Alternative measures of stem growth efficiency applied to Abies balsamea from four canopy positions in central Maine, USA

• Published in: Forest ecology and management Vol. 84; no. 1-3; pp. 209 - 218
• Main Authors: Gilmore, Daniel W., Seymour, Robert S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-08-1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Abies balsamea; Balsam fir; Biological and medical sciences; Crown class; Dendrometry. Forest inventory; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Maine; Projected leaf area; Stem growth efficiency; Stem volume increment; USA, Maine; Crown class; Stem volume increment; Stem growth efficiency; Projected leaf area; Maine; Balsam fir; Abies balsamea; Sapwood; Forest mensuration; Growth; Leaf area; Plant trunk; Softwood forest tree; Gymnospermae; Tree crown; Coniferales; Spermatophyta; Models; Vegetation structure; Canopy(vegetation)
• ISSN: 0378-1127; 1872-7042
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-1127(96)03728-0

Stem analysis data collected from 39 Abies balsamea (L.) Miller from four distinct canopy positions (open-grown, codominant, intermediate, suppressed) were used to construct a model to predict stem volume increment (VINC) from projected leaf area (PLA), and test the hypotheses that the physiological-based measure for growth efficiency (GE, stem volume increment per leaf area) and the empirical surrogates for GE (e.g. surrogates substituting other measures of stem volume increment or PLA into the GE equation) were equal among canopy positions. VINC was best predicted from PLA with an asymptotic model which suggests that once individual trees reach a critical leaf area, very little stem growth occurs relative to leaf area. Analyses of variance revealed that the suppressed crown class was the least efficient (in terms of GE or any of its surrogates) relative to the superior canopy positions. Observed and predicted patterns of growth efficiency were found to depend on the manner in which it was calculated or predicted. Suppressed trees, however, were consistently observed, and predicted to be the least efficient in terms of stem volume increment relative to the intermediate, codominant, and open-grown crown classes.