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Biomass growth simulations in a natural mixed forest stand under different thinning intensities by 3-PG process-based model

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Abstract

This work intends to check the efficiency of the 3-PG model (Physiological Principles in Predicting Growth) (Landsberg and Waring in For Ecol Manag 95:209–228, 1997) in the simulation of biomass growth for a natural Mediterranean maritime pine forest with two canopy layers comprising different species (Pinus pinaster Ait. subsp. mesogeensis and Quercus ilex L. subsp. ballota) in the Cuenca Mountains, Spain, that had previously been subject to thinning. We assigned a dominant (P. pinaster Ait.) and a subdominant (Quercus ilex L.) component, individually parameterised. The competition between dominant and subdominant layers was simulated with specific modifications to the input solar radiation, precipitation, evapotranspiration and available soil water without any structural change to the model. Data from three study sites were used: control (C, no thinning over 30 years), treatment 1 (T1, light thinning, with thinning operations carried out in January 2004) and treatment 2 (T2, moderate thinning, with thinning operations carried out in January 2002). The data were divided into two sets: (1) A model data set from C site was used to parameterise 3-PG, and (2) an independent testing data set from the T1 and T2 sites was used to test growth predictions made by 3-PG. We report successful outcome its parameterisation, obtaining accurate predictions compared to the long-term field measurements acquired from thinned stands. Results show that the current implementation of the 3-PG slightly over- and underestimated biomass components for both pine and oak after thinning. However, values for the coefficient of efficiency (EC) were very high for both species (0.85–0.99). According to the results, the 3-PG may provide a feasible tool for estimating biomass growth and guiding forest management in natural Mediterranean maritime pine forest stands.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Regional Forestry Service of Castilla-La Mancha for providing the research site, as well as Mrs Margarida Tomé from the Technical University of Lisboa for providing additional support for this research. This research was supported by funds provided by the Regional Plan of Scientific Research, Technological Development and Innovation of Castilla-La Mancha (ECOFLUX, Ref. PBCC08-0109) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (CONSOLIDER-MONTES, Ref. CSD2008-00040). Eduardo Martínez-García would like to acknowledge the financial support given by the Spanish Ministry of Education under the FPU programme. Authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments that greatly improved the quality of the research paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science and Agroforestry Technology and Genetics, Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    F. R. López-Serrano, E. Martínez-García, T. Dadi, F. A. García-Morote, M. E. Lucas-Borja & M. Andrés-Abellán

  2. Environment Section, Renewable Energy Research Institute, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    F. R. López-Serrano, E. Martínez-García, T. Dadi, F. A. García-Morote, M. E. Lucas-Borja & M. Andrés-Abellán

  3. Department of Applied Physics, School of Industrial Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    E. Rubio

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  1. F. R. López-Serrano
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Correspondence to E. Martínez-García.

Additional information

Communicated by Aaron R. Weiskittel.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Forest stands characteristics

This appendix details the pretreatment stand structure and the removed stand for pine and oak. The removed stand at 2002 and 2004 corresponds with the thinning treatments for T2 and T1 sites, respectively. Before thinning treatments, stand structure and composition varied considerably within and between sites (see means and standard errors in Table 5). Thinning intensity varied by site and species, with the highest proportions of tree density, basal area, total biomass and quadratic mean tree diameter removed for pine in the T2 site (Table 5). For oak, the treatments removed stems of medium (10–15 cm) size class. However, for pine, the treatments removed fewer trees, but higher total biomass, because the removed stems were of large (>30 cm) and medium (20–30 cm) size classes. In the forest examined in this study, the thinning treatments benefited the development of the pine, as these treatments eliminated many oak trees.

Table 5 Forest stand variables (mean ± SE) before thinning and removed by thinning for Mediterranean maritime pine
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Table 6 Stand variables (mean ± SE) before thinning and removed by thinning for Holm oak
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Appendix 2: Species-specific parameters used in 3-PG

This appendix contains tables with definitions, symbols, values, units and sources of species-specific parameters used in 3-PG (Tables 7, 8).

Table 7 Definitions, symbols, values, units and sources of species-specific parameters used in 3-PG for Mediterranean maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait. subsp. mesogeensis)
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Table 8 Definitions, symbols, values, units and sources of species-specific parameters used in 3-PG for Holm oak (Quercus ilex L. subsp. ballota)
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López-Serrano, F.R., Martínez-García, E., Dadi, T. et al. Biomass growth simulations in a natural mixed forest stand under different thinning intensities by 3-PG process-based model. Eur J Forest Res 134, 167–185 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0841-3

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