Effect of growth rate on the natural durability of Douglas-fir in western Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 891-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Pollet ◽  
J.M. Henin ◽  
J. Hébert ◽  
B. Jourez

Douglas-fir is a relatively recent species in the central European forest landscape. It is not clear how its natural durability is influenced by silviculture. We therefore investigated how the natural durability of the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) varies according to tree growth rate; subsequently, the influence of the nature of the wood (juvenile or mature) and radial position was also analyzed. For this purposes, a total of 60 trees grown in Wallonia (Southern Belgium) was felled: these consisted of 6 trees in each of 10 stands where the average tree girth was approximately 150 cm. Since the age of these plantations ranged from 40 to 69 years, the radial tree growth rate ranged between approximately 3 and 7 mm. In all the trees, standardized heartwood test specimens were taken from different radial positions in the butt log. The mass losses caused by the fungi Poria placenta and Coniophora puteana were assessed according to CEN/TS 15083-1 (2005). Poria placenta exhibited a higher decaying efficiency than C. puteana, leading to classify Douglas-fir wood as slightly durable (class 4). No difference was observed between the durability against P. placenta of juvenile and mature wood. Similarly, growth rate seemed to have no direct impact on durability. Durability was, however, significantly correlated with wood density. The effect of site and tree on the natural durability of the wood was also examined.

1978 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Dobie ◽  
D. M. Wright

This case study, conducted 20 years after thinning and pruning in a 33-year-old mixed stand of 86% Douglas-fir and 14% western hemlock, showed that the effect of thinning was to reduce mortality when compared with a control. Thinning increased merchantable volume by 88% compared with 44% in the control, although there was no difference in tree growth rate between the two plots.Associated with pruning, however, were severe grain distortions and very brittle grain structure of wood around pruning stubs, which resulted in poor lumber and veneer quality compared with product quality from the control.Indications are that total stand revenue would have been higher had the treated plot remained untreated, but would have been highest had it been thinned only and not pruned.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Henin ◽  
Caroline Pollet ◽  
Benoit Jourez ◽  
Jacques Hébert

2001 ◽  
Vol 133 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.L. Reid ◽  
S.S. Glubish

AbstractFor bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) breeding in fallen trees, the tree characteristics that are associated with higher breeding densities are poorly known. The breeding densities of Douglas-fir beetles, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins, in freshly felled Douglas-fir, Pseudotsugae menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, were examined with respect to tree diameter, phloem thickness, and several measures of tree growth rate over the past year to 10 years prior to tree death. Trees were felled in 8 decks of 3–12 trees to provide a range of tree qualities in a given location. Stepwise regression revealed that of the tree characteristics measured, only diameter was needed to explain the density of beetle attacks on trees within decks. Because diameter, phloem thickness, and growth-increment measures were all highly correlated, attack density also increased with phloem thickness and growth rate prior to felling when these measures were analyzed individually. The apparent preference for larger trees with thicker phloem is consistent with published results for live trees, but the positive effect of tree growth rate prior to death is contrary to results for beetles attacking live trees. Thus, assessments of stand susceptibility to bark beetles based on tree growth rate may differ depending on whether beetles are initially breeding in live or dead trees.


2021 ◽  
Vol 483 ◽  
pp. 118908
Author(s):  
Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Masum Billah ◽  
Md Obydur Rahman ◽  
Debit Datta ◽  
Muhammad Ahsanuzzaman ◽  
...  

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Aussenac ◽  
André Granier

The effects of a systematic thinning (alternate row) on water stress and growth in a 19-year-old Douglas-fir plantation (Pseudotsugamenziesii var. menziesii Franco) was studied during 5 years in northeastern France. Thinning has an important effect on water balance. The increase of the soil water reserve led to a lower duration and level of water stress in the thinned plot, especially during the first 3 years after thinning. This study revealed a rapid evolution of the water balance, since the evapotranspiration ratio of the two plots (control and thinned) had increased from 0.83 during the 1st year to 1.03 during the 5th year after thinning. Together with microclimate influences, thinning increased tree growth substantially (more than 100%); this growth increase resulted from a higher growth rate and longer growth periods (from 26 to 49 days).


2006 ◽  
Vol 232 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattias Edman ◽  
Rebecca Möller ◽  
Lars Ericson

IAWA Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Herman ◽  
Pierre Dutilleul ◽  
Tomas Avella-Shaw

Our study was conducted on 40 Norway spruces [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] from a stand located in the Belgian Ardennes. Twenty trees were randomly sampled from a slow-growth category, and twenty others from a fast -growth category. The hypothesis under testing is fourfold: increased tree growth rate may affect 1) the intra-ring weighted frequency distribution of tracheid length, 2) the inter-ring variation (from pith to bark) of the parameters describing this frequency distribution, 3) the interring variation of the mean tracheid length, and 4) the correlation between yearly mean tracheid length and yearly ring width.


2020 ◽  
Vol 464 ◽  
pp. 118056
Author(s):  
Renshan Li ◽  
Jianming Han ◽  
Xin Guan ◽  
Yonggang Chi ◽  
Weidong Zhang ◽  
...  

1966 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Basham

A survey was made of the fungi inhabiting the heartwood of living jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) in Ontario, particularly in stained and decayed wood. Two Basidiomycetes encountered frequently were Fomes pini (Fr.) Karst., associated with red stain and white pocket rot, and Peniophora pseudo-pini Weres. & Gibson, isolated almost exclusively from stained wood. F. pini was the only fungus consistently associated with white pocket rot, the principal type of heart rot in jack pine. The three most abundant microfungi, a member of the Coryne sarcoides complex, Tympanis hypopodia Nyl., and Retinocyclus abietis (Crouan) Groves & Wells, were encountered frequently in stained wood, but less frequently in decayed and normal wood.Many aspects of the occurrence of these five fungi in jack pine were investigated, including their distribution in the stems and branch stubs of individual trees and their association with normal, stained, and decayed wood therein; and the relation between their occurrence and tree growth rate, various heartwood properties, and different stand conditions. The apparent means by which the fungi enter jack pine, and the possible existence of a succession of fungi in the heartwood of living trees, are discussed.


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