Biomass partitioning in red pine (Pinus resinosa) along a chronosequence in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
J S King ◽  
C P Giardina ◽  
K S Pregitzer ◽  
A L Friend

Carbon (C) allocation to the perennial coarse-root system of trees contributes to ecosystem C sequestration through formation of long-lived live wood biomass and, following senescence, by providing a large source of nutrient-poor detrital C. Our understanding of the controls on C allocation to coarse-root growth is rudimentary, but it has important implications for projecting belowground net primary production responses to global change. Age-related changes in C allocation to coarse roots represent a critical uncertainty for modeling landscape-scale C storage and cycling. We used a 55 year chronosequence approach with complete above- and below-ground harvests to assess the effects of stand development on biomass partitioning in red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.), a commercially important pine species. Averaged within site, individual-tree root/shoot ratios were dynamic across stand development, changing from 0.17 at 2-, 3-, and 5-year-old sites, to 0.80 at the 8-year-old site, to 0.29 at the 55-year-old site. The results of our study suggest that a current research challenge is to determine the generality of patterns of root-shoot biomass partitioning through stand development for both coniferous and hardwood forest types, and to document how these patterns change as a function of stand age, tree size, environment, and management.

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 843-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Bradford ◽  
Anthony W. D’Amato ◽  
Brian J. Palik ◽  
Shawn Fraver

Growth dominance is a relatively new, simple, quantitative metric of within-stand individual tree growth patterns, and is defined as positive when larger trees in the stand display proportionally greater growth than smaller trees, and negative when smaller trees display proportionally greater growth than larger trees. We examined long-term silvicultural experiments in red pine ( Pinus resinosa Ait.) to characterize how stand age, thinning treatments (thinned from above, below, or both), and stocking levels (residual basal area) influence stand-level growth dominance through time. In stands thinned from below or from both above and below, growth dominance was not significantly different from zero at any age or stocking level. Growth dominance in stands thinned from above trended from negative at low stocking levels to positive at high stocking levels and was positive in young stands. Growth dominance in unthinned stands was positive and increased with age. These results suggest that growth dominance provides a useful tool for assessing the efficacy of thinning treatments designed to reduce competition between trees and promote high levels of productivity across a population, particularly among crop trees.


1982 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 220-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. S. Alemdag ◽  
W. M. Stiell

Data and wood samples were collected from 155 trees in 16 high-survival, unthinned plantations of red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) near Chalk River, Ontario, aged 27 to 54 years, with initial spacings of from 1.52 × 1.52 m to 4.27 × 4.27 m. Following standard weighing and drying procedures, ovendry mass values of the whole tree and or their individual components were calculated, and regressions developed to relate mass values to stem dimensions of diameter breast height (d) and total height (h), and to determine what effects the initial spacing and stand age had on those relations. Single-tree equations based simply on d and h gave satisfactory mass estimates only for the whole tree and for the component stem bark. For other components the addition of spacing and age showed successive improvements in the estimates over those provided by d2h alone.


1964 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 923-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Forward ◽  
N. J. Nolan

The course of longitudinal growth of branches of red pine was followed through weekly measurements, and analyzed in relation to position in the crown, season, site, and spacing. Certain observations were also made on the effects of age of the tree, root or branch pruning, and the application of growth regulators. The growth of branches is essentially like that of the main axis, but quantitatively is highly dependent on position in the crown. The pattern of growth appears to be more closely related to fluctuating environmental conditions than to qualities inherent in the individual tree. The length of the growing season is relatively stable, while the rate of growth is widely variable and dependent on the immediate environment.


2010 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali A Rahi ◽  
Colin Bowling ◽  
Dale Simpson

Survival, total height and diameter at breast height (DBH) were measured in the fall of 2005 in a 48-year-old red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) provenance trial growing in northwestern Ontario. There was significant variation in both height and diameter among the 23 provenances. Generally, westerly provenances performed well while those from the Maritime Provinces exhibited relatively poor growth. Considering that the plantation is at the northern biological range of red pine, survival was high, averaging 96% after 48 years. Provenances with the best growth rates exceeded a volume of 420 m3 ha-1. Some provenances from Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as Fort Frances, Ontario exhibited superior growth and should be considered as seed sources for future planting programs in northwestern Ontario. Key words: red pine, provenance test, survival, diameter, height, volume, Northwestern Ontario


1956 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Lyons

The seed capacity of red pine cones varies from about 30 to over 110, depending on the size of the cone and its position in the tree crown, and is determined by the number of ovules that are structurally complete at the time of pollination. These ovules occur in a central "productive" region and constitute less than one-half of the total. The remaining ovules, most: of which are in the proximal part of the cone, never become structurally perfect, and do not contribute to seed production. Abortion of ovules in the productive region usually reduces seed production efficiency to 50–60%, and is accompanied mainly by withering of the nucellus in the first year and failure to produce archegonia early in the second year. The extent of ovule abortion during the first year varies indirectly with cone size, seed capacity, and height in tree.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 755-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Boulanger ◽  
Martin Girardin ◽  
Pierre Y. Bernier ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
André Beaudoin ◽  
...  

Forest fire activity is projected to increase with climate change in Canada, but vegetation feedbacks are usually not considered. Using new information on the selectivity or avoidance of fire as a function of stand age and composition, we ran simple simulation models that consider the changes in the regional age matrices induced by fire and harvesting to project future burn rates. We also projected estimated future regional vulnerability of timber supply to fire by considering these new burn rates. The inclusion of age-related feedbacks would have a large impact on projected increases in burn rates, mostly in a very fire active zone under aggressive climate forcing. Projected burn rates would still increase, but would be 50% less in 2100 than if projected without this biotic feedback in some zones. Negative feedbacks would be virtually nonexistent when potential burning rates are below 1%, whereas realized burning rates would be lowered by more than a 0.5 percentage point when potential burning rates exceed 2.5%. Including fire–vegetation feedbacks had virtually no impact on total volume harvested. As fire burns more old-growth coniferous stands, slightly negative impacts were projected on conifer harvested almost everywhere. These results underline the need to incorporate fire–vegetation feedbacks when projecting future burn rates.


1982 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Stiell

Fifteen-year results are presented for a thinning experiment made in 13-year-old red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.), designed to compare growth of trees in 4-tree clumps with that of uniformly spaced trees, in both cases growing at 890 stems/ha. By the end of the period, average crown size, form class and height were about the same for both stands, but growth by trees in clumps had been less for dbh and for basal area and total volume per hectare. Clumped trees had a significant tendency to lean away from each other. It was concluded that control of inter-tree spacing at planting or thinning is justified to the extent that clumps of more than three adjacent trees be avoided.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Li ◽  
Han Chen ◽  
Qianyun Song ◽  
Jiahui Liao ◽  
Ziqian Xu ◽  
...  

Poplar plantations have the capacity to improve the properties of soils in muddy coastal areas; however, our understanding of the impacts of plantation development on soil arthropods remains limited. For this study, we determined the community dynamics of soil dwelling arthropods across poplar plantations of different ages (5-, 10-, and 21-years) over the course of one year in Eastern Coastal China. The total abundance of soil arthropods differed with stand development. Further, there were some interactions that involved the sampling date. On average, total abundance was highest in the 10-year-old stands and lowest in the 5-year-old stands. Total abundance exhibited strong age-dependent trends in June and September, but not in March or December. The abundance of Prostigmata and Oribatida increased in the 5- to 21-year-old stands, with the highest levels being in the 10-year-old stands. The abundance of Collembola increased with stand development; however, the stand age had no significant impact on the abundance of epedapic, hemiedaphic, and euedaphic Collembola. Order richness (Hill number q = 0) curve confidence intervals overlapped among three stand ages. Shannon and Simpson diversity (Hill numbers q = 1 and q = 2) differed between 10- and 21-year-old stand age. They showed almost similar trends, and the highest and lowest values were recorded in the 21- and 10-year-old stand ages, respectively. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that composition also varied significantly with the sampling date and stand age, and the 10-year-old stands that were sampled in June stood well-separated from the others. Indicator analysis revealed that Scolopendromorpha and Prostigmata were indicators in June for the 10-year-old stands, while Collembola were indicators for the 21-year-old stands sampled in September. Our results highlight that both stand development and climate seasonality can significantly impact soil arthropod community dynamics in the reclaimed coastal saline soils of managed poplar plantations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Tepler Drobnitch ◽  
Louise H. Comas ◽  
Nora Flynn ◽  
Jorge Ibarra Caballero ◽  
Ryan W. Barton ◽  
...  

Root pressure, also manifested as profusive sap flowing from cut stems, is a phenomenon in some species that has perplexed biologists for much of the last century. It is associated with increased crop production under drought, but its function and regulation remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the initiation, mechanisms, and possible adaptive function of root pressure in six genotypes of Sorghum bicolor during a drought experiment in the greenhouse. We observed that root pressure was induced in plants exposed to drought followed by re-watering but possibly inhibited by 100% re-watering in some genotypes. We found that root pressure in drought stressed and re-watered plants was associated with greater ratio of fine: coarse root length and shoot biomass production, indicating a possible role of root allocation in creating root pressure and adaptive benefit of root pressure for shoot biomass production. Using RNA-Seq, we identified gene transcripts that were up- and down-regulated in plants with root pressure expression, focusing on genes for aquaporins, membrane transporters, and ATPases that could regulate inter- and intra-cellular transport of water and ions to generate positive xylem pressure in root tissue.


2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-48
Author(s):  
Toomas Frey

Stand structure links up canopy processes and forest management Above- and belowground biomass and net primary production (Pn) of a maturing Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forest (80 years old) established on brown soil in central Estonia were 227, 50 and 19.3 Mg ha correspondingly. Stand structure is determined mostly by mean height and stand density, used widely in forestry, but both are difficult to measure with high precision in respect of canopy processes in individual trees. However, trunk form quotient (q2) and proportion of living crown in relation to tree height are useful parameters allowing describe stand structure tree by tree. Based on 7 model trees, leaf unit mass assimilation activity and total biomass respiration per unit mass were determined graphically as mean values for the whole tree growth during 80 years of age. There are still several possible approaches not used carefully enough to integrate experimental work at instrumented towers with actual forestry measurement. Dependence of physiological characteristics on individual tree parameters is the missing link between canopy processes and forest management.


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