Abstract

HUMANO, C. A.. Growth modeling of native tree species of the Yunga Pedemontane forest, Argentina. Quebracho (Santiago del Estero) [online]. 2020, vol.28, n.1, pp.5-19.  Epub Feb 01, 2020. ISSN 0328-0543.

Forest management plans in the Yunga Pedemontane Forest use a minimum cutting diameter, a cutting shift and a harvesting cycle for tree species based on estimated data obtained from common experience, without scientific basis, being the basis for a selective felling management system that has proved inappropriate for preserving the timber resource. Therefore, the objective of this work was to define a growth model based on the variables of stand competence and structure out of which cutting shift of timberable species can be defined. Thus, 8 permanent measuring plots were again measured, and these data were used to obtain a nonlinear growth model for timberable species, the structural parameters influencing growth were defined and cutting shifts were determined. The most influential structural variables of stand growth are the crown sociological position of the individual and the occupation of the stand. The species with the largest diameter increments are Cedrela balansae and Anadenanthera colubrina with 5.77 mm/year and 4.77 mm/year respectively while that of the remainder timberable species is less than 3 mm/year. From the growth model designed, the cutting shifts of the timberable species was estimated as varying between 30 and 135 years. The slow growth of the timberable species impacts on the slow recovery of the forest structure after interventions by generating cutting cycles greater than 20 years.

Keywords : cutting shifts; minimum cutting diameter; structural parameters.