Abstract
Pine-spruce forests are one of the commonest mixed forest types in Europe and both tree species are very important for wood supply. This study summarized nine European studies with Scots pine and Norway spruce where a mixed-species stand and both monocultures were located in an experimental set-up. Overyielding (where growth of a mixed stand was greater than the average of both monocultures) was relatively common and often ranged between 0% and 30%, but could also be negative at individual study sites. Each individual site demonstrated consistent patterns of the mixing effect over different measurement periods. Transgressive overyielding (where the mixed-species stand was more productive than either of the monocultures) was found at three study sites, while a monoculture was more productive on the other sites. Large variation between study sites indicated that the existing experiments do not fully represent the extensive region where this mixed pine-spruce forest can occur. Pooled increment data displayed a negative influence of latitude and stand age on the mixing effect of those tree species in forests younger than 70 years.
Highlights
IntroductionNorway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) are among the commonest tree species in northern European forests and together cover more than 150 million hectares [1,2].Both tree species can co-exist on a wide range of sites, but late-successional Norway spruce prevailsForests 2018, 9, 495; doi:10.3390/f9080495 www.mdpi.com/journal/forestsForests 2018, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW under moister conditions whileconditions the pioneerScots dominates on dominates drier and more nutrient-poor spruce prevails under moister while thepine pioneerScots pine on drier and more sites [3,4].The natural distribution of both species overlaps in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, nutrient-poor sites [3,4]
Both(Figure tree species are of species major economic importance due to their of central and southern
The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of species mixing of Scots pine and Norway spruce on forest productivity at a stand level in order to answer the following three research questions: 1
Summary
Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) are among the commonest tree species in northern European forests and together cover more than 150 million hectares [1,2].Both tree species can co-exist on a wide range of sites, but late-successional Norway spruce prevailsForests 2018, 9, 495; doi:10.3390/f9080495 www.mdpi.com/journal/forestsForests 2018, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW under moister conditions whileconditions the pioneerScots dominates on dominates drier and more nutrient-poor spruce prevails under moister while thepine pioneerScots pine on drier and more sites [3,4].The natural distribution of both species overlaps in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, nutrient-poor sites [3,4]. Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) are among the commonest tree species in northern European forests and together cover more than 150 million hectares [1,2]. Both tree species can co-exist on a wide range of sites, but late-successional Norway spruce prevails. The natural distribution of both species overlaps in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, nutrient-poor sites [3,4]. The natural distribution of both species overlaps in Norway,NW theFinland, Baltic countries, and NE Poland, as and wellNE asPoland, in some of central. Both tree are of major economic importance productivity the wide range ofwide usesrange of theoftimber
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