Abstract
ABSTRACTThe size growth patterns of major coniferous trees species Pinus densiflora (Pd), Pinus koraiensis (Pk), and Larix kaempferi (Lk) in South Korea were found and compared using stem analysis. A dominant or co-dominant tree selected from each of 131 sites (39 sites for Pd, 47 sites for Pk, and 45 sites for Lk) was stemmed and analyzed for the study. Total increment (TI), periodic annual increments (PAI), mean annual increments (MAI), and growth percentage of diameter at breast height (DBH), height, and volume were numerically and statistically compared among the three tree species. As the trees age the total DBH growths of Pk and Lk were similar to each other but higher than that of Pd. A noticeable difference of total height growth was shown among the trees and the total height increment was Lk > Pk > Pd. Like the total height growth, the volume difference was noticeably different among the trees and the growth was Lk > Pk > Pd. Given no difference of DBH between Lk and Pk, the volume difference between the two species was due to height. Unlike DBH and height, MAI and PAI of volume did not meet together.. This inferred that the volume growth was still vigorous to reach the rotation age. Growth percentages of DBH, height, and volume tended to decrease with age and no difference was shown among the tree species. The growth percentage of volume was higher than that of DBH and height, while there was no difference between DBH and height.
Highlights
The principle reason for analyzing the past growth of trees is to establish a pattern for predicting future growth (Avery and Burkhart 2002)
The mean annual increments (MAI) culmination was smaller than the periodic annual increments (PAI) but had a similar pattern; MAI of Larix kaempferi (Lk), Pinus koraiensis (Pk), and Pinus densiflora (Pd) peaked at 0.79 cm at age 20, 0.75 cm at age 30 and 0.63 cm at age 35, respectively, where MAI and PAI came together
Unlike total diameter at breast height (DBH) growth a noticeable difference was shown among total height growths of Pd, Pk, and Lk (p < 0.0001) and the total increment of height was Lk > Pk > Pd as the trees age (Figure 3)
Summary
The principle reason for analyzing the past growth of trees is to establish a pattern for predicting future growth (Avery and Burkhart 2002). In South Korea many studies using stem analysis have been carried out on modeling growth parameters of diameter, height, stem volume, site index, or stand density (Ma 1997; Park and Chung 1999; Lee 2002; Lee 2003; Choi and Yoo 2006; Jeon et al 2007; Lee et al 2009), while, even with limited stem data, there have been only a few studies (Seo et al 2014, 2015) conducted on the size growth patterns of diameter, height, and volume for trees. As the importance of domestic wood supply and utilization increases, there are greater concerns over how to grow and manage these tree species as well as on how much timber to supply in the future
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