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A density management diagram for Norway spruce in the temperate European montane region

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Abstract

Norway spruce is one of the most important conifer tree species in Europe, paramount for timber provision, habitat, recreation, and protection of mountain roads and settlements from natural hazards. Although natural Norway spruce forests exhibit diverse structures, even-aged stands can arise after disturbance or as the result of common silvicultural practice, including off-site afforestation. Many even-aged Norway spruce forests face issues such as senescence, insufficient regeneration, mechanical stability, sensitivity to biotic disturbances, and restoration. We propose the use of Density Management Diagrams (DMD), stand-scale graphical models designed to project growth and yield of even-aged forests, as a heuristic tool for assessing the structure and development of even-aged Norway spruce stands. DMDs are predicated on basic tree allometry and the assumption that self-thinning occurs predictably in forest stands. We designed a DMD for Norway spruce in temperate Europe based on wide-ranging forest inventory data. Quantitative relationships between tree- and stand-level variables that describe resistance to selected natural disturbances were superimposed on the DMD. These susceptibility zones were used to demonstrate assessment and possible management actions related to, for example, windfirmness and effectiveness of the protective function against rockfall or avalanches. The Norway spruce DMD provides forest managers and silviculturists a simple, easy-to-use, tool for evaluating stand dynamics and scheduling needed density management actions.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge data contributors, and in particular Roberta Berretti and Daniele Castagneri (Università di Torino, Italy), Momchil Panayotov (University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria), Thomas Vrska (Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic), Fabio Maistrelli (Bolzano Autonomous Province, Italy), Hubert Hasenauer (University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria), IPLA SpA (regional forest inventory produced by Regione Piemonte with the support of EU structural funds), and Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta. Raw data were also provided by the Italian National Forest Inventory of Forests and Forest Carbon Pools (INFC 2005), carried out by the National Forest Service of Italy (CFS) and the Research Council for Agriculture—Forest Monitoring and Management Research Unit (CRA-MPF). Support to M. Svoboda to this research came from the Czech Science Foundation (GACR P504/10/1644).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences, Università di Torino, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy

    Giorgio Vacchiano & Renzo Motta

  2. Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis, 507 25th Street, Ogden, UT, 84401, USA

    R. Justin Derose & John D. Shaw

  3. Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Praha 6 Suchdol, 16521, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Svoboda

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  1. Giorgio Vacchiano
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  2. R. Justin Derose
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  3. John D. Shaw
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  4. Miroslav Svoboda
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  5. Renzo Motta
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Correspondence to Giorgio Vacchiano.

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Communicated by A. Weiskittel.

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Vacchiano, G., Derose, R.J., Shaw, J.D. et al. A density management diagram for Norway spruce in the temperate European montane region. Eur J Forest Res 132, 535–549 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-013-0694-1

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