Current issue: 58(4)
When the seed harvest of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) are low, pine and spruce buds are among the secondary food items of squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris L.) in Finland. In this study, conducted in Nokia in Southern Finland in 1962-1963, eating of pine buds by squirrel is described. The eaten buds in 15-years old Scots pine seedlings were recorded in two seedling stands.
According to the results, the squirrels selected the largest buds of the best seedlings in the studied stands. In over 50% of the cases the squirrels chose only the buds of the leading shoot, especially the terminal bud. In half of the trees, a side bud of the leading shoot continued the growth, which causes form defects in the trees. In 35% of the damaged trees, a lateral branch continued the growth. Well-growing seedling stands may be especially susceptible for damages caused by, for instance, squirrels.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The present study is an attempt to clarify the decrease in growth, or the increment loss, caused by sudden reduction of growth of the growing stock below a certain level, and to find a method for its determination. Increment loss is defined as a decrease in growth during the rotation due to a deficient stock volume. The material consists of Koivisto’s yield tables for repeatedly thinned stands in Southern Finland, and the results of the Third National Forest Inventory concerning the mean volume and increment in the productive sites.
For the calculation of increment loss three formulae were constructed where the increment loss is calculated 1) as the difference between the removal by thinnings in normally developed stands during a time equal with the period of deficient stock and the suddenly removed stock, 2) according to the compound interest calculation principle as the sum of the differences which are obtained by subtracting from the removal in each thinning during the period of deficient stock its initial value, and 3) as the straight interest of the stock deficiency during the period of deficient stock.
According to the calculations, the increment loss is greatest in stands to be grown, viz. 50 m3 solid measure excluding bark per hectare tended Norway spruce stands on Oxalis-Myrtillus type sites at 40% deficiency below minimum stock. In stands to be regenerated the losses are, too, greatest in the similar stands. It exceeds 200 m3/ha when stands younger than 50 years have to been regenerated and the removal amounts to 50% of the stock. In stands to be regenerated the increment loss for spruce, due to the slow initial development by the species, is greater than for Scots pine and birch. The loss is the same at different period of age if the relative deficiency of the stock is of equal size.
According to the study, each stand has a characteristic variation in the increment loss which depends mainly on the relative degree of deficiency from the minimum stock. The formulae and methods can be used to determine the increment loss in average and better stands in Southern Finland when the stock suddenly decreases.
The PDF includes a summary in English.