Abstract
In the twentieth century, silviculturists commonly thought about the growth of trees and stands in terms of “growing space.” Trees and stands grew faster when they obtained more growing space. Unfortunately, growing space is intangible and not quantifiable, limiting the opportunities for quantification and hypothesis testing. Patterns of tree and stand growth can be evaluated quantitatively with a production-ecology perspective, testing hypotheses about factors that influence growth. The growth of trees and forests depends on the acquisition of resources (light, water, nutrients), on the efficiency of using these resources for photosynthesis, and on the partitioning of photosynthate to wood growth. Trees and stands with high rates of resource use might be expected to show lower efficiency of resource use as a result of some sort of declining marginal return; however, empirical patterns show that increasing resource use is generally accompanied by sustained or increased efficiency of use. For example, in fast-growing Eucalyptus plantations, large trees may intercept twice as much light as smaller trees, and use the light twice as efficiently to provide a fourfold greater rate of stem growth than smaller trees. At the stand level, increases in water supply (across geographic gradients or from irrigation) often show 50% increases in water uptake by trees, and constant or increasing efficiency of water use leads to large increases in stem growth. These insights are valuable for forest management, including understanding why subordinate trees contribute so little to stand growth, why uniform stands grow better than stands with greater variety of tree sizes, and why some species mixtures grow better than others. The production-ecology approach offers a powerful framework for how to think about the growth of trees and forests.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ahl DE, Gower ST, Mackay DS, Burrows SN, Norman JM, Diak GR (2004) Heterogeneity of light use efficiency in a northern Wisconsin forest: implications for modeling net primary production with remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ 93:168–178
Albaugh TJ, Allen HL, Dougherty PM, Johnsen KH (2004) Long term growth responses of loblolly pine to optimal nutrient and water resource availability. For Ecol Manag 192:3–19
Allen CB, Will RE, McGarvey RC, Coyle DR, Coleman (2005) Radiation-use efficiency and gas exchange responses to water and nutrient availability in irrigated and fertilized stands of sweetgum and sycamore. Tree Physiol 25:191–200
Almeida AC, Soares JV, Landsberg JJ, Rezende GD (2007) Growth and water balance of Eucalyptus grandis hybrid plantations in Brazil during a rotation for pulp production. For Ecol Manag 251:10–21
Assmann E (1970) The principles of forest yield study. Pergamon, Oxford
Barnard HR, Ryan MG (2003) A test of the hydraulic limitation hypothesis in fast-growing Eucalyptus saligna. Plant Cell Environ 26:1235–1245
Binkley D, Dunkin KA, DeBell D, Ryan MG (1992) Production and nutrient cycling in mixed plantations of Eucalyptus and Albizia in Hawaii. For Sci 38:393–408
Binkley D, Stape JL, Ryan MG, Barnard H, Fownes J (2002) Age-related decline in forest ecosystem growth: an individual-tree, stand-structure hypothesis. Ecosyst 5:58–67
Binkley D, Olsson U, Rochelle R, Stohlgren T, Nikolov N (2003) Structure, production and resource use in some old-growth spruce/fir forests in the front range of the Rocky Mountains, USA. For Ecol Manag 172:271–279
Binkley D, Stape JL, Ryan MG (2004) Thinking about efficiency of resource use in forests. For Ecol Manag 193:5–16
Binkley D, Stape JL, Bauerle WL, Ryan MG (2010) Explaining growth of individual trees: Light interception and efficiency of light use by Eucalyptus at four sites in Brazil. For Ecol Manag 259:1704–1713
Birk E, Vitousek P (1986) Nitrogen availability and nitrogen use efficiency in loblolly pine stands. Ecology 67:69–79
Chasmer L, McCaughey H, Barr A, Black A, Shashkov A, Treitz P, Zha T (2008) Investigating light-use efficiency across a jack pine chronosequence during dry and wet years. Tree Physiol 28:1395–1406
Clutter JL, Fortson JC, Pienaar LV, Brister GH, Bailey RL (1983) Timber management: a quantitative approach. Wiley, New York
du Toit B (2008) Effects of site management on growth, biomass partitioning and light use efficiency in a young stand of Eucalyptus grandis in South Africa. For Ecol Manag 255:2324–2336
Fernandez ME, Gyenge J (2009) Testing Binkley’s hypothesis about the interaction of individual tree water use efficiency and growth efficiency with dominance patterns in open and close canopy stands. For Ecol Manag 257:1859–1865
Forrester DI, Collopy JJ, Morris JD (2010) Transpiration along an age series of Eucalyptus globulus plantations in southeastern Australia. For Ecol Manag 259:1754–1760
Gholz HL, Vogel SA, Cropper WP Jr, McKelvey K, Ewel KC, Teskey RO, Curran PJ (1991) Dynamics of canopy structure and light interception in Pinus elliottii stands, north Florida. Ecol Monogr 61:33–51
Green DS, Kruger EL, Stanosz GR, Isebrands JG (2001) Light-use efficiency of native and hybrid poplar genotypes at high levels of intracanopy competition. Can J For Res 31:1030–1037
Groot A, Saucier J-P (2008) Volume increment efficiency of Picea mariana in northern Ontario, Canada. For Ecol Manag 255:1647–1653
Gyenge J, Fernandez ME, Sarasola M, Schlichter T (2008) Testing a hypothesis of the relationship between productivity and water use efficiency in Patagonian forests with native and exotic species. For Ecol Manag 255:3281–3287
Herbert DA, Fownes JH (1999) Forest productivity and efficiency of resource use across a chronosequence of tropical montane soils. Ecosyst 2:242–254
Hof J, Rideout D, Binkley D (1990) Carbon fixation in trees as a micro optimization process: an example of combining ecology and economics. Ecol Econ 2:243–256
Hubbard RM, Ryan MG, Giardina GP, Barnard H (2004) The effect of fertilization on sap flux and canopy conductance in a Eucalyptus saligna experimental forest. Glob Change Biol 10:427–436
Hubbard RM, Stape JL, Ryan MG, Almeida AC, Rojas J (2010) Effects of irrigation on water use and water use efficiency in two fast growing Eucalyptus plantations. For Ecol Manag 259:1714–1721
Irvine J, Law BE, Kurpius MR, Anthoni PM, Moore D, Schwarz PA (2004) Age-related changes in ecosystem structure and function and effects on water and carbon exchange in ponderosa pine. Tree Physiol 24:753–763
Jose S, Gillespie AR (1996) Aboveground production efficiency and canopy nutrient contents of mixed-hardwood forest communities along a moisture gradient in the central United States. Can J For Res 26:2214–2223
Köstner B, Falge E, Tenhunen JD (2002) Age-related effects on leaf area/sapwood area relationships, canopy transpiration and carbon gain of Norway spruce stands (Picea abies) in the Fichtelgebirge, Germany. Tree Physiol 22:67–574
Landsberg JJ (2003) Physiology in forest models: history and the future. For Biom Model Inf Sci 1:49–63
Leuschner C, Rode MW (1999) The role of plant resources in forest succession: changes in radiation, water and nutrient fluxes, and plant productivity over a 300-yr-long chronosequence in NW-Germany. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 2:103–147
Linder S (1985) Potential and actual production in Australia forest stands. In: Landsberg JJ, Parsons W (eds) Research for forest management. CSIRO Division of Forest Research, Canberra, pp 11–35
Linderson M-L, Iritz Z, Lindroth A (2007) The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency and radiation use efficiency of field-grown willow clones. Biomass Energy 31:460–468
Litton CM, Raich JW, Ryan MG (2007) Carbon allocation in forest ecosystems. Glob Change Biol 13:2089–2109
Marsden C, le Maire G, Stape JL, Lo Seen D, Roupsard O, Cabral O, Epron D, Lima AMN, Nouvellon Y (2010) Relating MODIS vegetation index time-series with structure, light absorption and stem production of fast-growing Eucalyptus plantations. For Ecol Manag, 259:1741–1753
Martin TA, Jokela EJ (2004) Developmental patterns and nutrition impact radiation use efficiency components in southern pine stands. Ecol Appl 14:1839–1854
Monteith JL (1977) Climate and the efficiency of crop production in Britain. Philos Trans R Soc B 281:277–294
O’Connell KEB, Gower ST, Norman JM (2003) Comparison of net primary production and light-use dynamics of two boreal black spruce forest communities. Ecosyst 6:236–247
Oliver CD, Larson BC (1990) Forest stand dynamics. Wiley, New York
Pangle L, Vose JM, Teskey RO (2009) Radiation use efficiency in adjacent hardwood and pine forests in the southern Appalachians. For Ecol Manag 257:1034–1042
Pastor J, Bridgham SD (1999) Nutrient efficiency along nutrient availability gradients. Oecologia 118:50–58
Puettmann KJ, Messier C, Coates KD (2008) A critique of sliviculture: managing for complexity. Island, Washington, DC
Raison RJ, Myers BJ (1992) The biology of forest growth experiment: linking water and nitrogen availability to the growth of Pinus radiata. For Ecol Manag 52:279–308
Ryan MG, Binkley D, Fownes J, Giardina C, Senock R (2004) An experimental test of the causes of age-related decline in forest growth. Ecol Monogr 74:393–414
Ryan MG, Stape JL, Binkley D, Fonseca S, Loos R, Takahashi EN, Silva CR, Silva S, Hakamada R, Ferreira JM, Lima AM, Gava JL, Leita FP, Silva G, Andrade H, Alves JM (2010) Factors controlling Eucalyptus productivity: How resource availability and stand structure alter production and carbon allocation. For Ecol Manag 259:1695–1703
Stape JL, Binkley D, Ryan MG (2004) Eucalyptus production and the supply, use and the efficiency of use of water, light and nitrogen across a geographic gradient in Brazil. For Ecol Manag 193:17–31
Stape JL, Binkley D, Ryan MG (2008) Production and carbon allocation in a clonal Eucalyptus plantation with water and nutrient manipulations. For Ecol Manag 255:920–930
Trichet P, Loustau D, Lambrot C, Linder S (2008) Manipulating nutrient and water availability in a maritime pine plantation: effects on growth, production, and biomass allocation at canopy closure. Ann For Sci 65:814–820
Turner DP, Ritts WD, Zhao M, Kurc SA, Dunn AI, Wofsy SC, Small EE, Running S (2006) Assessing interannual variation in MODIS-based estimates of gross primary production. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens 44:1899–1907
Vitousek P (1982) Nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency. Am Nat 119:553–572
Vose JM, Allen HL (1988) Leaf area, stemwood growth, and nutrition relationships in loblolly pine. For Sci 34:547–563
Waring RH (1983) Estimating forest growth and efficiency in relation to canopy leaf area. Adv Ecol Res 13:327–354
Will RE, Harahari NV, Shiver BD, Teskey RO (2005) Effects of planting density on canopy dynamics and stem growth for intensively managed loblolly pine stands. For Ecol Manag 205:29–41
Acknowledgements
The ideas and work presented here were developed in collaboration with many colleagues, and I particularly thank Michael G. Ryan and Jose Luiz Stape.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Binkley, D. (2011). Understanding the Role of Resource Use Efficiency in Determining the Growth of Trees and Forests. In: Schlichter, T., Montes, L. (eds) Forests in Development: A Vital Balance. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2576-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2576-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-2575-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-2576-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)