Thinning effects on growth and occurrence of rotting in aspen stands

Alina Nasibullina, Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen, Ernst van der Maaten, Holger Fischer and Sven Wagner
Additional contact information
Alina Nasibullina: Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany
Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen: Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production, Dresden University of Technology,Tharandt, Germany
Ernst van der Maaten: Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production, Dresden University of Technology,Tharandt, Germany
Holger Fischer: Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany
Sven Wagner: Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany

Journal of Forest Science, 2023, vol. 69, issue 12, 525-538

Abstract: Poplar species such as aspen (Populus tremula L.) play a very important role in the forest formation process not only in Eastern European regions. Unfortunately, such aspen stands are often severely affected by fungal diseases, causing mainly core rot. In this study, the indirect effects of thinning on the phytosanitary condition of aspen by promotion of tree growth were investigated. Two thinning methods, manual (thinning from below) and mechanical thinning (schematic), were applied to young stands dominated by Eurasian aspen to study their effects on tree growth and health. All trees were measured at breast height and diameter frequency distribution was determined twice, i.e. three and 24 years after the beginning of the experiment. In addition, during the second measurement, tree-ring samples were obtained from individual trees to evaluate growth and wood decay damage. Neither manual nor mechanical thinning of aspen significantly increased its growth at the stand level, but positive effects on individual trees were observed in plots where mechanical thinning was applied. The thicker the trees, the less decayed they were. The analysis suggests that thinning in general should not be used to increase stand production, but the positive effects of mechanical thinning on individual aspens can be recommended to promote the growth of individual vigorous trees.

Keywords: clear-cutting; core rot; mechanical thinning; Populus tremula (L.); thinning from below; tree-ring analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/103/2023-JFS.html (text/html)
http://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/103/2023-JFS.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnljfs:v:69:y:2023:i:12:id:103-2023-jfs

DOI: 10.17221/103/2023-JFS

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Forest Science is currently edited by Mgr. Ilona Procházková

More articles in Journal of Forest Science from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().