium-sized crowns were most efficient, while in the unthinned treatment, tall trees with relatively large crowns were most efficient. A large crown in an unthinned stand was comparable in size to a medium-sized crown in a thinned stand. Results suggest growing space is not limiting individual tree growth in thinned stands and that thinning to a particular stand structure is more appropriate than thinning to a particular level of stand density.

Tree size, biomass, and volume growth of twelve 34-year-old Ontario jack pine provenances

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1129-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Magnussen ◽  
V. G. Smith ◽  
C. W. Yeatman
Keyword(s):  
Volume Growth ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Stem Bark ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Tree Size ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Strong Negative Correlation ◽  
Stem Wood ◽  
Volume Production ◽  
Branch Wood

Tree size and aboveground biomass in twelve 34-year-old Ontario jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) provenances growing at Petawawa National Forestry Institute (Chalk River, Ontario) was negatively correlated with latitude of origin. The best provenance exceeded the local provenance in tree height and diameter by approximately 10%. The pattern of geographical variation was stable over time, making general and sound predictions of provenance growth based on juvenile performance feasible. Persistent differences among some geographically close provenances indicated the potential for genetic improvement by selecting the best populations within site regions. The results demonstrated have important implications for jack pine breeding and improvement strategies at the provenance level. The provenance averages of aboveground ovendry weight per tree ranged from 44 to 79 kg. The aboveground tree biomass was distributed as follows in seven analyzed provenances: stem wood, 78%; stem bark, 8%; branch wood, 8%; needles, 5%; cones, 1%. Variation in average stemwood mass among provenances was less than the variation in average stem volume because of a strong negative correlation on a single tree basis between stem volume and stem wood density. The mean annual volume and biomass accretion per hectare in the best provenances averaged 10 m3 and 4 t, respectively. Total stem volume production per hectare varied exponentially with tree height. Mean annual stem volume increment of the best provenances exceeded that of the slowest growing provenances by 22–40%.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document