Effects of harrowing and fertilisation on understory vegetation and timber production of a Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plantation in Central Portugal

Harrowing and fertilisation are common practices at middle rotation in Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plantations in Central Portugal. In order to clarify the effects of such practices on understory vegetation and timber production, a field trial was installed in a 5-year-old first rotation eucalyptus...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest ecology and management 2008-03, Vol.255 (3), p.591-597
Main Authors: Carneiro, M., Fabião, António, Martins, M.C., Fabião, André, Abrantes da Silva, M., Hilário, L., Lousã, M., Madeira, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biomass
equations
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus globulus
fertilizer application
Forest management. Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration
forest plantations
forest yields
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology
Mediterranean climate
NPK fertilizers
Plant cover
plant growth
Production. Biomass
Shannon-Wiener indexes
Silvicultural practices
site preparation
species diversity
Species richness
Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration
Stem volume
stems
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
timber production
tree growth
understory
vegetation cover
volume
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Summary:Harrowing and fertilisation are common practices at middle rotation in Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plantations in Central Portugal. In order to clarify the effects of such practices on understory vegetation and timber production, a field trial was installed in a 5-year-old first rotation eucalyptus plantation, in a region with mixed oceanic and Mediterranean climatic influences. Four treatments that involved harrowing (H), fertilisation (F), harrowing and fertilisation (HF), and control (C) were tested in the study. The treatments were replicated four times and arranged in a simple completely randomised design. Vegetation surveys were performed by the quadrat method in the 3 years following treatments and by the line interception method in the 7th and 8th years. Samples of understory biomass were collected, oven dried and weighed. In treatments with harrowing, the understory vegetation consistently had lower number of species, less plant cover, species diversity, and biomass than the other treatments. The mean total number of species only once reached 10 in H or HF plots, and was always greater than 12 in C and F plots in the first 3 years, but decreased in the 7th and 8th years. In the first 3 years, the understory biomass averaged 30–60 g m −2 in the F and C plots, and never exceeded 13 g m −2 in treatments with harrowing, which corresponded with the proportion of soil coverage by understory vegetation (4–12% in H and HF, and 38–62% in F and C plots). In the 7th and 8th years, differences in the understory biomass were less important, but the control plots consistently had the largest understory biomass. The influence of treatments in timber production was not statistically significant at the end of rotation.
ISSN:0378-1127
1872-7042
DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.09.028