The relative importance of soil properties and regional climate as drivers of productivity in southern Patagonia’s Nothofagus antarctica forests

HA BAHAMONDE; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR; MV LENCINAS; SOLER, ROSINA; ROSAS, YAMINA M.; LADD, BRENTON; GUARDIA, SANDRA DUARTE; PERI, PABLO L.

ANNALS OF FOREST SCIENCE (PRINT)

EDP SCIENCES S A

Lugar: Montpellier; Año: 2018 vol. 75

1286-4560

Key message Soil texture and temperature-related variables were the variables that most contributed to Nothofagusantarctica forest height in southern Patagonia. This information may be useful for improving forest management, forinstance related to the establishment of silvopastoral systems or selection of suitable sites for forest reforestation insouthern Patagonia.& Context Changes in forest productivity result from a combination of climate, topography, and soil properties.& Aims The relative importance of edaphic and climatic variables as drivers of productivity in Nothofagus antarctica forests ofsouthern Patagonia, Argentina, was evaluated.& Methods A total of 48 mature stands of N. antarctica were selected. For each study site, we measured the height of three maturedominant trees, as an indicator of productivity. Seven soil, five spatial, and 19 climatic features were determined and related toforest productivity. Through partial least squares regression analyses, we obtained a model that was an effective predictor ofheight of mature dominant trees in the regional data set presented here.& Results The four variables that most contributed to the predictive power of the model were altitude, temperature annual range,soil texture, and temperature seasonality.& Conclusion The information gathered in this study suggested that the incidence of the soil and temperature-related variables onthe height of dominant trees, at the regionally evaluated scale, was higher than the effect of water-related variables.