Growth and characteristics of old beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees individually dispersed in spruce monocultures

Abstract

We studied old beech trees individually dispersed in spruce monocultures after having found wildlings in their vicinity. The goal was to define stem and crown dimensions of the trees in dependence on their position in the primary spruce stand and to find out what kind of development they went through before reaching the current condition. We made an inventory of 883 trees in about 800 ha of stands growing in the fir-beech forest altitudinal zone (FAZ). A detailed biometric analysis conducted on two research plots of a total area 19 ha included 110 trees. Their age is 140-180 years as indicated by the analysis of annual rings. Thus, they grow in the second generation of the spruce stand. The fact gives them an absolute competitive advantage, which can be documented by their size (dbh = 49-93 cm as compared with the spruce = 15-66 cm, crown width 8-17 m as compared with the spruce = 1-10 m) as well as by the relation of their disposable (ADISP) and social (4soC) areas to the size of horizontal crown projection. Regarding the size, the good condition of the crown and the expected recurrent fructification, we can consider these trees suitable for use in the systematic conversion of spruce monocultures into mixed forests for a long time.