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Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood properties in an alkaline air pollution environment

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Abstract

This paper examines the long-term influence on pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood properties of alkaline dust pollution (pH 12.3–12.7) emitted over 135 years from a cement plant in Estonia. A study of stemwood physical and mechanical properties in 70–80-year-old Scots pines growing in three zones of different air pollution levels showed serious deviations in comparison with a relatively healthy forest in an unpolluted area. Specimens from polluted trees evidenced smaller sapwood annual ring widths than those from the control trees. At the same time, the number of growth rings in sapwood at breast height increased under pollution. In the polluted areas, percentage of latewood in the annual ring widths was higher than in the unpolluted area. Small amounts of cement dust, which contains elements essential for the mineral nutrition of the trees, might have acted as fertilizer. Pine wood in the polluted stands exhibited increased density, bending strength across the grain, compression strength along the grain and, in some instances, hardness along the grain.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (project No. 0432153s02) and by the Estonian University of Life Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Industry, Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Regino Kask & Jaak Pikk

  2. Department of Ecophysiology, Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Viljandi mnt. 18B, 11216, Tallinn, Estonia

    Katri Ots & Malle Mandre

Authors
  1. Regino Kask
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  2. Katri Ots
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  3. Malle Mandre
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  4. Jaak Pikk
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Correspondence to Regino Kask.

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Communicated by S. W. Leavitt.

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Kask, R., Ots, K., Mandre, M. et al. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood properties in an alkaline air pollution environment. Trees 22, 815–823 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-008-0242-7

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