IANIGLA   20881
INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE NIVOLOGIA, GLACIOLOGIA Y CIENCIAS AMBIENTALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Radial growth responses to thinning and climate in native Nothofagus betuloides forests in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Autor/es:
MARTÍNEZ PASTUR, GUILLERMO JOSÉ; FRANCO, MARÍA GUADALUPE; BARRERA, MARCELO DANIEL; MUNDO, IGNACIO ALBERTO
Revista:
Dendrochronologia
Editorial:
ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG
Referencias:
Lugar: ALEMANIA; Año: 2019 vol. 57 p. 125625 - 125625
ISSN:
1125-7865
Resumen:
Silvicultural treatments based on natural stand dynamics are crucial to the design and improvement of forestmanagement. Dendrochronological methods can be used to evaluate the effect of silvicultural treatments, providingprecise data concerning growth rates, releases and suppressions. This information is essential to predictforest stand attributes and yields under different silvicultural management protocols. Sustainable silviculturalprescriptions are scarce for the evergreen Nothofagus betuloides forests in southern Patagonia. Therefore, accurateand detailed analyses of the response of N. betuloides to silvicultural trials could contribute to the development ofthe fundamentals of sustainable forestry. The objective of this study was to determine the radial growth responseof N. betuloides to different thinning intensity levels using dendrochronological techniques and to assess theclimatic influences on the thinning response. Thinnings from below were conducted in 1993 and 2000 in a youngsecondary forest that originated after a high-severity fire in 1949. Growth differences were evaluated consideringring widths, basal area increments, percentage of growth change and periodic annual increments.Growth-climate correlations were also explored. Thinning intensities showed differential effects on radialgrowth: heavy thinning treatments resulted in higher individual growth rates than the control treatment. Lowdensity plots showed higher growth increments regardless of thinning intensity, suggesting that thinning intensityalone does not dictate the magnitude of growth releases. Radial growth rates were positively associatedwith warmer and less rainy summers, highlighting climatic conditions are an important driver of the thinningresponse. The effect of the first thinning was masked by the second intervention, indicating that this speciesreacts to intense interventions. These results indicate that it is possible to reduce the number of non-commercialthinnings and, consequently, the costs of the silvicultural system for this species. Moreover, this study highlightsthe usefulness of dendrochronological methods in providing accurate information for silvicultural purposes.