Forest Productivity Enhancement and Compensatory Growth: A Review and Synthesis

Chao Li,Robert Lalonde,Hugh Barclay,Bernard Roitberg

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.575211

Abstract

This review and synthesis article attempts to integrate observations from forestry to contemporary development in related biological research fields to explore the issue of forest productivity enhancement and its contributions in mitigating the wood supply shortage now facing the forest sector. Compensatory growth has been clearly demonstrated in the long-term precommercial thinning and fertilization trial near the Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada. This phenomenon appears similar to many observations from other biological fields. The concept of compensatory growth can be applied to forest productivity enhancement through overcompensation, by taking advantage of theories and methods developed in other compensatory growth research. Modeling technology provides an alternative approach in elucidating the mechanisms of overcompensation, which could reveal whether the Shawnigan Lake case could be generalized to other tree species and regions. A new mitigation strategy for dealing with issues related to wood supply shortage could be formed through searching for and creating conditions promoting overcompensation. A forest growth model that is state dependent could provide a way of investigating the effect of partial harvest on forest growth trajectories and stand dynamics. Results from such a study could provide cost-effective decision support tools to practitioners.

Highlights

Forest productivity has historically been a central concern in forestry, due to its close relation to timber production (Leuschner, 1984; Avery and Burkhart, 1994; Wenger, 1984) and ecosystem services such as biodiversity and wildlife habitat protection (Jenkins and Schaap, 2018; Felton et al, 2020) and carbon storage (Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, 2000; Davis et al, 2001)
compensatory growth (CG) is common in organisms from both plant and animal kingdoms despite different terminologies used to describe them in the literature
CG encompasses a continuum from undercompensation to full compensation, and to overcompensation

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Forest productivity has historically been a central concern in forestry, due to its close relation to timber production (Leuschner, 1984; Avery and Burkhart, 1994; Wenger, 1984) and ecosystem services such as biodiversity and wildlife habitat protection (Jenkins and Schaap, 2018; Felton et al, 2020) and carbon storage (Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, 2000; Davis et al, 2001). It is easy to see that PCT reduces stand density and results in trees with larger diameters than those from untreated sites This outcome is so common that it has been routinely applied in forestry practices to obtain tree forms that are most desirable for later processing into lumber products. If this increased growth rate persists in the long term, any volume initially lost in PCT operations will be replaced over time and eventually the total stand volume will equal or even exceed stand volumes produced in untreated sites (Montoro Girona et al, 2017). If PCT can serve as a stimulus to the remaining trees, what sorts of optimal thinning operations are needed to obtain maximized overcompensation?

Objectives of This Review and Synthesis

Findings

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS