TITLE:
Quantifying Growth Responses of Black Spruce and Jack Pine to Thinning within the Context of Density Management Decision-Support Systems
AUTHORS:
Peter F. Newton
KEYWORDS:
Structural Stand Density Management Models, Height Repression, Phenotypic Juvenile Age-Mature age Correlation, Precommercial Thinning
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.5 No.4,
April
9,
2015
ABSTRACT: Models
for quantifying the growth responses of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) BSP.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) to precommercial thinning (PCT) treatments
were developed. They accounted for the increased rate of stand development
arising from PCT treatments through temporal adjustments to the species and
site specific mean dominant height-age functions. Analytically, they utilized a
relative height growth modifier consistent with observed density-dependent
height repression effects. A phenotypic juvenile age-mature age correlation
function was used to account for the intrinsic temporal decline in the
magnitude of the PCT effect throughout the rotation. The resultant stand
development patterns were in accord with theoretical and empirical expectations
when the response models were integrated into algorithmic variants of
structural stand density management models.