Articles containing the keyword 'winter temperatures'

The European Pine Sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer Geoffroy) is one of the most serious defoliators of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in northern Europe. We studied the pattern in the regional occurrence of the outbreaks of N. sertifer in Finland in years 1961-90, and made predictions about the outbreak pattern to the year 2050 after predicted winter warming. We tested whether minimum winter temperatures and forest type and soil properties could explain the observed outbreak pattern. We analysed outbreak patterns at two different spatial levels: forest board- and municipal-level.

The proportion of coniferous forests on damage-susceptible soils (dry and infertile sites) explained a significant part of the variation in outbreak frequency at small spatial scale (municipalities) but not at large spatial scale (forest boards). At the forest board level, the incidence of minimum temperatures below -36 °C (= the critical value for egg mortality) explains 33% of the variation in the outbreak pattern, and at the municipal level the incidence of cold winters was also the most significant explaining variable in northern Finland. Egg mortality due to cold winters seems to be the most parsimonious factor explaining why there have been so few N. sertifer outbreaks in northern and north-eastern Finland. We predict that climate change (increased winter temperatures) may increase the frequency of outbreaks in eastern and northern Finland in the future.

• Virtanen, E-mail: tv@mm.unknown
• Neuvonen, E-mail: sn@mm.unknown
• Niemelä, E-mail: pn@mm.unknown
• Nikula, E-mail: an@mm.unknown
• Varama, E-mail: mv@mm.unknown

A total of 1,800 3-year old seedlings of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) from two Norwegian and one German provenance were treated with two different nitrogen levels during the 1992 growth season. The plants were kept during the following winter at two different temperature levels. In the spring of 1993, the nutrient application was resumed, and the plants were divided between three different treatments, 350 and 650 p.p.m. in open top chamber and a control plot outside the chambers. This treatment was repeated also during the following 1994 growth season.

The growth and primary production were studied by photosynthesis experiments and by non-destructive growth measurements. The result indicate that raised winter temperature may lead to increased needle loss and reduced growth the following season, particularly in northern provenances. Carbon dioxide significantly influenced growth in addition to nutrient level and winter temperature. High CO2 also seemed to cause increased photosynthesis at early season, and earlier budbreak and growth cessation than in control plants.

• Skre, E-mail: os@mm.unknown
• Nes, E-mail: kn@mm.unknown