Abstract
Umbrella pine (Pinus pinea L.) cones take three years to develop. With the increasing frequency of extreme droughts, water available for trees has decreased—climate change is a reality. The cone’s survival in its first two years of development and the average cone weight during its last year of maturation is affected, thus, reducing kernel quantity and quality. Climate change has resulted in forest fires becoming an inescapable issue in forest management planning. A literature review was carried out, focusing, on one hand, the predicted climatic changes for the Mediterranean basin and, on the other hand, the umbrella pine silvicultural mechanisms at tree, stand, and landscape levels that may help to face these constraints. Finally, the Portuguese case was focused, describing the management practices that are being adopted to achieve, even when the period of cone formation and growth include dry years, one to six tons of cones per hectare per year in adult stands.
Highlights
Umbrella pine (Pinus pinea L.) is widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin, where it is native, covering more than 700,000 ha as the dominant species [1], with a recent increasing expansion owing forest restoration or farmland afforestation [1,2]
Results data available show that higher cone productions occur in trees with large diameter at breastThe height and large crown diameter
It is important to emphasize that the higher cone production occurred in adult, naturally regenerated or seeded mixed stands which are dominated by umbrella pines with large crowns
Summary
Umbrella pine (Pinus pinea L.) is widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin, where it is native, covering more than 700,000 ha as the dominant species [1], with a recent increasing expansion owing forest restoration or farmland afforestation [1,2]. Its stands are predominantly managed for nut production and, secondarily, for timber production This region, at the Portuguese southeast cost, with an altitude lower than 200 m, has a markedly Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and winters milder than in the Continental Mediterranean Climate, water shortage being a more limiting factor than winter temperature. The objective is to use the available research results to provide some guidance for umbrella pine stands for cone production management established at the Mediterranean climate zone in order to face climate changes. It considers different aspects such as umbrella pine development, cone production management, and landscape resilience to fire spread. Some suggestions for adaptive forest management are brought into context with the results of other studies
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