The Influence of Habitat Conditions on the Properties of Pinewood

Abstract

This article starts a series of articles on dependences between the conditions of the growth of trees in forests and the technical aspects and directions of using the raw material obtained from these trees. This is a key feature for wood purchasers because it determines the efficiency of production and directly affects the final financial result of their activity. Wood represents an environmentally sustainable and renewable material, which is a widely available raw material on the market and must meet specific quality and strength requirements. These parameters indicate the utility values of wood and the possibilities of its use. One of the factors influencing the properties of wood is the type of the forest habitat it comes from. In order to determine this influence, tests were carried out to show how tree growth conditions affected changes in the density and strength of raw wood. The assumption (hypothesis) about the correlation between the static bending strength of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood and the forest habitat was verified on four forest types, i.e., fresh coniferous forest (FCF), fresh mixed coniferous forest (FMCF), fresh mixed forest (FMF) and fresh forest (FF). The properties depend largely on the wood structure, its origin on the cross section and the length of the stems. The raw material selected for the study came from Scots pine trees growing in forests in central Poland. The study confirmed the influence of the habitat on changes in the density and strength of pinewood. There was a correlation between the habitat FMCF and the quality parameters of the raw material, which reflected the wood structure r = 0.775; p < 0.05.

Clarifying the Main Root Distribution of Trees in Varied Slope Environments Using Non-Destructive Root Detection

“…This study found no significant difference in the fresh wood root biomass density to the soil slope class and position in both tree species. Wood density is influenced by the following several factors: the species of the tree [68], ages [69], the growth conditions of the soil [70], topography [71,72], and inter-tree competition [73]. According to Mahajan [74], the density of wood depends on the weight of water in a given volume of wood, the weight of the wood substance in a given volume of wood, and the volume of wood at a specified moisture content.…”

Anatomical and Morphological Features of Scots Pine Heartwood Formation in Two Forest Types in the Middle Taiga Subzone

“…It can form completely different forests -from highly productive oxalis pine forests to sparse dry lichen and waterlogged sphagnum forests [25,26]. Under different conditions, growth processes vary significantly, affecting the trees' morphological characteristics and wood properties [27][28][29][30][31][32]. It is known that, in other woody species, heartwood formation is controlled by diverse environmental conditions and soil fertility [33][34][35][36].…”

Variation of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Pinus Sylvestris L. Wood in the Boreal Zone of the European Northeast

“…correlation of tissues are a necessary prerequisite for a tree to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Pazdrowski and Spława-Neyman 1996, Korchagov and Gribov 2009, Eremin and Chavchavadze 2015, Zaytsev et al 2020, Wieruszewski and Mydlarz 2021. It is obvious that the choice of a growth strategy by a particular tree and changes in its wood structure can be conditioned by the deficit of organic matter and, as a consequence, by the need to place a certain number of water-conducting elements on a smaller area (Arseneva andChavchavadze 2001, Romanovsky andShchekalev 2014).…”

“…In scholarly literature there is a large volume of publications that allow us to judge the influence of site conditions on the variation of volumetric and technical parameters of pine wood (Melekhov 1949, Vikhrov 1954, Ugolev 2001, Danilov et al 2018, Schimleck et al 2018, Wieruszewski and Mydlarz 2021. Under conditions of longterm technogenic impact, Scots pine shows an increase in the share of latewood in the structure of annual growth in terms of diameter (Arseneva and Chavchavadze 2001, Shchekalev and Tarkhanov 2006, Yarmishko 2012.…”

“…The accumulated body of knowledge about the impact of constantly changing environmental conditions in forest stands and in particular on individual trees shows that there are a small number of comprehensive studies on properties of wood formation. As a rule, ongoing research is limited to the analysis of volumetric and technical properties of wood and identification of correlations and patterns with the value of the annual growth (Melekhov 1949, Poluboyarinov 1976, Danilov and Zaytsev 2021, Wieruszewski and Mydlarz 2021. The geography of such studies rarely reaches the regional level (Wilhelmsson et al 2002, Yarmishko 2012, Kalbarczyk et al 2018.…”