| 1. |
- Akselsson, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Critical biomass harvesting - Applying a new concept for Swedish forest soils
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 409, s. 67-73
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The contribution of forest harvesting to base cation losses and soil acidification has increased in recent years in Sweden, as the demand for bioenergy has increased and the sulphur deposition has decreased. Thus, new policy tools are required to evaluate the progress of the recovery from acidification, and as a basis for forest management recommendations. In this study we introduce and test a concept, Critical biomass harvesting. The concept builds on the concept Critical loads, which has been used world-wide for several decades as a bridge between science and policies related to transboundary air pollution and acidification. The basis for the concept is an acidity mass balance, with sources and sinks of acidity. A critical limit defines the highest acceptable acidification status of the water leaving the root zone. Based on the critical limit, the highest allowed biomass harvesting can be calculated, keeping the other parameters constant. In this study the critical limit was set to ANC (Acid Neutralizing Capacity) = 0. Nitrogen was assumed to be affecting acidity only if it leaches from the root zone. The critical biomass harvesting was calculated for almost 12000 National Forest Inventory sites with spruce and pine forest, using the best available data on deposition, weathering and nitrogen leaching. The exceedance of critical biomass harvesting was calculated as the difference between the estimated harvest losses and the critical biomass harvesting. The results were presented as median values in merged catchments in a catchment database, with totally 2079 merged catchments in Sweden. According to the calculations, critical biomass harvesting was exceeded in the southern half of Sweden already at stem harvesting in spruce forests. Whole-tree harvesting expanded the exceedance area, and increased the exceedance levels in southern Sweden. The exceedance in pine forest was lower and affected smaller areas. It was concluded that the concept of critical biomass harvesting can be successfully applied on the same database that has been used for critical load calculations in Sweden, using basically the same approach as has been extensively applied, evaluated and discussed in a critical load context. The results from the calculations in Sweden indicate that whole-tree harvesting, without wood ash recycling, can be expected to further slow down recovery, especially in the most acidified parts of the country, in the southwest.
|
|
| 2. |
- Akselsson, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Nutrient and carbon budgets in forest soils as decision support in sustainable forest management
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 1872-7042 .- 0378-1127. ; 238:1-3, s. 167-174
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge about the nutrient and carbon budgets in forest soils is essential to maintain sustainable production, but also in several environmental issues, such as acidification, eutrophication and climate change. The budgets are strongly influenced by atmospheric deposition as well as forestry. This study demonstrates how budget calculations for nitrogen (N), carbon (C) and base cations (BC) can be used as a basis for policy decisions on a regional level in Sweden. The study was based on existing nutrient and C budget calculations on a regional scale in Sweden. The nutrient budgets have been calculated for each square in a national 5 km x 5 km net by means of mass balances including deposition, harvest losses, leaching, weathering (BC) and fixation (N). Scenarios with different deposition and forestry intensity have been run and illustrated on maps. A simplified C budget has been estimated by multiplying the N accumulation with the C/N ratio in the organic layer, based on the assumption that the C/N ratio in the accumulating organic matter is equal to the ratio in the soil organic matter pool. The budget approaches differ from earlier budget studies since they involve regional high resolution data, combine deposition and forestry scenarios and integrate different environmental aspects. The results indicate that whole-tree harvesting will cause net losses of N and base cations in large parts of Sweden, which means that forestry will not be sustainable unless nutrients are added through compensatory fertilization. To prevent net losses following whole-tree harvesting, compensatory fertilization of base cations would be required in almost the whole country, whereas N fertilization would be needed mainly in the northern half of Sweden. The results further suggest that today's recommendations for N fertilization should be revised in southern Sweden by applying the southwest-northeast gradient of the N budget calculations. The C and N accumulation calculations show that C sequestration in Swedish forest soils is not an effective or sustainable way to decrease the net carbon dioxide emissions. A better way is to apply whole-tree harvesting and use the branches, tops and needles as biofuel replacing fossil fuels. This could reduce the present carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels substantially. The study shows that high resolution budget calculations that illuminate different aspects of sustainability in forest ecosystems are important tools for identifying problem areas, investigating different alternatives through scenario analyses and developing new policies. Cooperation with stakeholders increases the probability that the research will be useful. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All fights reserved.
|
|
| 3. |
- Akselsson, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Regional mapping of nitrogen leaching from clearcuts in southern Sweden
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 1872-7042 .- 0378-1127. ; 202:1-3, s. 235-243
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased nitrogen leaching from forest soils is a potential environmental problem in areas with high nitrogen deposition. In Sweden nitrogen is strongly retained in the forests, and high nitrogen leaching is not common from growing forests. However, soil water measurements on clearcuts along a deposition gradient in Sweden showed a positive correlation between increased concentration of inorganic nitrogen and the deposition. In this paper nitrogen leaching from clearcuts in southern Sweden was modelled on a municipality level, based on this correlation. Modelled deposition was used as input data together with runoff and forest statistics, e.g. clearcut areas from the municipalities. The calculations showed a clear leaching gradient on clearcuts from west (up to 35 kg ha(-1) year(-1)) to east (less than 5 kg ha(-1) year(-1)). This was in accordance with the deposition gradient. The leaching gradient was reinforced by the higher runoff in the west. The results indicated that, in southwestern Sweden with the highest nitrogen deposition, up to 30-40% of the total leaching of nitrogen from forest soils originates from clearcuts. These high amounts of nitrogen leaching from clearcuts in southwestern Sweden have not been included in previous national calculations of nitrogen leaching to surface waters. The contribution of nitrogen from clearcuts to the total nitrogen leaching from all land use classes varies between 1% in the southernmost part where agricultural land is highly dominating, to 11% in the forested central part of southern Sweden. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 4. |
- Albaugh, Timothy J, et al.
(författare)
-
Do biological expansion factors adequately estimate stand-scale aboveground component biomass for Norway spruce?
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 258:12, s. 2628-2637
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We developed site specific component (stem, branch, and foliage) biomass functions for two sites in Sweden (64° and 57° North latitude) where four treatments (control, irrigated, fertilized, irrigated plus fertilized) were applied in the existing Norway spruce stands (Picea abies L. Karst.) for 17 years. We tested for site effects in the component biomass equations and compared site specific biomass estimates to those generated using published functions ( Lehtonen et al., 2004 and Wirth et al., 2004). Site effects were significant for all components and indicated it would be unlikely to generate equations that well estimate biomass across the Norway spruce range as implicitly indicated in our efforts to generate species biomass expansion factors. We rejected our hypothesis that the published functions would well estimate component biomass for control plots. The published functions did not compare well with site specific component biomass estimates for the other treatments; both published functions well estimated stem mass up to stem mass of 25 Mg ha−1, beyond which stem mass was overestimated, and both functions over and under estimated foliage and branch mass. Nor did the published functions compare well with each other, with stem, foliage and branch mass estimate differences of 12, 55, −8% and 11, 77, and 59% for the southern and northern sites, respectively, when averaged over all treatments and years. Adding limiting resources through fertilization increased stem, foliage and branch mass 57, 11, 18% and 120, 37, and 69% at the southern and northern sites, respectively, which would increase carbon sequestration and available stemwood and bioenergy materials. We recommend that more effort is spent in process-based modeling to better predict mass at a given site and ultimately provide better estimates of carbon sequestration and bioenergy material production changes.
|
|
| 5. |
- Aldea, Jorge
(författare)
-
Competition and climate influence in the basal area increment models for Mediterranean mixed forests
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 506
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Competition plays a key role controlling tree growth in mixed forests. Contrary to monocultures, quantifying species mixing influence on tree growth suppose a challenge since the presence of two or more species requires to estimate the degree of intra- and inter-specific competition among trees. Moreover, it is well known that aridity can also influence tree growth, especially in the Mediterranean Basin. In the present context of climate change, it is essential to take into account species mixing and aridity uncertainty in the design of sustainable management guidelines for Mediterranean mixed forests. To achieve that, data from Spanish National Forest Inventory was used in this study to fit new mixed-effects basal area increment (BAI) models for 29 two-species compositions in Spain. A wide range of different competition structures (intra-specific, inter-specific, size-symmetric and sizeasymmetric) and aridity conditions (in terms of the De Martonne Index) were included and tested into the BAI models. Parameter estimations were obtained for all possible species, mixtures and combinations by Maximum Likelihood (ML). Models with all the coefficients being significant (p < 0.05) were first selected. Among these models, we used Akaike Evidence Ratios for selecting the best one by species for each mixture. The best model for each species and mixture was used to analyze the competition and climatic influence on tree growth. Regarding competition influence, a common trend among mixtures was found with higher productivity in mixed than pure stands, suggesting that BAI values may increase with the increment of species diversity. Based on intra and inter-specific competition indexes, competition seemed to be the most representative biological interaction in conifer-conifer mixtures, since neutralism and facilitation may occur more frequently in coniferbroadleaved and broadleaved-broadleaved mixtures. Our findings also suggested that tree growth may be significantly limited by arid conditions, excepting for Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea. Our rigorous modelling approach successfully uncovered not only possible mixing effect among various species but also help us to understand the effect of aridity on tree growth. Thus, models presented in this study can be used in the design and implementation of management and adaptation guidelines under future climate change scenarios.
|
|
| 6. |
- Aldea, Jorge
(författare)
-
Differences in stem radial variation between Pinus pinaster Ait. and Quercus pyrenaica Willd. may release inter-specific competition
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 481
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Species complementarity by morphological and physiological trait differences could cause distinct temporal and spatial use of resources. Accordingly, mixed stands may enhance production, biodiversity and/or provide a better adaptation to future climate conditions. We aim to identify species differences in intra-annual stem radial variation patterns, and to recognize species-specific responses to contrasting weather conditions at key intraannual growth phases. Stem radial variation was recorded from high temporal resolution point dendrometers (2012-2014) installed on twelve dominant maritime pine and Pyrenean oak trees in two mixed stands in central Spain. Species differences in stem radial variation were analyzed by synchrony statistics, intra-annual pattern modelling, and evaluating the dependence of main intra-annual growth phases on climate conditions. Both species showed important differences on intra-annual radial increment pattern despite general stem radial variation synchrony. Radial increment onset was earlier for maritime pine during the spring and rainy autumns. Species-specific responses to weather indicate that stem radial variation increased with autumn temperature in maritime pine, but decreased in Pyrenean oak trees. However, summer vapor pressure deficit may reduce stem radial variation for maritime pine. Therefore, maritime pine would adapt more efficiently to warmer temperatures associated with climate change, although summer water stress may reduce this competitive bonus.
|
|
| 7. |
- Aldea, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
-
Evaluation of growth models for mixed forests used in Swedish and Finnish decision support systems
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 529
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interest in mixed forests is increasing since they could provide higher benefits and positive externalities compared to monocultures, although their management is more complex and silvicultural prescriptions for them are still scarce. Growth simulations are a powerful tool for developing useful guidelines for mixed stands. Heureka and Motti are two decision support systems commonly used for forest management in Sweden and Finland respectively. They were developed mostly with data from pure stands, so how they would perform in mixed stands is currently uncertain. We compiled a large and updated common database of well-replicated experimental research sites and monitoring networks composed by 218 and 1,160 plot-level observations of mixed stands from Sweden and Finland, respectively. We aimed to evaluated the accuracy of Heureka and Motti basal area growth models in those mixed-species stands and to detect any bias in their short-term predictions. Basal area growth simulations (excluding mortality models) were compared to observed stand-level values in a period-wise process with update of the start values in each period. The residual plots were visually examined for different stand mixtures: Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.)-birch (Betula spp), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)-birch and Scots pine-Norway spruce. We observed that the basal area growth models in both decision support systems performed quite well for all mixtures regardless of the proportion of species. Motti simulations overestimated growth in Scots pine-Norway spruce mixtures by 0.063 m(2)center dot ha(-1)center dot year(-1) which may be acceptable for practical use. Therefore, we corroborated that both decision support systems can be currently utilized for shortterm forest growth simulation of mixed boreal forests.
|
|
| 8. |
- Aldea, Jorge
(författare)
-
Species mixing reduces drought susceptibility of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and oak (Quercus robur L., Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) - Site water supply and fertility modify the mixing effect
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 461
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tree species mixing has been widely promoted as a promising silvicultural tool for reducing drought stress. However, so far only a limited number of species combinations have been studied in detail, revealing inconsistent results. In this study, we analysed the effect of mixing Scots pine and oak (pedunculate oak and sessile oak) trees on their drought response along a comprehensive ecological gradient across Europe. The objective was to improve our knowledge of general drought response patterns of two fundamental European tree species in mixed versus monospecific stands. We focused on three null hypotheses: (HI) tree drought response does not differ between Scots pine and oak, (HII) tree drought response of Scots pine and oak is not affected by stand composition (mixture versus monoculture) and (HIII) tree drought response of Scots pine and oak in mixtures and monocultures is not modified by tree size or site conditions. To test the hypotheses, we analysed increment cores of Scots pine and oak, sampled in mixed and monospecific stands, covering a wide range of site conditions. We investigated resistance (the ability to maintain growth levels during drought), recovery (the ability to restore a level of growth after drought) and resilience (the capacity to recover to pre-drought growth levels), involving sitespecific drought events that occurred between 1976 and 2015. In monocultures, oak showed a higher resistance and resilience than Scots pine, while recovery was lower. Scots pine in mixed stands exhibited a higher resistance, but also a lower recovery compared with Scots pine in monocultures. Mixing increased the resistance and resilience of oak. Ecological factors such as tree size, site water supply and site fertility were found to have significant effects on the drought response. In the case of Scots pine, resistance was increased by tree size, while recovery was lowered. Resistance of oak increased with site water supply. The observed mixing effect on the tree drought response of Scots pine and oak was in some cases modified by the site conditions studied. Positive mixing effects in terms of resistance and resilience of oak increased with site water supply, while the opposite was found regarding recovery. In contrast, site fertility lessened the positive mixing effect on the resistance of Scots pine. We hypothesise that the observed positive mixing effects under drought mainly result from waterand/or light-related species interactions that improve resource availability and uptake according to temporal and spatial variations in environmental conditions.
|
|
| 9. |
- Aldea, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
-
Species stratification and weather conditions drive tree growth in Scots pine and Norway spruce mixed stands along Europe
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 481
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mixed forests are suggested as a strategic adaptation of forest management to climate change. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) are tree species of high economic and ecological value for European forestry. Both species coexist naturally in a large part of their distributions but there is a lack of knowledge on the ecological functioning of mixtures of these species and how to manage such stands. This paper analyses these species' intra- and inter-specific competition, including size-symmetric vs. size-asymmetric competition, and explore the effect of weather conditions on tree growth and competition. We studied basal area growth at tree level for Scots pine and Norway spruce in mixed versus pure stands in 22 triplets of fully-stocked plots along a broad range of ecological conditions across Europe. Stand inventory and increment cores provided insights into how species mixing modifies tree growth compared with neighbouring pure stands. Five different competition indices, weather variables and their interactions were included and checked in basal area growth models using a linear mixed model approach. Interspecific size-asymmetric competition strongly influenced growth for both tree species, and was modulated by weather conditions. However, species height stratification in mixed stands resulted in a greater tree basal area growth of Scots pine (10.5 em(2) year(-1)) than in pure stands (9.3 em(2) year(-1)), as this species occupies the upper canopy layer. Scots pine growth depended on temperature and drought, whereas Norway spruce growth was influenced only by drought. Interspecific site-asymmetric competition increased in cold winters for Scots pine, and decreased after a drought year for Norway spruce. Although mixtures of these species may reduce tree size for Norway spruce, our results suggest that this could be offset by faster growth in Scots pine. How inter-specific competition and weather conditions alter tree growth may have strong implications for the management of Scots pine-Norway spruce mixtures along the rotation period into the ongoing climate change scenario.
|
|
| 10. |
- Aldea, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
-
Tree species growth response to climate in mixtures of Quercus robur/ Quercus petraea and Pinus sylvestris across Europe- a dynamic, sensitive equilibrium
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 530
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quercus robur/Quercus petraea and Pinus sylvestris are widely distributed and economically important tree species in Europe co-occurring on mesotrophic, xeric and mesic sites. Increasing dry conditions may reduce their growth, but growth reductions may be modified by mixture, competition and site conditions. The annual diameter growth in monospecific and mixed stands along an ecological gradient with mean annual temperatures ranging from 5.5 degrees C to 11.5 degrees C was investigated in this study. On 36 triplets (108 plots), trees were cored and the year-ring series were cross-dated, resulting in year-ring series of 785 and 804 trees for Q. spp. and P. sylvestris, respec-tively. A generalized additive model with a logarithmic link was fit to the data with random effects for the intercept at the triplet, year and tree level and a random slope for the covariate age for each tree; the Tweedie-distribution was used. The final model explained 87 % of the total variation in diameter increment for both tree species. Significant covariates were age, climate variables (long-term mean, monthly), local competition vari-ables, relative dbh, mixture, stand structure and interactions thereof. Tree growth declined with age and local density and increased with social position. It was positively influenced by mixture and structural diversity (Gini coefficient); mixture effects were significant for P. sylvestris only. The influence of potential evapotranspiration (PET) in spring and autumn on tree growth was positive and non-linear, whereas tree growth sharply decreased with increasing PET in June, which proved to be the most influential month on tree growth along the whole ecological gradient. Interactions of PET with tree social position (relative dbh) were significant in July and September for Q. spp. and in April for P. sylvestris. Interactions of climate with density or mixture were not significant. Climatic effects found agree well with previous results from intra-annual growth studies and indicate that the model captures the causal factors for tree growth well. Furthermore, the interaction between climate and relative dbh might indicate a longer growth duration for trees of higher social classes. Analysis of random effects across time and space showed highly dynamic patterns, with competitive advantages changing annually between species and spatial patterns showing no large-scale trends but pointing to the prevalence of local site factors. In mixed-species stands, the tree species have the same competitivity in the long-term, which is modified by climate each year. Climate warming will shift the competitive advantages, but the direction will be highly site-specific.
|
|
