Novel Yield Model of Pinus patula Schltdl. & Cham. Growth near the Ecological Limit in Northwestern Peruvian Andes

Abstract

Forest plantations with exotic species in the northwestern Peruvian Andes have brought different ecosystem benefits. The wood productivity in this Páramo region is directly related to the great availability of water from abundant rainfall compared to other regions of the semi-arid Andes. To address the lack of information on forest inventories of plantations in the Páramo region, this study used annual growth rings (dendrochronology) to build new models of tree growth and wood productivity and compared 22-year-old Pinus patula plots with thinning and unthinning treatments. Our results show that late thinning, removing 63% of stem density in the 15th year, does not have significant effects on the diameter increase or stand-level productivity. For these plantations, we propose a management rotation of 21 years with a first thinning treatment (35%) at 5 years and a second thinning treatment (50%) at 12 years. Production at 21 years is expected to be between 194.6 m3 ha−1 and 504.6 m3 ha−1 for stands with low and high wood productivity, respectively. Tree-ring studies are potentially useful for monitoring forest plantations and provide an alternative method for forest managers who use allometric equations to predict silvicultural treatments and to propose management guides for plantations.