| 1. |
- Aldea, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
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Species stratification and weather conditions drive tree growth in Scots pine and Norway spruce mixed stands along Europe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 481
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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.
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| 2. |
- Aldea, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
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Timing and duration of drought modulate tree growth response in pure and mixed stands of Scots pine and Norway spruce
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0022-0477 .- 1365-2745. ; 110:11, s. 2673-2683
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of droughts around the globe, leading to tree mortality that reduces production and provision of other ecosystem services. Recent studies show that growth of mixed stands may be more resilient to drought than pure stands. The two most economically important and widely distributed tree species in Europe are Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), but little is known about their susceptibility to drought when coexist.This paper analyses the resilience (resistance, recovery rate and recovery time) at individual-tree level using a network of tree-ring collections from 22 sites along a climatic gradient from central Europe to Scandinavia. We aimed to identify differences in growth following drought between the two species and between mixed and pure stands, and how environmental variables (climate, topography and site location) and tree characteristics influence them.We found that both the timing and duration of drought drive the different responses between species and compositions. Norway spruce showed higher vulnerability to summer drought, with both lower resistance and a longer recovery time than Scots pine. Mixtures provided higher drought resistance for both species compared to pure stands, but the benefit decreases with the duration of the drought. Especially climate sensitive and old trees in climatically marginal sites were more affected by drought stress.Synthesis. Promoting Scots pine and mixed forests is a promising strategy for adapting European forests to climate change. However, if future droughts become longer, the advantage of mixed stands could disappear which would be especially negative for Norway spruce.
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| 3. |
- Ara, Mostarin, et al.
(författare)
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Varying rectangular spacing yields no difference in forest growth and external wood quality in coniferous forest plantations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Historically square or almost square spacing design has been used in plantation forest, as it has been claimed to maximize productivity. In this study, based on field experiments established in the mid-1980s, we tested the effect of square or different rectangular planting designs (2 x 2, 1.33 x 3, 1 x 4, 0.8 x 5, 1.46 x 1.46 x 4 m) on productivity, stand heterogeneity, and external wood properties of three coniferous species: Scots pine, Lodgepole pine, and Norway spruce. Stand production (volume, diameter), external wood properties (ovality, branch thickness, living crown height, height-diameter ratio), and stand heterogeneity (Gini coefficient) were not significantly affected by the different rectangular designs. Based on this evidence, we propose that more flexibility is available than previously thought for rectangular spacing layouts and consequently for the choice of planting spots and machinery operations.
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| 4. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio, et al.
(författare)
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Contrasting patterns of tree species mixture effects on wood delta C-13 along an environmental gradient
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Journal of Forest Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1612-4669 .- 1612-4677. ; 139, s. 229-245
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Establishing mixed-species stands is frequently proposed as a strategy to adapt forests to the increasing risk of water scarcity, yet contrasted results have been reported regarding mixing effects on tree drought exposure. To investigate the drivers behind the spatial and temporal variation in water-related mixing effects, we analysed the delta C-13 variation in 22-year tree ring chronologies for beech and pine trees sampled from 17 pure and mixed pine-beech stands across a large gradient of environmental conditions throughout Europe. In the pure stands, average delta C-13 values were lower for beech (-27.9 parts per thousand to -22.2 parts per thousand) than for pine (-26.0 parts per thousand to -21.1 parts per thousand), irrespective of site conditions. Decreasing SPEI values (calculated over June to September) were associated with an increase in delta C-13 for both species, but their effect was influenced by stand basal area for pine and site water availability for beech. Mixing did not change the temporal constancy of delta C-13 nor the tree reaction to a drought event, for any of the species. While the mixing effect (Delta delta C-13 = delta C-13 pure stands - delta C-13 mixed stands) was on average positive for beech and non-significant for pine across the whole gradient, this effect strongly differed between sites. For both species, mixing was not significant at extremely dry sites and positive at dry sites; on moderately wet sites, mixing was positive for beech and negative for pine; at sites with permanent water supply, no general patterns emerge for any of the species. The pattern of mixing effect along the gradient of water availability was not linear but showed threshold points, highlighting the need to investigate such relation for other combinations of tree species.
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| 5. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio
(författare)
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Mixing has limited impacts on the foliar nutrition of European beech and Scots pine trees across Europe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 479
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tree species-mixing has been suggested as one option to counteract the adverse effects of global change on tree mineral nutrition, yet the effect of mixing on nutrient availability remains poorly documented.We therefore analyzed the current foliar nutrient (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) quantities and ilr balances (isometric log transformed ratios between elements or groups of elements) for 261 European beech and 248 Scots pine trees from 15 sites, each consisting of one beech-pine mixed stand and the respective monocultures, across a gradient of environmental conditions in Europe. We hypothesized an overall positive effect of mixing on tree foliar nutrient content, and that this mixing effect would be stronger on nutrient-poor sites. Using linear mixed models and multivariate linear regression models, we first tested for the effects of species (beech/pine) and composition (pure/mixed) across all sites; we then investigated whether the species-mixing effect was related to site fertility.The nutrient composition of beech leaves and pine needles differed significantly for all ilr balances. For both species, significant mixing effects were detected for some nutrients and ilr balances; those effects, however, could not be consistently related to contrasted nutrient composition between species. For most nutrients and ilr balances, the mixing effect was influenced by the site nutritional status, but the pattern differed from expectation: absence or minor differences between monocultures and mixtures at the lower end of the chemical fertility gradient, and maximum differences in rich soils.The contrasting foliar nutrient composition of pine and beech trees and the site nutrient status only partly explained the mixing effects on tree mineral nutrition. Our results claim for a better understanding of nutrientrelated mechanisms associated with complementarity and points towards the need to further expand the existing frameworks to account for the multivariate nature of tree nutrition.
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| 6. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio
(författare)
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Pan-European sustainable forest management indicators for assessing Climate-Smart Forestry in Europe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Forest Research. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 0045-5067 .- 1208-6037. ; 51, s. 1741-1750
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The increasing demand for innovative forest management strategies to adapt to and mitigate climate change and benefit forest production, the so-called Climate-Smart Forestry, calls for a tool to monitor and evaluate their implementation and their effects on forest development over time. The pan-European set of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management is considered one of the most important tools for assessing many aspects of forest management and sustainability. This study offers an analytical approach to selecting a subset of indicators to support the implementation of Climate-Smart Forestry. Based on a literature review and the analytical hierarchical approach, 10 indicators were selected to assess, in particular, mitigation and adaptation. These indicators were used to assess the state of the Climate-Smart Forestry trend in Europe from 1990 to 2015 using data from the reports on the State of Europe's Forests. Forest damage, tree species composition, and carbon stock were the most important indicators. Though the trend was overall positive with regard to adaptation and mitigation, its evaluation was partly hindered by the lack of data. We advocate for increased efforts to harmonize international reporting and for further integrating the goals of Climate-Smart Forestry into national-and European-level forest policy making.
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| 7. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio, et al.
(författare)
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Production of genetically improved silver birch plantations in southern and central Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Silva Fennica. - : Finnish Society of Forest Science. - 0037-5330 .- 2242-4075. ; 56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Investing in planting genetically unproved silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) in Swedish plantations requires understanding how birch stands will develop over their entire rotation. Previous studies have indicated relatively low production of birch compared to Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). This could result from using unrepresentative basic data, collected from unimproved, naturally-regenerated birch (Betula spp.) growing on inventory plots often located in coniferous stands. The objective of this study was to develop a basal area development function of improved silver birch and evaluate production over a full rotation period. We used data from 52 experiments including planted silver birch of different genetic breeding levels in southern and central Sweden. The experimental plots were established on fertile forest sites and on former agricultural lands, and were managed with different numbers of thinnings and basal area removal regimes. The model best describing total stand basal area development was a dynamic equation derived from the Korf base model. The analysis of the realized gain trial for birch showed a good stability of the early calculated relative differences in basal area between tested genotypes over time. Thus, the relative difference in basal area might be with cautious used as representation of the realized genetic gain. On average forest sites in southern Sweden, improved and planted silver birch could produce between 6-10.5 m(3) ha(-1) year(-1), while on fertile agriculture land the average productivity might be higher, especially with material coming from the improvement program. The performed analysis provided a first step toward predicting the effects of genetic improvement on total volume production and profitability of silver birch. However, more experiments arc needed to set up the relative differences between different improved material.
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| 8. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio, et al.
(författare)
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Regional climate moderately influences species-mixing effect on tree growth-climate relationships and drought resistance for beech and pine across Europe
- 2022
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 520
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing species diversity is considered a promising strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of global change on forests. However, the interactions between regional climate conditions and species-mixing effects on climate-growth relationships and drought resistance remain poorly documented.In this study, we investigated the patterns of species-mixing effects over a large gradient of environmental conditions throughout Europe for European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), two species with contrasted ecological traits. We hypothesized that across large geographical scales, the difference of climate-growth relationships and drought resistance between pure and mixed stands would be dependent on regional climate. We used tree ring chronologies derived from 1143 beech and 1164 pine trees sampled in 30 study sites, each composed of one mixed stand of beech and pine and of the two corresponding pure stands located in similar site conditions. For each site and stand, we used Bootstrapped Correlation Coefficients (BCCs) on standardized chronologies and growth reduction during drought years on raw chronologies to analyze the difference in climate-tree growth relationships and resistance to drought between pure and mixed stands.We found consistent large-scale spatial patterns of climate-growth relationships. Those patterns were similar for both species. With the exception of the driest climates where pure and mixed beech stands tended to display differences in growth correlation with the main climatic drivers, the mixing effects on the BCCs were highly variable, resulting in the lack of a coherent response to mixing. No consistent species-mixing effect on drought resistance was found within and across climate zones. On average, mixing had no significant effect on drought resistance for neither species, yet it increased pine resistance in sites with higher climatic water balance in autumn. Also, beech and pine most often differed in the timing of their drought response within similar sites, irrespective of the regional climate, which might increase the temporal stability of growth in mixed compared to pure stands.Our results showed that the impact of species mixing on tree response to climate did not strongly differ between groups of sites with distinct climate characteristics and climate-growth relationships, indicating the interacting influences of species identity, stand characteristics, drought events characteristics as well as local site conditions.
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| 9. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio
(författare)
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Single-image photogrammetry for deriving tree architectural traits in mature forest stands: a comparison with terrestrial laser scanning
- 2019
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Ingår i: Annals of Forest Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1286-4560 .- 1297-966X. ; 76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Key messageWe compared two methods for detailed individual tree measurements: single image photogrammetry (SIP), a simplified, low-cost method, and the state-of-the-art terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Our results provide evidence that SIP can be successfully applied to obtain accurate tree architectural traits in mature forests.ContextTree crown variables are necessary in forest modelling; however, they are time consuming to measure directly, and they are measured in many different ways. We compare two methods to obtain crown variables: laser-based and image-based. TLS is an advanced technology for three-dimensional data acquisition; SIP is a simplified, low-cost method.AimsTo elucidate differences between the methods, and validate SIP accuracy and usefulness for forest research, we investigated if (1) SIP and TLS measurements are in agreement in terms of the most widely used tree characteristics; (2) differences between the SIP traits and their TLS counterparts are constant throughout tree density and species composition; (3) tree architectural traits obtained with SIP explain differences in laser-based crown projection area (CPA), under different forest densities and stand compositions; and (4) CPA modelled with SIP variables is more accurate than CPA obtained with stem diameter-based allometric models. We also examined the correspondence between local tree densities extracted from images and from field measurements.MethodsWe compared TLS and SIP in a temperate pure sessile oak and mixed with Scots pine stands, in the Orleans Forest, France. Standard major axis regression was used to establish relations between laser-based and image-based tree height and diameter at breast height. Four SIP-derived traits were compared between the levels of stand density and species composition with a t test, in terms of deviations and biases to their TLS counterparts. We created a set of linear and linear mixed models (LMMs) of CPA(TLS), with SIP variables. Both laser-based and image-based stem diameters were used to estimate CPA with the published allometric equations; the results were then compared with the best predictive LMM, in terms of similarity with CPA(TLS) measurement. Local tree density extracted from images was compared with field measurements in terms of basic statistics and correlation.ResultsTree height and diameter at breast height were reliably represented by SIP (Pearson correlation coefficients r=0.92 and 0.97, respectively). SIP measurements were affected by the stand composition factor; tree height attained higher mean absolute deviation (1.09m) in mixed stands, compared to TLS, than in pure stands (0.66m); crown width was more negatively biased in mixed stands (-0.79m), than in pure stands (-0.05m); and diameter at breast height and crown asymmetry were found unaffected. Crown width and mean branch angle were key SIP explanatory variables to predict CPA(TLS). The model was approximately 2-fold more accurate than the CPA allometric estimations with both laser-based and image-based stem diameters. SIP-derived local tree density was similar to the field-measured density in terms of mean and standard deviation (9.6 (3.5) and 9.4 (3.6) trees per plot, respectively); the correlation between both density measures was significantly positive (r=0.76).ConclusionSIP-derived variables, such as crown width, mean branch angle, branch thickness, and crown asymmetry, were useful to explain tree architectural differences under different densities and stand compositions and may be implemented in many forest research applications. SIP may also provide a coarse measure of local competition, in terms of number of neighbouring trees. Our study provides the first test in mature forest stands, for SIP compared with TLS.
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| 10. |
- Barbeito, Ignacio
(författare)
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Trade-offs across densities and mixture proportions in lodgepole pine-hybrid spruce plantations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 490
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Monocultures tend to yield higher total stand volumes and are simple to manage. Yet, mixed species stands may result in similar stand volumes while providing benefits such as mitigating damage from insects and disease. To understand the effects of stand density and species mixture and their interactions on stand yield, tree size and morphology, and damage in monocultures and mixtures, we analyzed a 25-year-old experiment in interior British Columbia, Canada. The lodgepole pine (Pl)-interior hybrid spruce (Sx) experiment included three densities?1000, 1500, and 2000 stems per hectare (SPH)?and five species mixtures?1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1 Pl:Sx. Results 25 years after stand establishment showed that stand volume was significantly larger with an increasing proportion of Pl across all stand densities. Pl had 10% larger diameters in the 1000 SPH than in the 2000 SPH and when mixed with Sx (1:1). Pl had larger crowns in mixtures regardless of density. Mixture proportion did not affect gall rust incidence or stem form in Pl, but reduced attack in Sx by spruce weevil. Our findings suggest that mixing Pl-Sx and high planting density decrease weevil attacks in Sx, which reduce loss in timber quality. Yet, Pl quality may decrease when mixed with Sx, due to larger Pl crowns. These results may be used to improve the implementation of management strategies that decrease trade-offs between yields, desired market tree sizes, and timber loss from pest and pathogens, while making the stands more resilient to further climate change impact.
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