Satu Huttunen

The effects of air pollution on provenances of Scots pine and Norway spruce in northern Finland.

Huttunen S. (1978). The effects of air pollution on provenances of Scots pine and Norway spruce in northern Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 12 no. 1 article id 4983. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14837

Abstract

The success of certain Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) provenances from Northern Finland was studied in a tree damage area occasioned by air pollution in the town of Oulu over the period of 1972-76. The pine strains from more northerly and easterly areas and the spruce strains from the immediate vicinity of the site itself were being observed to thrive best. The results point in a similar direction to those of other comparable experiments, except that the mortality rate amongst the saplings was exceptionally high and the proportion of healthy saplings in good condition was found to be unusually low. Structural properties suggestive of resistance to pollution were observable selectively in certain provenances, these including the xeromorphy of needles or thickness of the epidermis. The chief cause of mortality amongst the saplings was found to be the damage inflicted by pollution during the winter, while that arising in the summer months was relatively slight.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

Keywords
Pinus sylvestris; Norway spruce; Scots pine; provenance; northern Finland; mortality; seedlings; air pollution; Picea abes

Published in 1978

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14837 | Download PDF