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Articles by Raija Laiho

Category : Research article

article id 2017, category Research article

Pentti Niemistö, Soili Kojola, Anssi Ahtikoski, Raija Laiho. (2017). From useless thickets to valuable resource? – Financial performance of downy birch management on drained peatlands. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 3 article id 2017. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.2017

Keywords: forest management; Betula pubescens; thinning; energy wood; pulpwood; profitability; final cutting

Highlights: The most profitable management regimes for pulpwood and energy wood production in dense downy birch stands on drained peatlands include no thinnings, but final cutting at the stand age of 40–45 years as whole-tree harvesting, or as integrated harvesting of pulpwood and delimbed energy wood stems about 10 years later depending on applicable harvesting method; A competitive management regime is early precommercial thinning at 4 m dominant height to a density of 2500 stems per hectare and production of pulpwood with a rotation of 55–65 years. Equal profitability is achieved with or without traditional first thinning, which can thus be included for other reasons, for example to improve regeneration of spruce.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) stands on drained peatlands are often considered useless because they typically do not yield good-quality sawn timber. However, covering an area of ca. 0.5 million hectares and with total yields of up to 250 m³ ha^–1, downy birch stands on peatlands in Finland have a potential for pulpwood and/or energy wood production. We examined the financial performance of alternative management regimes (with or without thinnings, different thinning intensities, several rotation lengths) combined with alternative harvesting methods (pulpwood, energy wood, or integrated, energy wood being delimbed stems or whole trees). We used data from 19 experimental stands, monitored for 20–30 years. For harvesting removals we considered both actual thinning removals and final-cutting removals with alternative timings that were based on the monitoring data. We assessed the profitability as a combination of the net present value of the birch generation and the bare land value of future generations of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). The most profitable management was growing without thinnings until whole-tree final cutting at the stand age of 40–45 years with an advanced multi-tree harvesting method. In contrast, the standard method in whole-tree final cutting resulted in the lowest profitability, and an integrated method with the energy wood as delimbed stems was the best of the standard methods. Thinnings were unprofitable especially when aiming to produce energy wood, whereas aiming for pulpwood, light precommercial thinning was competitive. Commercial thinning at the traditional “pulpwood stage” had little effect on profitability. The best stand age for final cutting was 40–65 years – earlier for very dense stands and whole-tree energy wood harvesting with advanced method, later for precommercially thinned stands and pulpwood harvesting.

Niemistö, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Kampusranta 9 C, 60320 Seinäjoki, Finland E-mail: pentti.niemisto@luke.fi
Kojola, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: soili.kojola@luke.fi
Ahtikoski, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Paavo Havaksentie 3, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland E-mail: anssi.ahtikoski@luke.fi
Laiho, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: raija.laiho@luke.fi

article id 233, category Research article

Raija Laiho, Sakari Sarkkola, Seppo Kaunisto, Jukka Laine, Kari Minkkinen. (2008). Macroscale variation in peat element concentrations in drained boreal peatland forests. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 4 article id 233. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.233

Keywords: drainage; peat soil; nutrient deficiencies; spatial variation; soil nutrients

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Information on the variation in soil element concentrations at different spatial scales is needed for, e.g., designing efficient sampling strategies, upscaling the processes related to carbon cycling, and planning land use and management. In spite of intensive land use, such information concerning peat soils is still scarce. We analyzed the variation in peat mineral element concentrations in boreal peatland forests drained 50–60 years earlier. We wanted to quantify the proportions of variation deriving from differences between regions and peatland basins and from within-peatland heterogeneity, and to model the variation using relatively easily measurable site and soil characteristics. We utilized 878 peat samples representing the 0–20 cm layer and collected from 289 sites in 79 peatland basins. The sites represented three different drained peatland forest site types. The two strongest gradients in the element composition captured by principal component analysis were correlated with both the North-South gradient and the site type variation, and the East-West gradient. In general, most of the variation in the element concentrations was contributed by differences among peatland basins, and variation within the floristically determined sites. Most of the element concentrations were best modeled when either the bulk density or the ash content of the peat, or both, were used in addition to site type and geographical location. The explanatory power remained modest for most element concentrations. As for the P concentrations in soil, however, our models provide means for estimating a large part of the variation among drained pine mire sites.

Laiho, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Ecology, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: raija.laiho@helsinki.fi
Sarkkola, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: ss@nn.fi
Kaunisto, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Parkano Research Unit, Kaironiementie 54, FI-39700 Parkano, Finland E-mail: sk@nn.fi
Laine, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Parkano Research Unit, Kaironiementie 54, FI-39700 Parkano, Finland E-mail: jl@nn.fi
Minkkinen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Ecology, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: km@nn.fi

article id 340, category Research article

Petteri Muukkonen, Raisa Mäkipää, Raija Laiho, Kari Minkkinen, Harri Vasander, Leena Finér. (2006). Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of boreal coniferous forests. Silva Fennica vol. 40 no. 2 article id 340. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.340

Keywords: upland soils; peatlands; biomass models; ground vegetation

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In the present study, the aboveground biomass of the understorey vegetation of boreal coniferous forests was modelled according to the percentage cover. A total of 224 observations from 22 stands in upland forests and 195 observations from 14 different studies in peatland forests were utilized for the present analyses. The relationships between biomass and percentage cover can be used in ecosystem and carbon-cycle modelling as a rapid nondestructive method for estimation of the aboveground biomass of lichens, bryophytes, herbs and grasses, and dwarf shrubs in upland forests and bottom and field layers in peatland forests.

Muukkonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: petteri.muukkonen@metla.fi
Mäkipää, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Unioninkatu 40 A, FI-00170 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: rm@nn.fi
Laiho, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: rl@nn.fi
Minkkinen, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: km@nn.fi
Vasander, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hv@nn.fi
Finér, Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 68, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: lf@nn.fi

article id 407, category Research article

Soili Kojola, Timo Penttilä, Raija Laiho. (2004). Impacts of different thinning regimes on the yield of uneven-structured Scots pine stands on drained peatland. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 4 article id 407. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.407

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; stand structure; silviculture; growth and yield; peatland forestry; intermediate cuttings

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Drained peatlands in northern Europe comprise more than 10 million ha of forestland and thus constitute a considerable production potential in forestry. Much of this area consists of stands dominated by Scots pine and close to maturity regarding commercial thinning. The trees within these stands typically vary in terms of age, size, and growth rate. The impacts of silvicultural cuttings on these uneven-structured stands are inadequately known. We simulated the impacts of a control regime with no thinnings, and three different thinning regimes, involving different thinning intensities, on the development of fifteen pine-dominated stands in Finland. The simulations started from the first thinnings and were continued until regeneration maturity. The predicted total yields ranged from 244 to 595 m3 ha–1, depending on site and thinning regime. The highest total yields were observed for the control regime in which 18–38% of the yield was, however, predicted to self-thin by the end of the simulation. Thus, the differences in the yields of merchantable wood were fairly small among the compared regimes. However, the regimes involving thinnings generally needed less time than the control regime to reach regeneration maturity. The mean annual increment of total stem volume was at its highest in the control regime. The highest mean annual increment of merchantable wood was obtained in the regime involving two moderate thinnings, but excluding the most low-productive sites where thinnings did not increase the yield of merchantable wood.

Kojola, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: soili.kojola@metla.fi
Penttilä, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: tp@nn.fi
Laiho, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: rl@nn.fi

article id 433, category Research article

Raija Laiho, Timo Penttilä, Jukka Laine. (2004). Variation in soil nutrient concentrations and bulk density within peatland forest sites. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 1 article id 433. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.433

Keywords: thinning; drainage; peat soil; spatial variation; nutrients; bulk density; sampling; variance components

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The within-site variability of soil characteristics on sites with different soil types remains poorly quantified, although this information is crucial for the success of research on soil properties, and especially for monitoring soil properties over time. We used coefficients of variation and multilevel variance component models to examine the within-site variation of soil (0–30 cm) mineral nutrient concentrations (P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, mg g–1; Mn, Zn, mg g–1) and bulk density (kg m–3) on boreal deep-peat sites. We then evaluated the reliability of the site-level estimates (sample means) obtained using different sampling intensities (numbers of samples per site). Our 11 sites represented a single original site type within the oligotrophic nutrient level. Two of the sites were undrained while the rest had been drained for forestry at different points in time. Overall, P concentrations showed the smallest and Mn concentrations the largest within-site variation. The sampling depth contributed more than 50% of the total variance in all other characteristics except the concentrations of P and Fe, and bulk density. The variance proportions of peatland basin, site (within basin), and sampling location (within site) varied by sampling depth for most soil characteristics. The estimates obtained when using a certain number of samples per site were always more reliable for the 0–30 cm layer’s composite samples than for any single 10-cm layer at any depth sampled. On average, it was found that between 4 (P) and some 200 (Mn) samples per site would be needed for the estimates to have a theoretical 10% maximum deviation.

Laiho, Univ. of Helsinki, Dept. of Forest Ecology, Peatland Ecology Group, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: raija.laiho@helsinki.fi
Penttilä, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: tp@nn.fi
Laine, Univ. of Helsinki, Dept. of Forest Ecology, Peatland Ecology Group, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: jl@nn.fi

article id 494, category Research article

Antero Varhimo, Soili Kojola, Timo Penttilä, Raija Laiho. (2003). Quality and yield of pulpwood in drained peatland forests: pulpwood properties of Scots pine in stands of first commercial thinnings. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 3 article id 494. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.494

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; peatland; thinning; silviculture; pulpwood; fiber; pulping

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The inherent structural dynamics of drained peatland forests may result in a great variation in various wood and fiber properties. We examined variation in fiber and pulp properties i) among stands, ii) among trees within stands, and iii) within trees in young stands dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The stands, selected to cover a maximal range of the potential variation, were all at a stage of development where the first commercial thinnings would be feasible. Differences in the processability of the thinning removals were small. In similar kraft cooking conditions, a 5-unit variation in the kappa number of unbleached pulp was observed among the stands. Stand origin had no effect on pulp bleaching. The wood formed prior to drainage had a higher density, shorter fibers, was slightly slower delignified by cooking, and its yield was slightly lower than that of post-drainage wood. These properties, except for high density, are typical for juvenile wood in general, and at stand level they did not correlate with the proportion of pre-drainage wood. When the variation in fiber and pulp properties was broken down into its components, most of it was derived from tree-level in all the cases. On average, the fiber and pulp properties did not differ from those observed for first-thinning pulpwood from upland sites. Consequently, peatland-grown pulpwood may be mixed with other pulpwood in industrial processes. It would probably be best suited as the raw material for pulps with high bonding requirements, e.g. in the top ply of multi-ply board grades or in some specialty grades.

Varhimo, KCL, P.O. Box 70, FIN-02151 Espoo, Finland E-mail: antero.varhimo@kcl.fi
Kojola, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: sk@nn.fi
Penttilä, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: sp@nn.fi
Laiho, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: raija.laiho@helsinki.fi

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