Resilience assessment of lowland plantations using an ecosystem modeling approach

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Date
2015Version
Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia
Type
Artículo / Artikulua
Version
Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa
Impact
|
10.3390/su7043801
Abstract
As afforestation programs of former farmlands take hold in Taiwan to achieve a
variety of ecological and socio-economic values, it is becoming necessary to define best
forest management. Hence, we simulated mixed stands of Cinnamomum camphora and
Fraxinus griffithii planted through a gradient of soil fertility and varying camphor/ash
density ratios, but maintaining a ...
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As afforestation programs of former farmlands take hold in Taiwan to achieve a
variety of ecological and socio-economic values, it is becoming necessary to define best
forest management. Hence, we simulated mixed stands of Cinnamomum camphora and
Fraxinus griffithii planted through a gradient of soil fertility and varying camphor/ash
density ratios, but maintaining a fixed total stand density of 1500 trees ha −1 . Total stand
productivity was slightly lower in mixed stands than the combination of both monocultures
in rich and poor sites. Maximum negative yield surpluses for 50-year old stands were
7 Mg ha −1 and 6 Mg ha −1 for rich and poor sites with a 1:1 camphor laurel/ash ratios.
Maximum stand woody biomass in rich sites was reached in camphor laurel monocultures
(120 Mg ha −1 ) and in poor sites for Himalayan ash monocultures (58 Mg ha −1 ). However,
for medium-quality sites, a small yield surplus (11 Mg ha −1 ) was estimated coinciding with
a maximum stand woody biomass of 95 Mg ha −1 for a 1:1 camphor laurel/ash density ratio.
From an ecological resilience point of view, rotation length was more important than stand
composition. Long rotations (100 years) could improve soil conditions in poor sites. In rich
sites, short rotations (50 years) should be avoided to reduce risks or fertility loss. [--]
Subject
Mixed forests,
Artificial forest,
Ecological modeling,
Resilience,
Ecological sustainability,
Camphor laurel,
Himalayan ash,
FORECAST model
Publisher
MDPI
Published in
Sustainability 2015, 7, 3801-3822
Departament
Universidad Pública de Navarra. Departamento de Ciencias del Medio Natural /
Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Natura Ingurunearen Zientziak Saila
Publisher version
Sponsorship
Yueh-Hsin Lo was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
(Ref. AGL2012-33465). Juan A. Blanco was funded through a “Ramón y Cajal” contract
(Ref. RYC-2011-08082) and a Marie Curie Action (Ref. CIG-2012-326718-ECOPYREN3).
Shih-Chieh Chang was given a grant by the Ministry of Science and Technology
(Ref. NSC 102-2621-M-259-005)