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Mechanical site preparation severity mediates one-year-survival response to summer drought in planted tree seedlings

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Abstract

In face of future climatic conditions, methods to ensure the success of forest plantation in warm and dry conditions are required. Mechanical site preparation (MSP) prior to planting is widely used around the world to enhance seedling establishment success. Our study aimed at identifying, among a set of MSP methods that are used in practical forestry, which methods ensure plantation success under dry weather conditions.

We evaluated the combined effects of summer drought (estimated using the Standard Precipitation Index) and MSP severity (estimated using vegetation cover in the immediate seedling vicinity one year after MSP) on 1-year seedling survival. We used a network of 20 experimental sites established in France over a 10-year-period, and where seedlings were planted after various MSP.

In all treatments (severe MSP, moderate MSP, no MSP), seedling survival was higher in years with rainy summers than in years with dry summers. In rainy years, both moderate and severe MSP methods slightly improved the seedling survival rate (95%) compared to the unprepared control (88%). In dry years, seedling survival was similar after moderate MSP or with no MSP (50 and 54%, respectively), whereas it was much higher after severe MSP (79%).

In practical forestry, severe MSP appears as an option to enhance early seedling survival, especially when summer precipitations are lower than the seasonal average, whereas moderate MSP does not significantly improve seedling survival compared to an unprepared control, in all summer weather conditions.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors heartily thank Léon Wehrlen, Sébastien Harnist, Lindsay Godard and Erwin Thirion (INRAE), Didier François, Gwénaëlle Gibaud, Jérôme Piat, Quentin Girard, Lucie Arnaudet, Erwin Ulrich and Claudine Richter (ONF), Jean-Yves Fraysse, Mathilde Duverger and Xavier Montagny (FCBA), and Christophe Vidal (IDF-CNPF) for their invaluable help when designing, establishing and running the 20 experimental sites.

Funding

This work was supported by the French Ministry in charge of forests (“Soutien au Pôle Renfor” annual grant), France Bois Forêt (grants 16RD496 and 17RD696), the Grand-Est region (“IPLor” grant), and the Fonds National pour l’Aménagement du Territoire (“IPLor” grant).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE, Silva, Nancy, F-54000, France

    Catherine Collet, Chloé Agro, Noé Dumas & Florian Vast

  2. Office national des forêts, Recherche Développement et Innovation, Dôle, F-39100, France

    Emila Akroume

  3. Office national des forêts, Recherche Développement et Innovation, Boigny-sur-Bionne, F-45760, France

    Jordan Bello & Aurore Calas

  4. FCBA, Charrey-sur-Saône, F-21170, France

    Alain Berthelot

  5. Office national des forêts, Recherche Développement et Innovation, Fontainebleau, F-77300, France

    Vincent Boulanger

  6. Office national des forêts, Recherche Développement Innovation, Champenoux, F-54280, France

    Jonathan Pitaud

  7. Office national des forêts, Recherche Développement et Innovation, Compiègne, F-60200, France

    Malaurie Puyal

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  1. Catherine Collet
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design, to material preparation and data collection. Analyses were performed by CC. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CC, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Catherine Collet.

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Collet, C., Agro, C., Akroume, E. et al. Mechanical site preparation severity mediates one-year-survival response to summer drought in planted tree seedlings. New Forests (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-024-10050-0

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