Five-year radial growth of red oaks in mixed bottomland hardwood stands

• Published in: Forest ecology and management 2008-04, Vol.255 (7), p.2790-2800
• Main Authors: Dimov, Luben D., Chambers, Jim L., Lockhart, Brian Roy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: age structure; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; basal area; Biological and medical sciences; crop trees; diameter growth; distance; Erythrobalanus; Forest management. Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration; forest stands; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; hardwood forests; Inter- and intra-genus competition; light; lowland forests; Mixed bottomland hardwoods; overstory; plant competition; prediction; Quercus; radial growth; Red oak growth; spatial distribution; Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration; statistical analysis; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; tree and stand measurements; tree crown; tree growth; trees; vigor
• ISSN: 0378-1127; 1872-7042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2008.01.070

We studied the relationships among 5-year radial (diameter and basal area) growth of red oak (genus Quercus, subgenus Erythrobalanus) crop trees and predictor variables representing individual tree vigor, distance-dependant competition measures, and distance-independent competition measures. The red oaks we examined are representative of the commercially and ecologically important oak species of the bottomland hardwood forests of the southeastern US. The crown class score, a quantitative measure of crown class and tree vigor, performed best in accounting for the variability in tree diameter growth. Plot-level variables failed to account for a significant proportion of the variability in tree radial growth. The basal area of the first-order neighbors that were taller than the crop trees and located within 2.4 times the mean overstory crown radius had the highest negative correlation with crop tree 5-year radial growth. Red oaks were a major part of these competitors and likely exerted the greatest competitive pressure. However, crop tree radial growth was positively associated with the basal area of the red oaks which were indirect (second order) neighbors and which were taller than the crop trees. It is possible that indirect neighbors do not compete with the crop trees, but they likely compete with the direct competitors of the crop trees, thus having an indirect positive influence on crop tree growth. Such reasoning is consistent with previously observed spatial dependence up to four times the mean overstory crown radius. The findings may have implications for thinning hardwoods stands and crop tree management in that foresters need to take into account (1) oak intra-genus competition, (2) the negative competitive effect of direct neighbors, and (3) the potentially positive effect of the indirect neighbors, the competitors’ competitors.