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Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions

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A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2020) | Viewed by 39903

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luigi Todaro

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Guest Editor

School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Science (SAFE), University of Basilicata, V.le Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: wood characterization; extractives; natural resource management; wood modification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Angelo Rita

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Guest Editor

School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food, and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, V.le Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: plant ecology; tree growth; wood anatomy; dendrochronology; drought stress

Dr. Alessio Collalti

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Guest Editor

Forest Modelling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128 Perugia, Italy
Interests: forest modeling; climate change; climate change impacts; forest management scenario; carbon cycle; nitrogen cycle; climate change adaptation; climate change mitigation; forest ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Terrestrial ecosystems, and forests in particular, are important components because of their key role in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by storing a large amount of carbon in biomass and soils. Increasing attention is being paid to forestland area, which accounts for 30% of the total land surface and acts as the main C store in the land system. In their life cycle, plants uptake, process, allocate, and remobilize resources from the environment, including basic materials, such as CO₂, water, and nutrients, and other materials, such as sugars, proteins, and defensive chemicals. The relative amount of above- and belowground biomass allocated among leaves, branches, stems, roots, and reproductive tissues is a functional indicator of the forest stand and reflects the material flow, the wood quality, a plant’s survival strategy, and the primary production processes. The way in which plants share their labile products across their compartments is influenced by plant size and is not fixed but likely varies over time, across growth environments, and among species. It follows that the whole allocation process would be modulated under strong natural selection. Obtaining a qualitative/quantitative understanding of the influence that these factors have on growth and biomass allocation is of fundamental importance for both understanding plant ecology and evolution and developing environmental policies and forest management practices, such as:

- sequestration to increase stocks in more recalcitrant woody carbon pools, characterized by a slow build-up of carbon with a potentially slower release of carbon to the atmosphere;

- conservation to prevent emissions from existing forest carbon pools in regions with high C stocks and where natural disturbances are less frequent to cause large immediate reductions in C stocks;

- substitution of energy-intensive products with products derived from renewable resources; and

- the improvement of practices that aim to increase wood quality for social purposes.

Dr. Luigi Todaro
Dr. Angelo Rita
Dr. Alessio Collalti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

forest growth
carbon allocation
woody biomass
wood quality

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 658 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions

by Alessio Collalti, Luigi Todaro and Angelo Rita

Forests 2021, 12(2), 154; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f12020154 - 28 Jan 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1915

Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystems, and forests in particular, are important components of land processes because of their key role in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by storing a large amount of carbon in tree biomass and soils [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

17 pages, 3525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Model-Based Estimation of Amazonian Forests Recovery Time after Drought and Fire Events

by Bruno L. De Faria, Gina Marano, Camille Piponiot, Carlos A. Silva, Vinícius de L. Dantas, Ludmila Rattis, Andre R. Rech and Alessio Collalti

Forests 2021, 12(1), 8; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f12010008 - 23 Dec 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4756

Abstract

In recent decades, droughts, deforestation and wildfires have become recurring phenomena that have heavily affected both human activities and natural ecosystems in Amazonia. The time needed for an ecosystem to recover from carbon losses is a crucial metric to evaluate disturbance impacts on forests. However, little is known about the impacts of these disturbances, alone and synergistically, on forest recovery time and the resulting spatiotemporal patterns at the regional scale. In this study, we combined the 3-PG forest growth model, remote sensing and field derived equations, to map the Amazonia-wide (3 km of spatial resolution) impact and recovery time of aboveground biomass (AGB) after drought, fire and a combination of logging and fire. Our results indicate that AGB decreases by 4%, 19% and 46% in forests affected by drought, fire and logging + fire, respectively, with an average AGB recovery time of 27 years for drought, 44 years for burned and 63 years for logged + burned areas and with maximum values reaching 184 years in areas of high fire intensity. Our findings provide two major insights in the spatial and temporal patterns of drought and wildfire in the Amazon: (1) the recovery time of the forests takes longer in the southeastern part of the basin, and, (2) as droughts and wildfires become more frequent—since the intervals between the disturbances are getting shorter than the rate of forest regeneration—the long lasting damage they cause potentially results in a permanent and increasing carbon losses from these fragile ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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18 pages, 1761 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stable Allometric Trajectories in Picea abies (L.) Karst. Trees along an Elevational Gradient

by Claudio Mura, Christian Bianchi Strømme and Tommaso Anfodillo

Forests 2020, 11(11), 1231; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11111231 - 23 Nov 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2392

Abstract

The effect of temperature on tree phenology and growth has gained particular attention in relation to climate change. While a number of reports indicate that warming can extend the length of the growing season and enhance tree growth rates, it is still debated whether temperature also affects biomass partitioning. Addressing the question of whether trees grown at different elevations invest similarly in various organs, we established four sites along an elevational gradient (320 to 595 m a.s.l.) in managed Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karts) stands regenerating after clearcuts in central Norway. There, differences in temperature, bud break, tree growth, and allometric scaling were measured in small spruce trees (up to 3 m height). The results showed that bud break and shoot growth are affected by temperature, as lower sites completed the bud break process 5 days earlier than the higher sites did. There was some evidence indicating that the summer drought of 2018 affected tree growth during the season, and the implications of this are discussed. The allometric scaling coefficients did not change for the crown volume (slope value range 2.66–2.84), crown radius (0.77–0.89), and tree diameter (0.89–0.96) against tree height. A slight difference was found in the scaling coefficients of crown length against tree height (slope value range 1.04–1.12), but this did not affect the general scaling of the crown volume with tree height. Our results showed that different local environmental conditions affect both the growth rate and phenology in Norway spruce trees but, on the contrary, that the biomass partitioning among different parts of the tree remains essentially unchanged. This demonstrates that the allometric approach is an important tool for unraveling true vs. apparent plant plasticity, which in turn is an essential awareness for predicting plant responses to environmental changes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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12 pages, 4013 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wood vs. Canopy Allocation of Aboveground Net Primary Productivity in a Mediterranean Forest during 21 Years of Experimental Rainfall Exclusion

by Romà Ogaya and Josep Peñuelas

Forests 2020, 11(10), 1094; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11101094 - 14 Oct 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2408

Abstract

A Mediterranean holm oak forest was subjected to experimental partial rainfall exclusion during 21 consecutive years to study the effects of the expected decrease in water availability for Mediterranean vegetation in the coming decades. Allocation in woody structures and total aboveground allocation were correlated with annual rainfall, whereas canopy allocation and the ratio of wood/canopy allocation were not dependent on rainfall. Fruit productivity was also correlated with annual rainfall, but only in Quercus ilex. In the studied site, there were two types of forest structure: high canopy stand clearly dominated by Quercus ilex, and low canopy stand with more abundance of a tall shrub species, Phillyrea latifolia. In the tall canopy stand, the allocation to woody structures decreased in the experimental rainfall exclusion, but not the allocation to canopy. In the low canopy stand, wood allocation in Quercus ilex was very small in both control and plots with rainfall exclusion, but wood allocation in Phillyrea latifolia was even higher than that obtained in tall canopy plots, especially in the plots receiving the experimental rainfall exclusion. These results highlight likely future changes in the structure and functioning of this ecosystem induced by the decrease in water availability. A serious drop in the capacity to mitigate climate change for this Mediterranean forest can be expected, and the ability of Phillyrea latifolia to take advantage of the limited capacity to cope with drought conditions detected in Quercus ilex makes likely a forthcoming change in species dominance, especially in the low canopy stands. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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10 pages, 18484 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Patterns for Populus spp. Stand Biomass in Gradients of Winter Temperature and Precipitation of Eurasia

by Vladimir Andreevich Usoltsev, Baozhang Chen, Seyed Omid Reza Shobairi, Ivan Stepanovich Tsepordey, Viktor Petrovich Chasovskikh and Shoaib Ahmad Anees

Forests 2020, 11(9), 906; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11090906 - 19 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2379

Abstract

Based on a generated database of 413 sample plots, with definitions of stand biomass of the genus Populus spp. in Eurasia, from France to Japan and southern China, statistically significant changes in the structure of forest stand biomass were found, with shifts in winter temperatures and average annual precipitation. When analyzing the reaction of the structure of the biomass of the genus Populus to temperature and precipitation in their transcontinental gradients, a clearly expressed positive relationship of all components of the biomass with the temperature in January is visible. Their relationship with precipitation is less clear; in warm climate zones, when precipitation increases, the biomass of all wood components decreases intensively, and in cold climate zones, this decrease is less pronounced. The foliage biomass does not increase when precipitation decreases, as is typical for wood components, but decreases. This can be explained by the specifics of the functioning of the assimilation apparatus, namely its transpiration activity when warming, and the corresponding increase in transpiration, which requires an increase in the influx of assimilates into the foliage, and the desiccation of the climate that reduces this influx of assimilates. Comparison of the obtained patterns with previously published results for other species from Eurasia showed partial or complete discrepancies, the causes of which require special physiological studies. The results obtained can be useful in the management of biosphere functions of forests, which is important in the implementation of climate stabilization measures, as well as in the validation of the results of simulation experiments to assess the carbon-deposition capacity of forests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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17 pages, 1581 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Carbon Allocation and Wood Growth Reflect Climate Variation in Stands of Hybrid White Spruce in Central Interior British Columbia, Canada

by Anastasia Ivanusic, Lisa J. Wood and Kathy Lewis

Forests 2020, 11(8), 879; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11080879 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2194

Abstract

Research Highlights: This research presents a novel approach for comparing structural carbon allocation to tree growth and to climate in a dendrochronological analysis. Increasing temperatures reduced the carbon proportion of wood in some cases. Background and Objectives: Our goal was to estimate the structural carbon content of wood within hybrid white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) × engelmannii (Parry) grown in British Columbia, Canada, and compare the percent carbon content to wood properties and climate conditions of the region. Specific objectives included: (i) the determination of average incremental percent carbon, ring widths (RW), earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) widths, cell wall thickness, and density over time; (ii) the determination of differences between percent carbon in individual forest stands and between regions; and (iii) the evaluation of the relationships between percent carbon and climate variation over time. Methods: Trees were sampled from twelve sites in northern British Columbia. Wood cores were analyzed with standard dendrochronology techniques and SilviScan analysis. Percent structural carbon was determined using acetone extraction and elemental analysis for 5 year increments. Individual chronologies of wood properties and percent carbon, and chronologies grouped by region were compared by difference of means. Temperature and precipitation values from the regions were compared to the carbon chronologies using correlation, regression, and visual interpretation. Results: Significant differences were found between the percent structural carbon of wood in individual natural and planted stands; none in regional aggregates. Some significant relationships were found between percent carbon, RW, EW, LW, and the cell wall thickness and density values. Percent carbon accumulation in planted stands and natural stands was found in some cases to correlate with increasing temperatures. Natural stand percent carbon values truncated to the last 30 years of growth was shown as more sensitive to climate variation compared to the entire time series. Conclusions: Differences between the stands in terms of structural carbon proportion vary by site-specific climate characteristics in areas of central interior British Columbia. Wood properties can be good indicators of variation in sequestered carbon in some stands. Carbon accumulation was reduced with increasing temperatures; however, warmer late-season conditions appear to enhance growth and carbon accumulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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15 pages, 2232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Growth, Carbon Storage, and Optimal Rotation in Poplar Plantations: A Case Study on Clone and Planting Spacing Effects

by Yanhua Zhang, Ye Tian, Sihui Ding, Yi Lv, Wagle Samjhana and Shengzuo Fang

Forests 2020, 11(8), 842; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11080842 - 03 Aug 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3879

Abstract

Poplar, as the most widely cultivated fast-growing tree species in the middle latitude plain, provides important wood resources and plays an important role in mitigating climate change. In order to understand the response of growth, biomass production, carbon storage to poplar clones, planting spacings, and their interaction, a field trial was established in 2007. In 2018, we destructively harvested 24 sample trees for biomass measurements and stem analyses. Biomass production and carbon storage for the single tree of three clones enhanced as planting spacing increasing at the age of 13, but both the biomass production and carbon storage of clones NL-895 and NL-95 were higher than the clone NL-797 at the spacings of 6 × 6 m and 5 × 5 m. The average carbon concentration of the tested clones was in the order of stem > branches > leaves, and showed significant variation between different components (p < 0.05). Large spacing stimulated more biomass to be partitioned to the canopy. Based on the prediction values of tree volume growth by established Chapman–Richards models, the quantitative maturity ages of stand volume varied among the investigating plantations, ranging from 14 to 17 years old. Our results suggest that the selecting clones NL-895 and NL-95 with 6 × 6 m spacing would be recommended at similar sites for future poplar silviculture of larger diameter timber production, as well as for carbon sequestration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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23 pages, 2155 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Aboveground Oil Palm Biomass in a Mature Plantation in the Congo Basin

by Pierre Migolet, Kalifa Goïta, Alfred Ngomanda and Andréana Paola Mekui Biyogo

Forests 2020, 11(5), 544; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11050544 - 12 May 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3360

Abstract

Agro-industrial oil palm plantations are becoming increasingly established in the Congo Basin (West Equatorial Africa) for mainly economic reasons. Knowledge of oil palm capacity to sequester carbon requires biomass estimates. This study implemented local and regional methods for estimating palm biomass in a mature plantation, using destructive sampling. Eighteen 35-year-old oil palms with breast height diameters (DBH) between 48 and 58 cm were felled and sectioned in a plantation located in Makouké, central Gabon. Field and laboratory measurements determined the biomasses of different tree compartments (fruits, leaflets, petioles, rachises, stems). Fruits and leaflets contributed an average of 6% to total aboveground palm biomass, which petioles accounted for 8%, rachises for 13% and the stem, 73%. The best allometric equation for estimating stem biomass was obtained with a composite variable, formulated as DBH² × stem height, weighted by tissue infra-density. For leaf biomass (fruits + leaflets + petioles + rachises), the equation was of a similar form, but included the leaf number instead of infra-density. The allometric model combining the stem and leaf biomass yielded the best estimates of the total aboveground oil palm biomass (coefficient of determination (r²) = 0.972, p < 0.0001, relative root mean square error (RMSE) = 5%). Yet, the model was difficult to implement in practice, given the limited availability of variables such as the leaf number. The total aboveground biomass could be estimated with comparable results using DBH² × stem height, weighted by the infra-density (r² = 0.961, p < 0.0001, relative RMSE (%RMSE) = 5.7%). A simpler model excluding infra-density did not severely compromise results (R² = 0.939, p < 0.0003, %RMSE = 8.2%). We also examined existing allometric models, established elsewhere in the world, for estimating aboveground oil palm biomass in our study area. These models exhibited performances inferior to the best local allometric equations that were developed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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18 pages, 2857 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biomass Allocation into Woody Parts and Foliage in Young Common Aspen (Populus tremula L.)—Trees and a Stand-Level Study in the Western Carpathians

by Bohdan Konôpka, Jozef Pajtík, Vladimír Šebeň, Peter Surový and Katarína Merganičová

Forests 2020, 11(4), 464; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11040464 - 20 Apr 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2826

Abstract

Our research of common aspen (Populus tremula L.) focused on the forested mountainous area in central Slovakia. Forest stands (specifically 27 plots from 9 sites) with ages between 2 and 15 years were included in measurements and sampling. Whole tree biomass of aspen individuals was destructively sampled, separated into tree components (leaves, branches, stem, and roots), and then dried and weighed. Subsamples of fresh leaves from three crown parts (upper, middle, and lower) were scanned, dried, and weighed. Allometric biomass models with stem base diameter as an independent variable were derived for individual tree components. Basic foliage traits, i.e., leaf mass, leaf area, and specific leaf area, were modelled with regard to tree size and leaf position within the crown. Moreover, biomass stock of the woody parts and foliage as well as the leaf area index were modelled using mean stand diameter as an independent variable. Foliage traits changed with both tree size and crown part. Biomass models showed that foliage contribution to total tree biomass decreased with tree size. The total foliage area of a tree increased with tree size, reaching its maximum value of about 12 m² for a tree with a diameter of 120 mm. Leaf area index increased with mean stand diameter, reaching a maximum value of 13.5 m² m⁻². Since no data for biomass allocation for common aspen had been available at either the tree or stand levels, our findings might serve for both theoretical (e.g., modelling of growth processes) and practical (forestry and agro-forestry stakeholders) purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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16 pages, 2991 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Net Primary Productivity of Pinus massoniana Dependence on Climate, Soil and Forest Characteristics

by Xin Huang, Chunbo Huang, Mingjun Teng, Zhixiang Zhou and Pengcheng Wang

Forests 2020, 11(4), 404; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11040404 - 04 Apr 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 2793

Abstract

Understanding the spatial variation of forest productivity and its driving factors on a large regional scale can help reveal the response mechanism of tree growth to climate change, and is an important prerequisite for efficient forest management and studying regional and global carbon cycles. Pinus massoniana Lamb. is a major planted tree species in southern China, playing an important role in the development of forestry due to its high economic and ecological benefits. Here, we establish a biomass database for P. massoniana, including stems, branches, leaves, roots, aboveground organs and total tree, by collecting the published literature, to increase our understanding of net primary productivity (NPP) geographical trends for each tree component and their influencing factors across the entire geographical distribution of the species in southern China. P. massoniana NPP ranges from 1.04 to 13.13 Mg·ha⁻¹·year⁻¹, with a mean value of 5.65 Mg·ha⁻¹·year⁻¹. The NPP of both tree components (i.e., stem, branch, leaf, root, aboveground organs, and total tree) show no clear relationships with longitude and elevation, but an inverse relationship with latitude (p < 0.01). Linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) are employed to analyze the effect of environmental factors and stand characteristics on P. massoniana NPP. LMM results reveal that the NPP of different tree components have different sensitivities to environmental and stand variables. Appropriate temperature and soil nutrients (particularly soil available phosphorus) are beneficial to biomass accumulation of this species. It is worth noting that the high temperature in July and August (HTWM) is a significant climate stressor across the species geographical distribution and is not restricted to marginal populations in the low latitude area. Temperature was a key environmental factor behind the inverse latitudinal trends of P. massoniana NPP, because it showed a higher sensitivity than other factors. In the context of climate warming and nitrogen (N) deposition, the inhibition effect caused by high temperatures and the lack or imbalance of soil nutrients, particularly soil phosphorus, should be paid more attention in the future. These findings advance our understanding about the factors influencing the productivity of each P. massoniana tree component across the full geographical distribution of the species, and are therefore valuable for forecasting climate-induced variation in forest productivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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11 pages, 2053 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Small-Scale Forest Structure Influences Spatial Variability of Belowground Carbon Fluxes in a Mature Mediterranean Beech Forest

by Ettore D’Andrea, Gabriele Guidolotti, Andrea Scartazza, Paolo De Angelis and Giorgio Matteucci

Forests 2020, 11(3), 255; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11030255 - 26 Feb 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2402

Abstract

The tree belowground compartment, especially fine roots, plays a relevant role in the forest ecosystem carbon (C) cycle, contributing largely to soil CO₂ efflux (SR) and to net primary production (NPP). Beyond the well-known role of environmental drivers on fine root production (FRP) and SR, other determinants such as forest structure are still poorly understood. We investigated spatial variability of FRP, SR, forest structural traits, and their reciprocal interactions in a mature beech forest in the Mediterranean mountains. In the year of study, FRP resulted in the main component of NPP and explained about 70% of spatial variability of SR. Moreover, FRP was strictly driven by leaf area index (LAI) and soil water content (SWC). These results suggest a framework of close interactions between structural and functional forest features at the local scale to optimize C source–sink relationships under climate variability in a Mediterranean mature beech forest. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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11 pages, 3453 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aboveground Biomass Response to Release Treatments in a Young Ponderosa Pine Plantation

by Martin Ritchie, Jianwei Zhang and Ethan Hammett

Forests 2019, 10(9), 795; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f10090795 - 12 Sep 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2431

Abstract

Controlling competing vegetation is vital for early plantation establishment and growth. Aboveground biomass (AGB) response to manual grubbing release from shrub competition was compared with no release control in a twelve-year-old ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson) plantation established after a wildfire in northeastern California. In addition, response to chemical release followed by precommercial thinning in an adjacent plantation was also examined as a growth potential from a more intensively managed regime, where shrub competition was virtually eliminated. We measured AGB in both planted trees and competing woody shrubs to partition the biomass pools in the plantation. The results showed a significant grubbing treatment effect on basal diameter (BD) at 10 cm aboveground (p = 0.02), but not on tree height (p = 0.055). Height and BD were 2.0 m and 7.4 cm in the manual release, respectively, compared to 1.7 m and 5.6 cm in the control. However, chemical release produced much greater rates of tree growth with a height of 3.6 m and BD of 14.7 cm, respectively. Tree AGB was 60% higher with the manual release of shrubs (1.2 Mg ha⁻¹) than with control (0.7 Mg ha⁻¹) (p < 0.05). The planted area without shrub competition yielded a much higher green tree biomass (16.0 Mg ha⁻¹). When woody shrub biomass was included, the total AGB (trees and woody shrubs) appeared slightly higher, but non-significant in the no release control (13.3 Mg ha⁻¹) than in the manual release (11.9 Mg ha⁻¹) (p = 0.66); the chemical release had 17.1 Mg ha⁻¹. Clearly, shrub biomass dominated this young plantation when understory shrubs were not completely controlled. Although the manual release did increase targeted tree growth to some degree, the cost may limit this practice to a smaller scale and the remaining shrub dominance may create long-term reductions in growth and a persistent fuels problem in these fire-prone ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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20 pages, 3507 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Growth and Tree Water Deficit of Mixed Norway Spruce and European Beech at Different Heights in a Tree and under Heavy Drought

by Cynthia Schäfer, Thomas Rötzer, Eric Andreas Thurm, Peter Biber, Christian Kallenbach and Hans Pretzsch

Forests 2019, 10(7), 577; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f10070577 - 11 Jul 2019

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4696

Abstract

Although several studies suggest that tree species in mixed stands resist drought events better than in pure stands, little is known about the impact on growth and the tree water deficit (TWD) in different tree heights at heavy drought. With dendrometer data at the upper and lower stem and coarse roots, we calculated the TWD and growth (ZGmax) (referring to the stem/root basal area) to show (1) the relationship of TWD in different tree heights (50% tree height (H50), breast height (BH), and roots) and the corresponding leaf water potential and (2) how mixture and drought influence the partitioning of growth and tree water. The analyses were made in a mature temperate forest of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica (L.)). Half of the plots were placed under conditions of extreme drought through automatic closing roof systems within the stand. We found a tight relationship of leaf water potentials and TWD at all tree compartments. Through this proven correlation at all tree heights we were also able to study the differences of TWD in all tree compartments next to the growth allocation. Whereas at the beginning of the growing period, trees prioritized growth of the upper stem, during the course of the year the growth of lower stem became a greater priority. Growth allocation of mixed spruces showed a tendency of a higher growth of the roots compared to the BH. However, spruces in interspecific neighborhoods exhibited a lesser TWD in the roots as spruces in intraspecific neighborhood. Beeches in intraspecific neighborhoods showed a higher TWD in BH compared to H50 as beeches in interspecific neighborhoods. Mixture seems to enhance the water supply of spruce trees, which should increase the stability of this species in a time of climatic warming. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions)

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