Comparison of growth and physiology of layers and naturally established seedlings of black spruce in a boreal cutover in Quebec

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raynald Paquin ◽  
Hank A Margolis ◽  
René Doucet ◽  
Marie R Coyea
Keyword(s):  
Water Potential ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Net Photosynthesis ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Total Height ◽  
Acclimation Period ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Growth Of Seedlings

Growth and physiology of layers versus naturally established seedlings of boreal black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) were compared 15 years after a cutover in Quebec. During the first 8 years, height growth of seedlings was greater than that of layers, averaging 10.4 and 7.0 cm/year, respectively. For the last 5 years, annual height growth of layers and seedlings did not differ (25 cm/year; p > 0.05). Over the entire 15-year period, total height growth of seedlings (251 cm) was greater than that of layers (220 cm), although total height did not differ (p > 0.05) over the last 6 years. During the 15th growing season, there were no differences (p > 0.05) for predawn shoot water potential, stomatal conductance, net photosynthesis, intercellular to ambient CO2 ratio, water use efficiency, and hydraulic conductance between layers and seedlings. For diurnal shoot water potential, seedlings showed slightly less stress than layers on two of the four sampling dates. Thus, in the first few years following the cutover, the slower growth observed for layers indicated that they had a longer acclimation period following the cutover. Afterwards, similar height growth, total height, and physiological characteristics of the two regeneration types indicated that layers can perform as well as naturally established seedlings.

Photosynthesis and Transpiration in Damaged and Undamaged Spruce Trees

1996 ◽  
Vol 51 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 200-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aloysius Wild ◽  
Peter Sabel ◽  
Lucia Wild-Peters ◽  
Ursula Schmieden
Keyword(s):  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Water Potential ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Net Photosynthesis ◽  
Diurnal Course ◽  
Physiological Homeostasis ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Needle Loss ◽  
Light Saturation Curves

Abstract The investigations presented here focus on the CO2/H2O gas exchange in damaged and undamaged spruce trees while using open-air measurements as well as measurements under defined conditions in the laboratory. The studies were performed at two different sites in the Hunsrück and the Westerwald mountains. In the laboratory the CO2/H2O gas exchange was measured on detached branches under controlled conditions in the course of two years. CO2 saturation curves were also generated. In addition CO2 compensation points were deter­ mined employing a closed system. In the natural habitat diurnal course measurements of photosynthesis and transpiration as well as light-saturation curves for photosynthesis were performed. In parallel with the photosynthesis and transpiration measurements, measurements of the water potential were taken at both locations. The photosynthetic capacity and transpiration rate show a typical annual course with pronounced maxima in spring and late summer and minima in summer and winter. The needles of the damaged trees exhibit higher transpiration rates and a distinct reduction in photosyn­ thesis than the needles of the undamaged trees during two seasons. The diurnal course measurements of net photosynthesis and transpiration show a maximum in photosynthesis and transpiration in the afternoon in May and September, but a characteristic midday depression in July. Photosynthesis was markedly lower and transpiration higher in the needles of the damaged trees. The damaged trees show a lower increase in the light and CO2 saturation curves and higher CO2 compensation points as compared to the undamaged trees. The water potential reaches much lower values during the course of the day in needles of the dam­ aged trees. The reduction of the photosynthetic rate on one hand and the increase in transpiration on the other hand result in an extreme lowering of the water use efficiency in photosynthesis. The damage to the thylakoid membranes and to the guard cells obviously results in a pro­ found disturbance of the physiological homeostasis of the needles and could thus lead to premature needle loss.

scholarly journals Comparative Height Growth of Eastern Larch and Black Spruce in Northwestern Ontario

1978 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 296-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Mead
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Larix Laricina ◽  
Stem Analysis ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Spruce Stands

Height growth of eastern larch (Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) was determined using standard stem analysis methods on trees from two sites in northwestern Ontario. The data were obtained from mixed larch-spruce stands which were relatively undisturbed. The larch exhibited substantially better height growth than the spruce through age 65.

Light threshold for optimal black spruce (Piceamariana) seedling growth and development under brush competition

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1629-1635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jobidon
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Growth Increment ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Light Interception ◽  
Stem Diameter ◽  
Tree Seedlings ◽  
Relative Growth ◽  
Competing Vegetation ◽  
Total Height

Light threshold is suggested as a method for quantifying brush competition in black spruce (Piceamariana (Mill.) B.S.P) plantations and predicting losses in tree growth as measured by the relative growth rate (RGR). The severity of the competing vegetation (expressed in terms of density and height) around 300 planted tree seedlings, and the growth status of the seedlings (expressed in terms of total height and current height growth increment), were analyzed simultaneously with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), with one level of light quantity (photosynthetically active radiation) reaching the upper one-half of the tree seedlings as the predictor variable. This study showed that it is possible to establish a competitive status based on light interception, thus allowing a grouping of seedlings with similar growth characteristics and severity of competition. Canonical analysis showed that 60% of full sunlight reaching the upper one half of spruce seedlings can be defined as a threshold to significantly discriminate between stressed and unstressed tree seedlings, based on the above-mentioned variables and also based on spruce basal stem diameter. For spruce total height, current height increment, and basal stem diameter, significant differences were found between plots above and below this threshold, averaging 18.5, 44.7, and 23.2%, respectively. Measuring the intensity of light reaching the upper one half of the spruce seedlings also significantly explains spruce relative growth rates, expressed in terms of height growth increment and basal stem diameter growth increment over the following two growing seasons. The light threshold used in the MANOVA and the ANOVA showed significant differences between plots above and below the threshold, averaging 70 and 58% for spruce height and basal stem diameter RGRs, respectively. Instead of measuring competing vegetation variables and relative height of a crop species to infer light interception, this study demonstrated that a direct measure of light attenuation at the tree seedling level can be used to assess the competitive status and predict losses in tree growth for the period of time required by the seedlings to emerge from the vegetation cover. Moreover, this study demonstrated that canonical relations, rather than linear relations, explain the pattern of competition for light between young spruce seedlings and brushlike vegetation. The light threshold suggested in this study has potential for assessing interspecific competition problems in young black spruce plantations and is proposed as a tool to support a containment strategy of vegetation management.

Relationship between first-season free growth components and later field height growth in maritime pine (Pinuspinaster)

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 690-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Kremer ◽  
Li-An Xu
Keyword(s):  
Principal Components ◽  
Unit Length ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Growth Function ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Total Height ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Apical Buds ◽  
Accelerate Growth

Pinuspinaster Ait. seedlings from 15 families were grown under conditions designed to accelerate growth for 21 weeks in their first season. Fifteen height growth components were assessed and compared with total height, height growth pattern, and height growth components of trees of the same families grown for 6 years on a sandy moorland site. Growth-accelerating conditions induced the formation of typical adult-like apical buds. Principal components analysis on the weekly height increments during the first growing season showed that 76% of the overall between-family variation could be attributed to the first two components. Families that were extremely poly cyclic and monocyclic in the field were separated on the graph of the two principal components. Among the 15 growth components assessed during the first growing season, 3 showed a significant correlation with total height at 6 years of age: mean stem unit length, asymptotic total height value of the Richards growth function, and the first principal component, i.e., height growth rates during the early stages of development. Mean stem unit length was the component that showed the highest stability between the first and the fifth growing seasons. Between 30 and 72% of the variation of total height (38–64% of the variation of secondary shoot length) at age 6 could be predicted by multiple regression, with a combination of two or three components assessed in the first season.

Black and White Spruce Plantings in Minnesota: Container vs Bareroot Stock and Fall vs Spring Planting

1983 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Alm
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Picea Glauca ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
White Spruce ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Artificial Regeneration ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Spring Planting ◽  
Better Than

Black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) styrob-lock and paperpot and 3-0 and 2-2 seedlings were planted spring and fall. After four seasons of growth the container seedlings had survival and height growth as good or better than the nursery seedlings. There were no differences in performance between the two container systems. The 2-2 stock generally had better survival than the 3-0 stock. Survival of fall-planted stock was equal to or better than that of the spring-planted stock. Key words: white spruce, black spruce, styroplugs, paper pots, seedlings, transplants, artificial regeneration, fall vs spring planting

Female gametophyte and embryo development of black spruce along a shore-hinterland climatic gradient of a recently created reservoir, northern Quebec

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Sirois ◽  
Yves Bégin ◽  
Johanne Parent
Keyword(s):  
Embryo Development ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Female Gametophyte ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Seed Maturation ◽  
Cooling Effect ◽  
Sigmoid Function ◽  
Embryo Maturation ◽  
Degree Days

The development of female gametophytes and embryos in relation to cumulative growing degree-days was followed to see if the postulated cooling influence of the Robert-Bourassa reservoir (LG2, northern Quebec) slowed the reproductive process of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.). During the 1996 growing season, three to five developing seed cones were harvested 11 times on nine trees distributed along a shore-hinterland gradient of the northern shore of the reservoir. The daily thermal sum (degree-days > 5°C) in the seed cone zone of the same trees was also monitored to describe the female gametophyte and embryo development of this species as a function of heat sum. The 23 developmental stages identified in this study confirm that the female gametophyte and embryo of P. mariana develop according to the same pattern exhibited by other Picea spp. These stages, although unequal in duration, succeeded each other according to a sigmoid function of the temperature sum. Direct temperature measurements taken 0, 25, and 100 m from the shore of the Robert-Bourassa reservoir suggest the interior trees experienced 107 more degree-days > 5°C than the shoreline trees during seed maturation. Although gametophyte development of the shoreline trees was delayed early in the growing season (Kruskall-Wallis, p = 0.05), this delay does not persist afterward. Despite the net cooling effect of the Robert-Bourassa reservoir, all studied trees achieved embryo maturation in 1996. During this growing season, the warmest since 1977, it took embryos 800-940 degree-days to mature. The shoreline trees reached this temperature threshold later than interior trees. It is suggested that the cooling effect of the Robert-Bourassa reservoir could contribute to the inhibition of embryo maturation in shoreline trees during growing seasons with less than 800 degree-days.Key words: black spruce, climate change, cone development, northern boreal forests, Picea mariana, seed maturation.

OCCURRENCE OF DEATHWATCH CONE BEETLE, ERNOBIUS BICOLOR WHITE (COLEOPTERA: ANOBIIDAE), IN CONES OF BLACK SPRUCE, PICEA MARIANA (MILL.) B.S.P., IN NOVA SCOTIA

1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Sweeney ◽  
G. Gesner ◽  
G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Seed Yields

An extensive survey of black spruce, Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P., in Newfoundland in 1978 disclosed that up to 50% of the old cones remaining on the trees were damaged by the deathwatch cone beetle, Ernobius bicolor White (Schooley 1983; White 1983). This beetle infests black spruce cones produced in the previous year's growing season and also damages cones in storage. Eggs are deposited between the scales and larvae feed within the cone and pupate in the fall or the following spring; their feeding can reduce extracted seed yields by one-half (Schooley 1983).

Above- and be Bow-ground biomass of precompetitive red pine in northern Michigan

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1064-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Reed ◽  
Glenn D. Mroz ◽  
Hal O. Liechty ◽  
Elizabeth A. Jones ◽  
Peter J. Cattelino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Growth Index ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Red Pine ◽  
Basal Diameter ◽  
Total Height ◽  
Ground Biomass ◽  
Northern Michigan

In 1984, red pine (Pinusresinosa Ait.) plantations were established at three sites in northern Michigan. From 1985 through 1992, 3083 individual trees from these stands were destructively sampled to determine aboveground biomass. The root systems were excavated on a subset of these trees (975 individuals). There were no significant differences in the relationships between either above- or below-ground biomass and groundline diameter and tree height across the range of biomass (3–6720 g for aboveground biomass and 1–319 g for belowground biomass), basal diameter (0.3–10.1 cm), or height (10–417 cm) of the sampled trees. There were also no significant differences in these relationships among the three sites. Relative height growth (the ratio of total height increment in a year and the total height at the beginning of the growing season) was found to have a very well defined maximum that was a function of total height at the beginning of the growing season. This maximum relative growth rate was used to develop a new height growth index that can be used to identify precompetitive red pine that are approaching their potential height growth in field situations.

Temperature and Other Climatic Influences on Shoot Development and Growth of Eucalyptus regnans

1975 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
KW Cremer
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Shoot Development ◽  
Positive Relation ◽  
Eucalyptus Regnans ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Growth Of Seedlings

The growth and development of shoots of Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell. trees up to 8 m tall growing in their natural environment in central Tasmania were studied continuously for 3 years and related to climatic factors. The influences of temperature were further investigated by experiments with seedlings in a phytotron. Height growth was practically nil in winter and greatest in summer. Throughout the year weekly rates of height growth were closely related to weekly mean maximum air temperatures, increasing from nil or slight at 10�C to peak rates at the highest temperatures experienced (25°). Substantial diameter increments were observed in all seasons and their relation to temperature was relatively weak. There was no positive relation between weekly growth in height or diameter and weekly precipitation. Bud and shoot growth were characterized by continuity of development of all organs throughout the growing season. The youngest of the leaves and internodes which had emerged before winter from the bud resumed growth in spring, but did not reach the lengths achieved by those leaves and internodes which emerged from the bud after winter. It was only by this morphological feature that the boundaries of the annual shoot were identifiable. In agreement with the field observations, the growth of seedlings in glasshouses was found to be slow at day/night air temperatures of 10/5°C and to increase steeply with temperatures to 24/19°. Amongst the notable morphogenic influences associated with increasing temperatures in the glasshouses were poorer root development relative to top growth, thinner and smaller but more numerous leaves, and shorter and more numerous internodes. The elongation of individual leaves and internodes was faster but considerably less prolonged as temperatures increased. The E. regnans seedlings tested failed to prove thermoperiodically sensitive. It is concluded that the dormancy in shoot development observed in the field during winter is due to quiescence imposed by low temperatures, and that in the Tasmanian environment the pattern of growth and development of the vegetative shoots of E. regnans is directly and predominantly controlled by air temperatures throughout the year.

scholarly journals Height growth of black spruce and jack pine seedlings in flooded flats

1975 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-54
Author(s):  
W. Stanek
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Solution ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Concentration Gradient ◽  
Pinus Banksiana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Distilled Water ◽  
Pine Seedlings ◽  
Water Height

Black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) seedlings were grown in a green-house on peat-filled flats flooded with nutrient solution or distilled water. None was aerated. However, an O2 concentration gradient existed across the flats, 3.0 – 3.7 ppm along the edges, and 1.4 – 1.9 ppm in the centers. After 4½ months seedlings of both species grew taller with nutrient solution than with distilled water. In flats supplied with nutrient solution, seedlings of both species grew taller along the edges than in the centers, whereas in flats supplied with distilled water height differential did not develop. Jack pine grew taller than black spruce under similar conditions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document