Relationships between simulated water stress and mortality and growth rates in underplanted Toona ciliata Roem. in subtropical Argentinean plantations

Julia Dordel, Brad Seely and Suzanne W. Simard

Ecological Modelling, 2011, vol. 222, issue 17, 3226-3235

Abstract: Toona ciliata Roem. (Australian red cedar) requires a nurse-tree overstory to prevent damage from drought and irradiation in some regions of north-eastern Argentina. T. ciliata was planted in the understory of Pinus taeda L. (625stems/ha), Pinus elliottii Engelm.×Pinus caribaea Morelet (625stems/ha), and Grevillea robusta A. Cunn. (833stems/ha) nurse trees, which were thinned to 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of the initial densities. We measured initial T. ciliata mortality and growth as well as Leaf Area Index (LAI) based on light transmission. T. ciliata soil water availability and its effect on early growth and mortality were examined by modelling drought stress using the two-dimensional forest hydrology model ForWaDy. Simulated patterns in T. ciliata water stress for the different overstory treatments were consistent with observed patterns of mortality. Early mortality was lowest with a G. robusta overstory, with corresponding lowest drought stress values and high modelled soil water contents in the top soil layer in intermediate and high overstory densities. Mortality was highest with a P. elliottii×P. caribaea overstory in treatments with the highest modelled drought stress values in the most open treatments. The model supported our field observations by indicating that water stress was an important limitation to T. ciliata survival and growth on our study sites. The linkage between T. ciliata establishment success, early growth and soil water availability as indicated by ForWaDy, leads us to conclude that the model is a suitable stand management tool for guiding establishment of T. ciliata plantations.

Keywords: Toona ciliata; Nurse tree species; Competition; Water stress; Two-dimensional forest hydrology model; Transpiration Deficit Index (TDI) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380011003073
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:ecomod:v:222:y:2011:i:17:p:3226-3235

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.05.027

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().