Following the appointment of the new Cabinet, the Forest Sector now reports to the ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts, while the Wildlife and Parks Sectors report to the ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte aux changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs. Adjustments will be made to the website over time.

Back to publications

Relationships between tree vigor indices and a tree classification system based upon apparent stem defects in northern hardwood stands

Summary

Published in Forests 9(10): 588. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9100588 

Many northern hardwood stands include several low-vigor trees as a result of past management. To restore these degraded stands, partial cuts are applied with partly validated tree classification systems that are based upon apparent stem defects. We sampled 214 sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and 84 yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) trees from six sites covering the northern hardwood forest zone of the Province of Quebec, Canada. We evaluated their vigor with a four-class system, and quantified the growth efficiency index and several indices that were based solely upon radial growth. The growth efficiency index increased non-significantly with increasing tree vigor class. The five-year basal area increment (BAI-1-5) was significantly different between the lowest and highest tree vigor classes. Yet, temporal changes in BAI-1-5 helped classify correctly only 16% of high-vigor trees that became poorly vigorous 8–10 years later. Overall, these results suggest that the tree classification system is weakly related to actual tree vigor and its application likely generates few significant gains in future stand vigor. Modifying and simplifying the tree vigor system must be considered to facilitate the tree marking process that is required to improve the vigor of degraded stands.

Sector(s): 

Forests

Categorie(s): 

Scientific Article

Theme(s): 

Forestry Research, Forests, Silviculture

Departmental author(s): 

Bédard, Steve

Author(s)

MOREAU, Edouard, Steve BÉDARD, Guillaume MOREAU and David POTHIER

Year of publication :

2018

Format :

PDF available upon request

ISSN

1999-4907

Keywords :

érable à sucre, bouleau jaune, vigueur, indice d'efficacité de croissance, marquage des arbres, sylviculture et rendement des forêts naturelles - peuplements feuillus, article scientifique de recherche forestière, Acer saccharum, Betula alleghaniensis, silviculture and yield of natural forests - hardwood stands, sugar maple, yello birch, tree vigor, growth efficiency index, tree selction

Partagez