Full text of this article is only available in PDF format.

Silvia Lamedica, Emanuele Lingua, Ionel Popa, Renzo Motta, Marco Carrer (email)

Spatial structure in four Norway spruce stands with different management history in the Alps and Carpathians

Lamedica S., Lingua E., Popa I., Motta R., Carrer M. (2011). Spatial structure in four Norway spruce stands with different management history in the Alps and Carpathians. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 75. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.75

Abstract

In Europe most Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) mountain forests have been altered by human activities, leading to a lack of reference condition concerning their original structure. Nonetheless, remnants of Norway spruce primeval forests still exist in the Carpathians. Our objective was to assess the differences in structure between managed and unmanaged stands, concerning diameter distributions, amount of standing deadwood, spatial distributions and spatial structure of trees. We established four permanent plots: one in a virgin forest in the Eastern Carpathians and three in a previously managed forest in the Alps. In each plot, species, DBH, and position of the live and dead standing trees were collected. Spatial distribution and structure of all the trees was analysed through several indices. In the Carpathians forest there are clear signs of natural density-dependent mortality processes whereas in the Alpine plots such dynamics are less evident. In these latter plots, the lower snags volume and the random trees spatial distribution can be considered the legacies of past management. Nonetheless, despite the different history of the four stands, they all seem to converge towards a similar spatial structure with the presence of groups (30–40 m) of trees of similar size.

Keywords
Picea abies; LISA; old-growth forests; point pattern analyses; random mortality; spatial structure

Author Info
  • Lamedica, Forest Ecology Research Unit, Dept TeSAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy E-mail sl@nn.it
  • Lingua, Forest Ecology Research Unit, Dept TeSAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy E-mail el@nn.it
  • Popa, Forest Research and Management Institute, Research Station for Norway Spruce Silviculture, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Romania E-mail ip@nn.ro
  • Motta, Department AGROSELVITER, University of Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy E-mail rm@nn.it
  • Carrer, Forest Ecology Research Unit, Dept TeSAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy E-mail marco.carrer@unipd.it (email)

Received 1 November 2010 Accepted 14 October 2011 Published 31 December 2011

Views 4566

Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.75 | Download PDF

Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0

Register
Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.
Log in
If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.
Contents alert
Sign up to receive alerts of new content

Your selected articles
Send to email
Lamedica S., Lingua E. et al. (2011) Spatial structure in four Norway spruce stands w.. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 75 (remove) | Edit comment
Your search results