EFFECT OF THINNING ON THE DBH DISTRIBUTIONS OF SCOTS PINE DOMINATED STANDS ON DRAINED PEATLANDS

摘要

In Finland significant areas of drained peatland forests dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) will be subjected to operational thinnings in the near future. Here, we aim to demonstrate the effects of thinning treatments with various intensities on the structure and development of the retained stands. We monitored the DBH distributions for 10 years following the application of the thinning treatments in 11 experimental Scots pine dominated stands in central and northern Finland. The DBH distributions of the retained stands were parameterized by the Weibull function at the set up of the experiments and at 5-year intervals after applying the treatments to characterize the change in stand structure. Furthermore, Spearman rank correlations between the shape-parameters of the DBH distributions and stand volume increment were analyzed. Preliminary results are discussed.