Regional Variability of the Romanian Main Tree Species Growth Using National Forest Inventory Increment Cores
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
department or school: Non UBC
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Forests 11 (4): 409 (2020)
creator: Marin, Gheorghe
creator: Strimbu, Vlad C.
creator: Abrudan, Ioan V.
creator: Strimbu, Bogdan M.
issued: 2020-04-28T18:26:17Z
issued: 2020-04-06
description: In many countries, National Forest Inventory (NFI) data is used to assess the variability of forest growth across the country. The identification of areas with similar growths provides the foundation for development of regional models. The objective of the present study is to identify areas with similar diameter and basal area growth using increment cores acquired by the NFI for the three main Romanian species: Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), and Sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.). We used 6536 increment cores with ages less than 100 years, a total of 427,635 rings. The country was divided in 21 non-overlapping ecoregions based on geomorphology, soil, geology and spatial contiguousness. Mixed models and multivariate analyses were used to assess the differences in annual dimeter at breast height and basal area growth among ecoregions. Irrespective of the species, the mixed models analysis revealed significant differences in growth between the ecoregions. However, some ecoregions were similar in terms of growth and could be aggregated. Multivariate analysis reinforced the difference between ecoregions and showed no temporal grouping for spruce and beech. Sessile oak growth was separated not only by ecoregions, but also by time, with some ecoregions being more prone to draught. Our study showed that countries of median size, such as Romania, could exhibit significant spatial differences in forest growth. Therefore, countrywide growth models incorporate too much variability to be considered operationally feasible. Furthermore, it is difficult to justify the current growth and yield models as a legal binding planning tool.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/74205
note: ArticleRegional Variability of the Romanian Main TreeSpecies Growth Using National Forest InventoryIncrement CoresGheorghe Marin 1,2, Vlad C. Strimbu 3 , Ioan V. Abrudan 1 and Bogdan M. Strimbu 4,*1 Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University Brasov, 500036 Brasov, Romania;ghmarin@roifn.ro (G.M.); abrudan@unitbv.ro (I.V.A.)2 National Institute for Research and Development in Silviculture, 077190 Voluntari, Romania3 Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;vlad.strimbu@alumni.ubc.ca4 College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA* Correspondence: bogdan.strimbu@oregonstate.eduReceived: 24 February 2020; Accepted: 2 April 2020; Published: 6 April 2020Abstract: In many countries, National Forest Inventory (NFI) data is used to assess the variabilityof forest growth across the country. The identification of areas with similar growths provides thefoundation for development of regional models. The objective of the present study is to identify areaswith similar diameter and basal area growth using increment cores acquired by the NFI for the threemain Romanian species: Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.),and Sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.). We used 6536 increment cores with ages less than 100years, a total of 427,635 rings. The country was divided in 21 non-overlapping ecoregions based ongeomorphology, soil, geology and spatial contiguousness. Mixed models and multivariate analyseswere used to assess the differences in annual dimeter at breast height and basal area growth amongecoregions. Irrespective of the species, the mixed models analysis revealed significant differencesin growth between the ecoregions. However, some ecoregions were similar in terms of growthand could be aggregated. Multivariate analysis reinforced the difference between ecoregions andshowed no temporal grouping for spruce and beech. Sessile oak growth was sepa…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0390017
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher DOI: 10.3390/f11040409
rights: CC BY 4.0
rights URI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: spatial variability
subject: annual rings
subject: National Forest Inventory
subject: ecoregions
subject: mixed models
subject: Picea abies
subject: Fagus sylvatica
subject: Quercus petraea
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/74205