Soil Type Rather Than Freezing Determines the Size of Soil-Root Plate of Silver Birch ( Betula pendula Roth.) in the Eastern Baltic Region

Oskars Krišāns, Roberts Matisons, Jānis Vuguls, Andris Seipulis, Didzis Elferts, Valters Samariks, Renāte Saleniece and Āris Jansons
Additional contact information
Oskars Krišāns: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Roberts Matisons: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Jānis Vuguls: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Andris Seipulis: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Didzis Elferts: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Valters Samariks: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Renāte Saleniece: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Āris Jansons: Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’, 111 Rigas Street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-6

Abstract: In the Eastern Baltic region, severe windstorms increase both in frequency and magnitude, particularly during the dormancy period, increasing wind damage risks even more for silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth.), which is considered to be less vulnerable forest tree species. Tree anchorage, particularly the properties of soil–root plate, determines the type of fatal failures trees experience under extreme wind loads and, subsequently, the potential for timber recovery during salvage logging. The link between soil–root plate properties and fatal failure types was assessed by conducting destructive static pulling tests; trees on freely draining minerals and drained deep peat soils under frozen and non-frozen soil conditions were tested. The size of the root plate did not differ between trees experiencing uprooting or stem breakage but was largely affected by soil type. Frozen soil conditions increased soil–root anchorage (via binding between soil particles) and, hence, the frequency of stem breakage without changing the size of soil–root plate. However, the lack of frozen soil conditions is among the main climatic risks for forestry within the region. The differences in the properties of soil–root plate implies plasticity in adaptation to wind loadings relative to birch, suggesting a potential for managing different types of fatal failure of trees and, subsequently, the share of retrievable timber in cases of salvage logging.

Keywords: soil–root plate; wind resistance; wind damage; frozen soil; deciduous forest; forest adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7332/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7332/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7332-:d:839467

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().