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Productivity of mixed versus pure stands of oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. and Quercus robur L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) along an ecological gradient

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Abstract

The mixture of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and oak (sessile oak, Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl., and pedunculate oak, Q. robur L.) is of considerable importance in Europe and will probably become even more important under climate change. Therefore, the performance of oak and beech in mixture was compared with the species’ growth in pure stands. Data from 37 long-term mixing experiments in Poland, Germany and Switzerland were pooled for analysis of mixing effects on stand productivity and possible interrelationships with mixing portions or site conditions. We found that on average, mixed stands of oak and beech exceeded biomass productivity in pure stands by 30 % or 1.7 t ha−1 year−1, as the growth of both species was benefitted by the mixture. However, that the interaction actually ranged from facilitation and overyielding on poor sites to underyielding on fertile sites triggered by competition. An empirically derived interaction model showed volume and dry mass growth changing in mixed stands from gains of 50 % to losses of 10 % depending on site conditions. It is concluded that the analysed mixture grows in accordance with the stress-gradient hypothesis and that our results suggest a site-specific relationship between species mixture and biomass productivity. As a consequence, an adequate species mix should result in increased productivity under steady state as well as climate change.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Gregor Aas, Ecological-Botanical Garden, University of Bayreuth, for his advice how to deal with the two different Quercus species in this evaluation and to Anton Fischer, Geoecology, Technische Universität München, for revision of the geoecological statements on oak and beech. We further wish to thank the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for providing the funds for mixed stand research as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 607 (Sonderforschungsbereich SFB 607) “Growth and Parasite Defense” and the Bavarian State Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry for permanent support of the project W 07 “Long-term experimental plots for forest growth and yield research.” The included mixed stand trials belong to the networks of long-term experimental plots in Switzerland, Poland and Germany, and we are deeply grateful to the respective sponsoring forest administrations. Thanks are also due to Ulrich Kern for the graphical artwork.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair for Forest Growth and Yield Science, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany

    Hans Pretzsch & Jochen Dieler

  2. Faculty of Forestry, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Kamil Bielak & Michał Zasada

  3. Research Institute for Forest Ecology and Forestry Rhineland-Palatinate, Trippstadt, Germany

    Joachim Block & Hans-Peter Ehrhart

  4. Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg, Freiburg, Germany

    Ulrich Kohnle

  5. Northwest German Forest Research Station, Göttingen, Germany

    Jürgen Nagel & Hermann Spellmann

  6. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Andreas Zingg

  7. Forest Research Institute, Sekocin Stary, Poland

    Arkadiusz Bruchwald

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  1. Hans Pretzsch
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  2. Kamil Bielak
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  3. Joachim Block
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  4. Arkadiusz Bruchwald
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  9. Hermann Spellmann
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  10. Michał Zasada
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  11. Andreas Zingg
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Correspondence to Hans Pretzsch.

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Communicated by R. Matyssek.

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Pretzsch, H., Bielak, K., Block, J. et al. Productivity of mixed versus pure stands of oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. and Quercus robur L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) along an ecological gradient. Eur J Forest Res 132, 263–280 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-012-0673-y

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