Exploring life growth patterns in birch (Betula pendula)

ABSTRACT

The conversion of homogeneous plantations of conifers to mixed or broadleaved forests is part of sustainable forest management strategies in Western Europe. For the conversion of pine plantations on sandy soils, birch seems a convenient choice. Yet, thus far, little is known about the growth of mature birches outside Northern Europe. We sampled 32 birch trees in forests throughout the sandy ecoregion in northern Belgium at sites that varied in soil and local stand conditions. Half of the birches showed the characteristic pattern in growth (expressed as basal area increment) with a sharply increasing growth till around the age of 25 years followed by a steep decrease in growth. The growth was strongly related to tree age and crown dimensions, only weakly related to soil conditions, and not related to the local stand conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Tree ring cores
• growth modelling
• temperate forest
• silver birch
• competition index

Acknowledgements

We thank Ben Spiessens for collecting the data in the framework of his MSc thesis and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Margot Vanhellemont was funded as a postdoctoral fellow of FWO-Vlaanderen.