Growth responses of narrow or broad site adapted tree species to a range of resource availability treatments after a full harvest rotation

Abstract

Understanding the processes driving forest productivity is a critical element in our efforts to maximize production of biomass and wood products and more efficiently utilize resources required for plant growth. We examined above and belowground growth and productivity of four tree specieseastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)receiving irrigation and fertilization in the Upper Coastal Plain ecoregion of South Carolina, USA. Trees received treatments throughout an entire intensively-managed harvest rotation, which was nine years for cottonwood and sycamore, and 11 years for sweetgum and loblolly pine. Fertilization and irrigation positively affected growth and productivity of all tree species. Fertilization alone led to increases in stem volume index of up to 329% for cottonwood, 376% for sycamore, 261% for sweetgum, and 49% for loblolly pine. Loblolly pine grew the largest of all species tested, and sweetgum was the largest hardwood. Net primary productivity was driven by leaf and fine root tissue production. When accounting for the effect of tree size, belowground biomass decreased with increasing resource availability in sweetgum and loblolly pine, but not cottonwood or sycamore. These results help explain complex relationships between above and belowground tissues in woody species, and indicate that both ontogeny and resource availability can mediate allocation to belowground tissues.

Use of Multi-Temporal UAV-Derived Imagery for Estimating Individual Tree Growth in Pinus pinea Stands

“…Our findings are consistent with those of previous studies, which investigated the effects of fertilization on the biomass allocation of hardwood species [77][78][79]. Albaugh et al [79] used data from nine sites in which nutrient and water optimization studies were carried out with a 2 × 2 factorial design to determine maximum biomass production in response to a simple set of treatments.…”

Ecosystem Services of Woody Crop Production Systems

“…Trees received irrigation (0.5 cm day −1 , for a total of 3.0 cm week −1 ), fertilization (120 kg N ha −1 year −1 ), and irrigation + fertilization or were untreated (control). Loblolly pine did not respond to irrigation during early [31] or late [30] development, indicating that fertilization was the primary limiting factor of tree productivity. Maximum aboveground woody production of loblolly pine exceeded 19.0 dry Mg ha −1 year −1 , and annual stem productivity was nearly 10.0 dry Mg ha −1 year −1 .…”

“…Furthermore, the growth of both clones was significantly improved by increasing resource availability throughout the harvest rotation [29,30]. After nine growing seasons, aboveground woody production was 7.2 and 6.4 dry Mg ha −1 year −1 in 'ST66' and 'S7C15', respectively [30]. Irrigation and fertilization resulted in aboveground productivity increases of >177 %.…”

“…Irrigation and fertilization resulted in aboveground productivity increases of >177 %. The relative proportion of above-and belowground tissue allocation was affected by both tree size and resource availability [30].…”

Tree Growth and Nutrient Dynamics in Pine Plantations in Southern Brazil

“…In general, the growth rate of these species is not excessively compromised when no liming and fertilization are applied, particularly in the first rotations (Reissmann and Wisniewski, 2000). However, positive responses to fertilization were observed under different managements and in different environments (Muniz et al, 1975;Reissmann and Wisniewski, 2000;Ferreira et al, 2001;Moro et al, 2014;Coyle et al, 2016). Moreover, the nutrients exported by the crops must be replenished (Viera et al, 2011), which is a fundamental practice to reduce the environmental impact of any agricultural or forestry crop.…”