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Circumferential variation of heartwood and stem quality in maritime pine stems

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Abstract

Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) is an important timber and pulpwood species covering about 4 million ha in Portugal, Spain and France. This work studied the cross-sectional distribution of heartwood and sapwood along the stem using 3D modelling on 20 trees. The target was to assess the potential of this species for the industrial production of heartwood sawn products. The maritime pine stems were characterized by wide sapwood of 10 cm, in average, and the presence of heartwood at all height levels with constant diameter up to 35 % tree height, decreasing afterwards. In the radial section, the heartwood follows a circumferential-like shape which changes along the stem. Pith eccentricity index values were low and homogeneous regarding to stem and higher for heartwood. Heartwood cross-sectional shape was constant up to 45 % of total height of the tree and more elongated upwards. The constant heartwood diameter, low taper and pith eccentricity index, and an approximate circular shape up to 10 m height indicated these species’ potential to produce solid wood products made out of heartwood.

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Acknowledgments

The tree sampling was carried out under the research programme PAMAF 8185, financed by INIA (Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária, Portugal). Thanks are due to the Portuguese National Forest Service who supplied the trees and their silvicultural records. Financial support was given to the fourth author by a scholarship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, and by a Marie Curie Research Training Grant for the virtual stem reconstruction and analysis. Funding from FCT is acknowledged by the first and second authors as a post-doctoral researcher and a doctoral student, respectively. Centro de Estudos Florestais is a research unit funded by FCT (PEst-OE/AGR/UI0239/2011). Thanks are due to Professor Arto Usenius for the most valuable comments on the methodology and results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal

    Sofia Knapic, Vanda Oliveira & Helena Pereira

  2. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, 02044, VTT, Finland

    Marika Makkonen & Isabel Pinto-Seppä

Authors
  1. Sofia Knapic
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  2. Vanda Oliveira
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  3. Marika Makkonen
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  4. Isabel Pinto-Seppä
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  5. Helena Pereira
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Correspondence to Sofia Knapic.

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Communicated by Martina Meincken.

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Knapic, S., Oliveira, V., Makkonen, M. et al. Circumferential variation of heartwood and stem quality in maritime pine stems. Eur J Forest Res 133, 1007–1014 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0818-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0818-2

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