Open Access
Temporal interactions among throughfall, type of canopy and thinning drive radial growth in an Iberian mixed pine-beech forest
(Elsevier, 2018) Cardil Forradellas, Adrián; Imbert Rodríguez, Bosco; Camarero, Jesús Julio; Primicia Alvarez, Irantzu; Castillo Martínez, Federico; Ciencias del Medio Natural; Natura Ingurunearen Zientziak
Many factors can influence tree growth over time such as different forest management practices, climate or tree-to-tree interactions, especially in mixed forests. We show in this work how the temporal growth patterns for Scots pine and European beech depend on thinning intensity (0%, 20% and 40% extraction of basal area), canopy type (pine-beech vs. pine patches), throughfall and their interactions. To fulfill this objective we monitored radial growth of both species using band dendrometers during a 6-year long period including two very dry years. Temporal growth patterns differed between both species. Whereas Scots pine showed two main peaks of growth in May-June and October, European beech mainly grew from May to early September even when throughfall was very limited. Effects of thinning on growth generally increased for both species during dry periods both at the seasonal and annual scales. The treatment with 20% of thinning intensity was the most effective at the annual scale for enhancing growth of both species. However, increases in growth due to thinning were much higher in beech than in pine and lasted longer. Thinning effects on pine were higher in mixed canopy than in pure canopy and appeared to be modulated by throughfall. Global differences in pine growth between canopy types as a function of throughfall increased during the main growing season as beech canopy developed. Growth of Scots pine, but not that of European beech, generally increased with throughfall which suggests that pine might be more dependent for its growth on water from the soil surface layer while beech would depend more on water from deeper soil layers. Our findings have implications to select the most convenient thinning treatments and canopy type under a potential climate change scenario characterized by warmer conditions, more severe droughts and less throughfall.
Open Access
Long-term carbon sequestration in pine forests under different silvicultural and climatic regimes in Spain
(MDPI, 2022) Navarro Cerrillo, Rafael M.; Ruiz Gómez, Francisco Javier; Camarero, Jesús Julio; Castillo, Víctor M.; Barberá, Gonzalo G.; Palacios Rodríguez, Guillermo; Navarro, Francisco B.; Blanco Vaca, Juan Antonio; Imbert Rodríguez, Bosco; Cachinero Vivar, Antonio M.; Molina, Antonio J.; Campo, Antonio D. del; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Ciencias
Proactive silviculture treatments (e.g., thinning) may increase C sequestration contributing to climate change mitigation, although, there are still questions about this effect in Mediterranean pine forests. The aim of this research was to quantify the storage of biomass and soil organic carbon in Pinus forests along a climatic gradient from North to South of the Iberian Peninsula. Nine experimental Pinus spp trials were selected along a latitudinal gradient from the pre-Pyrenees to southern Spain. At each location, a homogeneous area was used as the operational scale, and three thinning intensity treatments: unthinned or control (C), intermediate thinning (LT, removal of 30–40% of the initial basal area) and heavy thinning (HT, removal of 50–60%) were conducted. Growth per unit area (e.g., expressed as basal area increment-BAI), biomass, and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) were measured as well as three sets of environmental variables (climate, soil water availability and soil chemical and physical characteristics). One-way ANOVA and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were used to study the effect of thinning and environmental variables on C sequestration. Biomass and growth per unit area were higher in the control than in the thinning treatments, although differences were only significant for P. halepensis. Radial growth recovered after thinning in all species, but it was faster in the HT treatments. Soil organic carbon (SOC10, 0–10 cm depth) was higher in the HT treatments for P. halepensis and P. sylvestris, but not for P. nigra. SEM showed that Pinus stands of the studied species were beneficed by HT thinning, recovering their growth quickly. The resulting model explained 72% of the variation in SOC10 content, and 89% of the variation in silvicultural condition (basal area and density) after thinning. SOC10 was better related to climate than to silvicultural treatments. On the other hand, soil chemical and physical characteristics did not show significant influence over SOC10- Soil water availability was the latent variable with the highest influence over SOC10. This work is a new contribution that shows the need for forest managers to integrate silviculture and C sequestration in Mediterranean pine plantations

Imbert Rodríguez, Bosco

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