Analysis of the growth characteristics of a 450-year-old silver fir tree
2015
The growth characteristics of silver fir are of high importance for selection
forest management, and for the current aims laid out in Serbia’s forest
management focused on increasing the share of silver firs in Serbia’s growing
stock. With the objective of increasing the understanding of the growth
characteristics of silver fir, the growth of two silver fir trees felled
during forest site production research on Mt. Goc, located in Central Serbia,
have been analyzed. Both trees showed significant differences in their growth
dynamics over long periods as results of micro-site and micro-stand effects
(primarily ambient light regime). The common growth characteristic of the two
trees, a 450-year-old tree as the main study object (labeled Tree A) and a
270-year-old Tree B is a long stagnation stage. For Tree A the latent phase,
with small interruptions, lasted 410 years; one phase lasted 330 years in
continuity, which is the longest period of silver fir stagnation recorded in
Europe. Tree B showed a long-lasting stagnation stage that lasted 170 years.
The long stagnation stage of Tree A, characterized by an average diameter
increment of 1.4 mm/year (average growth ring width of 0.7 mm) and an average
height increment of 0.08 m/year, shows the extraordinary silver fir capacity
for physiological survival in complete shade. This study adds to the existing
knowledge of the shade tolerance of the silver fir. Therefore, the silver fir
belongs to the group of extremely shade-tolerant tree species. This
characteristic makes silver fir an irreplaceable tree species in the
selection forest structure. It offers a wide range of silvicultural
flexibility in the management of these forests, and is applicable to silver
fir selection Serbia’s forests. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike
Srbije, br. EVBR 37008: Sustainable management of total forest potentials in
the Republic of Serbia]
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