Optimal planting times for freshly lifted bare-rooted conifers on the North York Moors

Two-year-old Picea sitchensis (Queen Charlotte Islands and Oregonprovenances), Pseudotsuga menziesii, Larix kaempferi, Larixeurolepis, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus nigra var. maritima werelifted at intervals during two winters and planted within 24h on a nearby second rotation site. Physiological conditionat planting, measured by root growth potential and fine rootelectrolyte leakage, and outplanting performance were significantlyinfluenced by lifting date. There were consistent differencesin the species' response to lifting date. Planting out in Septemberresulted in poor survival. Survival of P. sitchensis liftedin October until April was >90 per cent. Pinus sylvestrisand P. nigra had survivals of >90 per cent when lifted inNovember and January respectively until March. There was noclear pattern in P. menziesii performance. Both L. kaempferiand L. eurolepis had two periods of good survival—Octoberand March—with significantly poorer survival and growthassociated with mid-winter planting. The double peak in larchperformance was closely related to root growth potential; lowmid-winter establishment was associated with root growth potentialsof <5 even though the nursery root systems were in excellentcondition as assessed by electrolyte leakage.     

THIRTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORESTATION TECHNIQUES ON DIFFICULT GROUND TYPES IN SOUTH-WEST SCOTLAND

The development of ploughing, draining, planting, and the useof turfs and of phosphate is considered in detail for each oftwo main types. For Molinia lands, the 1952 technique securesadequate drainage and a very considerable turnover of turf,and here the spruces Picea abies Karst. and P. sitcbensis Carr.remain the first choice. For Calluna lands, the developmentof methods and the choice of species is more difficult. Thespruces refuse to grow pure and unnursed on the poorer Callunatypes and the use of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), P. contortaDoug., the Mountain pine (P. uncinata Ramond), Japanese larch(Larix leptolepis Gord.), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifoliaBrit.) is discussed. The main requirements for successful afforestationof these ground types are summarized.     

Silvicultural Characteristics of Abies equi-trojani Aschers-Sinten and Growth Relationships between Pinus nigra Arnold var. pallasiana Endl and Abies equi-trojani in Mixed Natural Forests of Turkey

Pinus nigra Arnold var. pallasiana Endl. and Abies equi-trojaniAschers-Sinten are indigenous species of Turkey. The area ofPinus nigra is very large (more than 2 million hectares) occurringin the west, south and north of Turkey. However, Abies equi-trojanioccurs only in the west of Turkey in the Ida Mountains (Kazdagi)and is of limited area (5500 ha).These two species naturallyform both mixed stands and pure stands in the Ida Mountains. When mixed stands of Pinus nigra and Abies equi-trojani areregenerated, if the seedlings of these two species regeneratesimultaneously, the Pinus nigra will be eliminated from thestand in 15 to 25 years because of the rapid growth of Abiesequi-trojani. In different site conditions, Abies equi-trojanireaches 22–30 m in height and 40–65 cm in diameterin 70 years, whereas Pinus nigra reaches 17–22 m in heightand 25–40cm in diameter in the same period in the sameforest sites.     

Nursery fertilization enhances survival and physiological status in Canary Island pine (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus canariensis</Emphasis>) seedlings planted in a semiarid environment

We tested the hypothesis that fertilized containerized Pinus canariensis seedlings increases survival when planted in semiarid sites through the improvement of their physiological status during the establishment phase by an increment in root growth. Seedlings were cultured under two different regimes: traditional (in non-fertilized natural soil) and alternative (in fertilized peat). Morphological attributes and nitrogen content were measured before planting. Measurements of survival and growth in the plantation were made periodically for 2 years and physiological plant responses (leaf water potential, gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence) during the third summer after planting were tested and finally a set of plants were excavated to measure the same parameters as before planting. Seedlings cultivated using fertilized peat achieved the highest values for all of evaluated parameters. During the third dry season, big seedlings exhibited better physiological status. Therefore, enhanced root growth can result in better water uptake during the dry period thereby increasing survival and growth in the next few years after planting. A feed-back physiological model is proposed to explain P. canariensis establishment in a semiarid environment.     

Effect of Late-season Top-dressings of N (and K) applied to Conifer Transplants in the Nursery on their Survival and Growth on British Forest Sites

At two English forest nurseries, transplants of five coniferspecies—Picea sitchensis, Picea abies, Tsuga heterophylla,Abies grandis, and Pinus contorta—were grown with fertilizersupplying N, P, K, and Mg in amounts intended to be adequatefor producing healthy green trees with nutrient concentrationsin the ‘sufficiency range’ as determined by earlierexperiments. ‘Luxury uptake’ of nitrogen was obtainedwith top-dressings of ‘Nitro-Chalk’ applied in thenursery during early September, when top growth had nearly ceased.Tests of the effect of this extra N on forest establishmentwere repeated in four successive years under a wide range ofsoil and climatic conditions, keeping the trees in a cold storeduring each winter and planting them on forest sites in England,Scotland, or Wales during the following spring. Except for Grandfir, nitrogen advanced bud-break of all species during the firstsummer after planting and had no deleterious influence on survival.It tended to increase growth of Sitka spruce during the seasonafter planting, but in later years the differences became smallin relation to tree size. The effects on other species weresmall, except for one considerable decrease in the growth responseof Grand fir at a single site. Frost damage of Sitka spruce of Washington origin was severeon a Welsh and a Scottish site where this frost-sensitive provenancewould not normally be grown. At the Welsh, but not the Scottishsite, the nitrogen treatment increased the damage. In the few experiments (confined to Picea sitchensis) whichtested late-season potassium in the nursery, K concentrationswere increased from deficiency to barely sufficiency level;growth in the forest was increased in two of the four experiments.The extra K had no effect on frost damage.     

Establishing forest tree species on peatland in a reflooded area of the Huleh Valley, Israel

The study evaluates the establishment performance of four treespecies (Ficus carica, Fraxinus syriaca, Salix acmophylla, Platanusorientalis) 3 years after planting in the peatland in the HulehValley. To develop good tree establishment and avoid uprooting,two types of soils were tested as alternatives for the rhizosphere.For each tree 6 m³ of soil (2 x 2 x 1.5 m) were replaced withriver bed alluvium or terra-rossa, in which the tree was planted.Control trees were planted directly in the peat. Changing therhizosphere soil type to river bed alluvium significantly improvedthe establishment and performance of Salix acmophylla and Fraxinussyriaca (survival, height, diameter and canopy shade area).Ficus carica was not affected by changing the soil in the rhizosphere,while Platanus orientalis was affected mainly in canopy shadearea. Terra-rossa improved establishment only of Salix acmophylla;it did not affect the other species.     

A Background to Silviculture in Irish Forestry

The writer traces the history of tree species and woodland inIreland from early times down to the start of state forestryabout 1906. He then considers the influence which the availablityof land, the geology, the distribution of forest types, andthe climate have had on silviculture since. He discusses themain species used, pure and in mixture, and notes that the typeof ground available is the main limiting factor in the choiceof species and that the tendency today is towards a very limitedrange of species in which Picea sitchensis and Pinus contortahave an important part to play.     

The Influence of Soil Type and Pine Species on the Carabid Community of a Plantation Forest with a History of Pine Beauty Moth Infestation

The community composition of Carabid beetles, some species ofwhich are known predators of pine beauty moth, was examinedwithin a Scottish plantation forest. Sites differing in soiltype and the species of trees planted were sampled with pitfalltraps in most weeks of a 3—year period. There were faunaldifferences between sites with lodgepole pine on deep peat andother sites in the study (lodgepole pine on iron-pan soil, speciesmixture of lodgepole and Scots pine, and pure stands of Scotspine). In general deep peat sites supported fewer species andindividuals of carabids. Three Carabus species were implicatedas likely predators of Panolis flammea pupae and each was lessabundant on the sites with lodgepole pine. It is suggested thatthe susceptibility to pine beauty moth of lodgepole pine growingon deep peat substrates is at least partly attributable to impoverishedpredator faunas.     

黄山松上小鞋孢盘菌属一新种*

本文报道在安徽省黄山风景区黄山松上发现的小鞋孢盘菌属（斑痣盘菌目）一新种──中华小鞋孢盘菌（ＳｏｌｅｅｌｌａｃｈｉｎｅｎｓｉｓＹ．－ｒ．Ｌｉｎ，Ｚ．Ｌｉ＆Ｓ．－ｍ．Ｙｕｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．）。对该种作了拉丁文及汉文描述和图解。主模式标本保藏于安徽农业大学森林保护教研室。     

Cronartium comptoniae, a Potential Threat to Pinus contorta in Britain

The North American Cronartium comptoniae Arth., with Pinus spp.and Myricaceae as alternate hosts, causes considerable economicloss of Pinus contorta in North America. Its introduction toBritain might have very serious consequences, especially inthose districts where Pinus contorta is being extensively planted,and foresters should guard against it.     

Recent pine woodland dynamics in east Glen Affric, northern Scotland, from highly resolved palaeoecological analyses

Glen Affric, a National Nature Reserve of international conservationimportance for plant and animal communities associated withScots pine (Pinus sylvestris) woodland is managed for natureconservation and woodland restoration at a landscape scale.Management plans have drawn on information on current standstructure and variation but have not used in any detailed waythe analyses of past tree population changes from sources, suchas pollen analyses. This paper reports the results of pollenanalyses from three small peat hollows at the head of Loch Beinna' Mheadhoin. The analyses demonstrate, first, that woods inthe east of the reserve several centuries ago were differentin species composition and were more varied than they are todayand, second, that the currently patchy Pinus wood in the westof the reserve, at the head of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin, is theresult of recent spread westward onto former heathland. Thistemporal and spatial variability in the recent past has implicationsfor the future management of the woods because future woodsmay not develop with the characteristics of the current stands,and may not be stable over time.     

Enhanced Seedling Root Development in Eight Conifer Species Induced by Naphthalene Acetic Acid

Seedlings of eight conifer species, Pinus contorta, Pinus sylvestris,Pinus nigra, Larix kaempferi, Picea abies, Picea sitchensis,Pseudotsuga, nenziesii and Abies grandis, were treated withauxin, in pot and nursery experiments. Dilute solutions of naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) were applied at two treatment times, justbefore and just after cotyledon expansion. Lateral root numberswere increased by up to 20 times on responsive species. Sensitivityvaried considerably, the three pine species showing a much greaterresponse than the two species of spruce. In most cases the meannumber of induced roots increased steadily with increasing auxinconcentration. Forest nursery results showed that NAA couldprovide an inexpensive method for stimulating lateral root formationnear the soil surface. Practical nursery aspects of treatmentare briefly discussed.     

The Summerwood: Springwood Ratio in Conifers: How it arises, varies, and affects end use for timber, board, and paper

A theoretical discussion of variation in summerwood and springwoodcontents among conifers. Three methods of measuring these, bycross-sectional area of logs, by dryweight fibre percentage,and by nominal specific gravity, are compared. High-summerwood tissues have a nominal specific gravity of 0?45or over; low-summerwood tissues have a specific gravity below0?45. All conifers have a low summerwood content in their juvenilewood or core wood formed towards their stem-tips. In Pinus,Larix, and Pseudotsuga the summerwood percentage increases markedlywith age, but only in the outer layers towards the butt; inPicea, Abies, and Tsuga similar increases occur, but high-summerwoodtissues are seldom found. Within any species, and for any particulargrowth rate, low-summerwood tissues are characteristic of regionsof high relative humidity where summer water deficits rarelyoccur, such as high altitudes, far northern latitudes, and themaritime climate of western Britain. High-summerwood tissuesdevelop where summer temperatures are high, with associatedstrong sunshine, low relative humidity, and frequent summerwater deficits. High-summerwood tissues have greater strength in compressionand bending, relative to volume; but low-summerwood tissueshave greater strength relative to their weight. Low-summerwoodmaterial has proved satisfactory for most structural purposes,and for the manufacture of several kinds of artificial board.Its technical properties for the making of many types of paperare excellent, provided high resistance to tearing is not required.Likely summerwood content should guide planting programmes andmarketing policies.     

Ectomycorrhiza formation and growth of Picea abies seedlings inoculated with alginate-bead fungal inoculum in peat and bark compost substrates

Sphagnum peat (peat), spruce bark compost (compost), peat +perlite (1 : 1, v : v) and compost + perlite (1 : 1, v : v)substrates were inoculated with vegetative alginate-bead inoculumof Hebeloma crustuliniforme, Hygrophorus agathosmus or Paxillusinvolutus or left uninoculated prior to the addition of Norwayspruce seed. Growth and percentage of mycorrhization of barerootseedlings cultivated in a greenhouse were evaluated after thefirst growing season. Seedlings grown in peat-based substrateshad significantly larger aboveground and total dry weight, butsignificantly lower mycorrhization percentage than those grownin compost-based substrates. There were no significant differencesbetween fungal treatments (including control) for both the percentageof mycorrhization and growth of seedlings. The artificiallyintroduced fungi were not efficient in mycorrhizal formation– naturally occurring fungi were common in all treatments.However, a significant interaction between substrate and fungustreatments in root dry weight was detected. Hebeloma-inoculatedseedlings grown in peat showed the highest value of root dryweight. This fact indicates other possible effects of the fungion root growth independent of mycorrhization. Growth parameterswere negatively correlated with the extent of mycorrhization,indicating allocation of host photosynthates to the fungi. Tothe best of our knowledge, operational inoculation of Norwayspruce seedlings with the test fungi has not been reported previously.     

Effect of Different Forms and Rates of Nitrogen Fertiliser on the Growth of Lodgepole Pine

Application of four forms of nitrogen fertilizer each at threerates produced significant positive responses in shoot growthin a seven-year-old Pinus contorta, Dougl. stand on a deep,infertile peat in south Scotland. The response was shortlived(4 years) and was followed by a period (1–2 years) whenshoot growth fell below the control level. Form of N did notaffect the result but rate of N did and these effects are discussedwith respect to annual shoot growth, foliar N levels and shootgrowth:foliar N correlations.     

Soil Aeration Response to Draining Intensity in Basin Peat

Improvement in soil aeration was assessed following drainingto a range of intensity on a peatland afforestation projectat Flanders Moss in Central Scotland. A polarographic techniquewas used to measure oxygen diffusion rates in the rooting zoneof lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia Engelm.)planted in 1965 on ploughed furrows. There were soil aerationdifferences because of draining intensity. Below the plantingturf oxygen diffusion rates rapidly decreased and tree rootingwas restricted to the surface layers. Aeration was found tobe closely correlated with depth of water in boreholes whichprovide a simple and reliable index of response to draining.Oxygen diffusion rate was a more sensitive means of assessingsoil aeration than oxidation-reduction potential at the lowoxygen concentrations encountered in the basin peat on the Moss.     

CONIFEROUS LITTER AMENDMENTS AND THE GROWTH OF SITKA SPRUCE

The growth of semi-checked Sitka spruce (Picea sitcbensis Carr.)on heathland has been stimulated to different degrees by theannual application of litter of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestrisL.), Corsican pine (P. nigra var. calabrica Schneid), Lodgepolepine (P. contorta Dougl.), Japanese larch (Larix leptolepisGord.), and Sitka spruce, at rates corresponding to normal plantationconditions, following an initial heavier rate. Foliar analysissuggests that the response is at least partially attributableto the influence of the litters on the nitrogen nutrition ofthe spruce and differences between litters appear to be largelydetermined by their total nitrogen contents. In this respect,Japanese larch, with an annual needle fall generally greaterthan that of the pines and a higher nitrogen content, offersthe best promise as a nurse species for spruce.     

Production of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus halepensis</Emphasis> seedlings inoculated with the edible fungus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactarius deliciosus</Emphasis> under nursery conditions

Inoculation with edible fungi bestows an added value on mycorrhized plants since production of mushrooms as a secondary crop can be an economically-valuable resource in forestry management. In order to establish a protocol for controlled mycorrhization of Pinus halepensis with the edible fungus Lactarius deliciosus, several factors such as fertilisation (35, 60 or 120 mg total N and 13.5, 27 or 54 mg total P), potting substrate (sphagnum peat or sphagnum peat/vermiculite) and fungal inoculum (mycelial slurry produced in a bioreactor, alginate beads or peat/vermiculite) were assessed. The most effective inoculum was mycelial slurry at a dose of 10 ml/plant. The two potting substrates assessed were compatible with mycorrhiza formation. The greatest number of mycorrhized seedlings was obtained with a moderate level of N (35 mg/plant) or P fertilisation (27 mg/plant). Inoculation did not produce a consistent growth effect on P. halepensis, but seedlings met the quality requirements, making them suitable for planting out.     

Some Effects of Afforestation with Lodgepole Pine on Rates of Nitrogen Mineralization in Peat

Rates of mineral nitrogen production and carbon dioxide evolutionin incubated samples from the upper 300mm of peat beneath lodgepolepine (Pinus contorta Dougl.) have been compared with those foradjacent unplanted areas at each of six sites in the North ofScotland. Under both aerobic (moist) and anaerobic (water logged)conditions, rates of mineral nitrogen production at 30°Care strongly influenced by peatland type, sampling depth andafforestation. During the early stages of the incubation underaerobic conditions, samples of planted peat showed a more rapidaccumulation of mineral nitrogen than did samples from unplantedareas, the amounts after 17 days being 170ppm and 46ppm mineralN, respectively; after 62 days however, the difference was nolonger significant. The mean rate of CO₂ production averaged446µg CO₂ g^–1 day^–1 in planted as against728µg in unplanted peat. Under anaerobic conditions, amountsof mineral nitrogen accumulated were similar in planted andunplanted sites but a difference in accumulation between the0–150 and 150–300mm horizons in unplanted peat wassignificantly reduced beneath the trees.