Natural durability of timber species exposed to xylophagous fungi in southern Durango, Mexico.

Introduction: Wood is a natural resource used for construction and the manufacture of many products. This material is exposed to damage due to biotic and abiotic factors. An important biotic factor is wood-degrading fungi that generate large economic losses. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of xylophagous fungi (Coniophora puteana and Trametes versicolor) on the natural durability of six timber species in southern Durango, Mexico, and to establish differences between fungal effects on each tree species. Materials and Methods: Samples of Pinus durangensis, P. cooperi, P. strobiformis, Juniperus deppeana, Quercus sideroxyla, and Alnus acuminata were exposed to fungi for 4 months under laboratory conditions according to European Standard EN350-1. Samples of Fagus sylvatica were used as control. Durability was determined as the percentage of wood mass loss for each species. Welch ANOVA tests were performed to establish differences among tree species. Welch t-tests were used to prove loss mass differences between fungi for each tree species. Results: The most resistant species to C. puteana were P. durangensis, J. deppeana, P. cooperi and P. strobiformis, showing mean mass losses lower than 8.08%. The most resistant species to T. versicolor were J. deppeana, P. strobiformis and P. durangensis (mean mass losses lower than 7.39%). Pinus strobiformis and Q. sideroxyla were more susceptible to C. puteana effect; in contrast, P. durangensis and P. cooperi showed more damage due to T. versicolor degradation. Conclusions: Woods of P. durangensis, P. cooperi, P. strobiformis and Juniperus deppeana are well adapted to infection by these xylophagous fungi and are therefore highly recommended for commercial use in southern Durango, Mexico.

Comparison of carbon content between plantation and natural regeneration seedlings in Durango, Mexico.

Forest plantations and natural forests perform a relevant role in capturing CO2 and reducing greenhouse gas concentrations. The objective of this study was to compare the diameter increment, biomass and carbon accumulation in a plantation of Pinus durangensis and a naturally regenerated stand. The data were collected from 32 circular plots of 100 m2 (16 plots in the planted site and 16 in naturally regenerated area). At each plot, the diameter at the base (cm) and height (m) of all seedlings were measured using a Vernier and tape measure, and a seedling was destructively sampled collecting one cross-section at the base of the stump. The annual ring-width increment of each sampled seedling was recorded to obtain its diameter at the base and estimate annual aboveground biomass and carbon accumulation through allometric equations. The response variables were evaluated using mixed-effects ANOVA models. Results indicated that there were significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) on annual tree-ring width growth, biomass and carbon accumulation. The plantation seedlings showed significantly higher growth rates, biomass and carbon accumulation at most evaluated years. After 7 years of growth the lines of current annual increment (CAI) and mean annual increment (MAI) in basal diameter for both the plantation and the natural regeneration have not yet intersected. Both forest plantations and naturally regenerated stands of the studied tree species may be suitable alternatives to promote CO2 capture and increase timber production.

Evaluation of the Site Form as a Site Productive Indicator in Temperate Uneven-Aged Multispecies Forests in Durango, Mexico.

Even though the site index is a popular method for describing forest productivity, its use is limited in uneven-aged multispecies forests. Accordingly, the site form (SF) is an alternative measure of productivity to the site index based on the tree height-diameter relationship. Our study aims to evaluate SF as a measure of productivity in the temperate uneven-aged multispecies forests of Durango, Mexico, applying three methods to estimate SF: (i) as the mean height of dominant trees at a reference diameter (SFH-D); (ii) as the expected mean height of dominant trees at a reference mean diameter (SFMH-MD), and (iii) as the expected height at a reference diameter for a given site (SFh-dbh). We assess the effectiveness of the SF based on two hypotheses: (i) the SF correlates to the total volume production, and (ii) the SF is independent of stand density. The SFH-D and the SFh-dbh showed a high correlation with productivity. However, they also did so with density. Contrary to this, the SFMH-MD had a weak correlation with density and productivity. We conclude that the SF is a suitable approach to describe site quality. Nonetheless, its effectiveness as a site quality indicator may be affected according to the method used.

Functional susceptibility of tropical forests to climate change.

Tropical forests are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, yet their functioning is threatened by anthropogenic disturbances and climate change. Global actions to conserve tropical forests could be enhanced by having local knowledge on the forests' functional diversity and functional redundancy as proxies for their capacity to respond to global environmental change. Here we create estimates of plant functional diversity and redundancy across the tropics by combining a dataset of 16 morphological, chemical and photosynthetic plant traits sampled from 2,461 individual trees from 74 sites distributed across four continents together with local climate data for the past half century. Our findings suggest a strong link between climate and functional diversity and redundancy with the three trait groups responding similarly across the tropics and climate gradient. We show that drier tropical forests are overall less functionally diverse than wetter forests and that functional redundancy declines with increasing soil water and vapour pressure deficits. Areas with high functional diversity and high functional redundancy tend to better maintain ecosystem functioning, such as aboveground biomass, after extreme weather events. Our predictions suggest that the lower functional diversity and lower functional redundancy of drier tropical forests, in comparison with wetter forests, may leave them more at risk of shifting towards alternative states in face of further declines in water availability across tropical regions.

Survival, growth and carbon content in a forest plantation established after a clear-cutting in Durango, Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Forest plantations play an important role in carbon sequestration, helping to mitigate climate change. In this study, survival, biomass, growth rings and annual carbon content storage were evaluated in a mixed Pinus durangensis and P. cooperi plantation that was established after a clear-cutting. The plantation is eight years old and covers an area of 21.40 ha. METHODS: Sixteen sites of 100 m2 were distributed randomly. At each site, two trees distributed proportionally to the diametric categories were destructively sampled (one per tree species). Two cross-sections were cut from each tree: The first at the base of the stump and the second at 1.30 m. The width of tree rings of the first cross-section was measured using a stereoscopic microscope with precision in microns (µm). The year-by-year basal diameter of each tree was recorded and biomass and carbon content was estimated using allometric equations. RESULTS: The estimated survival was 75.2%. The results of the ANOVA showed significant differences between the year-by-year width records of tree rings, the highest value corresponding to the fifth year. The average carbon sequestration per year is 0.30 kg for both studied tree species. CONCLUSIONS: P. durangensis and P. cooperi plantations adapt and develop well in Durango forests when they are established in areas that are subjected to clear-cutting.

Predicting forest fire kernel density at multiple scales with geographically weighted regression in Mexico.

Identifying the relative importance of human and environmental drivers on fire occurrence in different regions and scales is critical for a sound fire management. Nevertheless, studies analyzing fire occurrence spatial patterns at multiple scales, covering the regional to national levels at multiple spatial resolutions, both in the fire occurrence drivers and in fire density, are very scarce. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of studies that analyze the spatial stationarity in the relationships of fire occurrence and its drivers at multiple scales. The current study aimed at predicting the spatial patterns of fire occurrence at regional and national levels in Mexico, utilizing geographically weighted regression (GWR) to predict fire density, calculated with two different approaches -regular grid density and kernel density - at spatial resolutions from 5 to 50 km, both in the dependent and in the independent human and environmental candidate variables. A better performance of GWR, both in goodness of fit and residual correlation reduction, was observed for prediction of kernel density as opposed to regular grid density. Our study is, to our best knowledge, the first study utilizing GWR to predict fire kernel density, and the first study to utilize GWR considering multiple scales, both in the dependent and independent variables. GWR models goodness of fit increased with fire kernel density search radius (bandwidths), but saturation in predictive capacity was apparent at 15-20 km for most regions. This suggests that this scale has a good potential for operational use in fire prevention and suppression decision-making as a compromise between predictive capability and spatial detail in fire occurrence predictions. This result might be a consequence of the specific spatial patterns of fire occurrence in Mexico and should be analyzed in future studies replicating this methodology elsewhere.

Spatial distribution, mobility and bioavailability of arsenic, lead, copper and zinc in low polluted forest ecosystem in North-western Mexico.

A geochemical-environmental mapping was carried for a low polluted forest in North-western Mexico (Santiago Papasquiaro mining area), as part of the North American forests accounting for environmental behavior of arsenic (As), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in soil and tree components (stem wood and aciculums). Spectroscopic and microscopic techniques along with standard protocols were used to determine the mineralogical phases containing these elements, and their corresponding spatial distributions in soil and forests and mobility. In soil, total As, Pb, Zn and Cu ranged from 4.9 to 98.3, 19.6 to 768.6, 19.6 to 407.1, and 1.6 to 63.8 mg kg-1, respectively. Ultrafine particles (<5-10 µm) of arsenopyrite and sphalerite (and complex Zn-Fe phase) were the main As and Zn-bearing phases determined by SEM-EDS, respectively. Complex Pb-Cu-Fe and Cu-O oxide-like phases were the only ones containing Pb and Cu, respectively. Mobility was low for Pb, Zn and Cu, whereas a significant mobility was assessed for As. Concentrations vs. depth profiles suggested progressive accumulations of As, Pb, Zn and Cu in top soil. Total As, Pb, Zn and Cu in pine stem wood varied from 11.5 to 184.5, 98.9 to 7359.8, 3242.7 to 22197.3, 689.2 to 7179.6 µg kg-1, respectively. The respective concentrations in the pine needles ranged from 50 to 624.2, 100 to 16353.1, 120 to 46440.9 and 720 to 7200 µg kg-1, indicating an active bioaccumulation of As, Pb, Zn and Cu. A prospective environmental behavior was discussed for As, Pb, Zn and Cu in the low-polluted forest.

Supervivencia y características de rebrotes en tocones de dos años de cultivos dendroenergéticos / Survival rates and characteristics of spreads in two years stumps of crops with dendroenergy potential

Resumen Varias especies de los géneros Eucalyptus y Acacia son adecuadas para la producción de biomasa útil en la generación de energía. El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la supervivencia y características del rebrote en tocones de cuatro especies dendroenergéticas en tres diferentes densidades poblacionales. Se utilizó un diseño de bloques completos al azar con tres repeticiones, en tres sitios (Parcelas Collipulli, La Aguada y Pilpilco Abajo) con características edafoclimáticas contrastantes. Se estudió Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus denticulata, Eucalyptus nitens y Acacia dealbata en tres densidades de plantación (5 000 árboles/ ha; 10 000 árboles/ha y 15 000 árboles/ha). Se evaluó el porcentaje de supervivencia y las características del rebrote por tocón. Las variables especie, densidad de plantación y sitio de siembra afectaron los parámetros analizados. La densidad de plantación afectó el diámetro y altura de los rebrotes dominantes de tipo proventicio en las cuatro especies estudiadas. La mayor tasa de supervivencia de tocones (97 %), la presentó Eucalyptus nitens en Pipilco Abajo, con 79 % de supervivencia de rebrotes a una densidad de 5 000 árboles/ha. Sin embargo, en densidades de 15 000 árboles/ha, la supervivencia de rebrote fue de 29 %. Acacia dealbata es una especie reconocida por su capacidad de colonización, sin embargo, en La Aguada, con densidades de siembra de 5 000 árboles/ha y 10 000 árboles/ha, mostró baja tasa de supervivencia de tocones (19 % y 18 %, respectivamente) y de rebrotes (57 % y 63 %, respectivamente). La especie Eucalyptus globulus mostró altas tasas de supervivencia de tocones y rebrotes en todos los sitios evaluados, por lo que puede ser considerada como una buena opción para optimizar el sistema de monte bajo.

Abstract Several species of the genera Eucalyptus and Acacia are suitable for biomass production useful in energy generation. The objective of this research was to evaluate the survival and chaof four dendroenergetic species in three population densities. A randomized block design with three replications was used in three sites (Collipulli, La Aguada and Pilpilco Abajo plots) with contrasting edaphoclimatic characteristics. Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus denticulata, Eucalyptus nitens and Acacia dealbata were studied in three plantation densities (5 000 trees/ha, 10 000 trees/ha and 15 000 trees/ha). The survival percentage and characteristics of stump regrowth characteristics of each stump were evaluated. The variables specie, plantation density and planting site affected the analyzed parameters. Plantation density affected the diameter and height of prevalent sprouts of proventic proventitious shoots in all species. Hihest stump survival rate (97 %) was presented by Eucalyptus nitens in Pipilco Abajo, with 79 % shoots survival of sprouts at a density of 5 000 trees/ha. However, at densities of 15 000 trees/ ha, regrowth survival was 29%. The Acacia dealbata is a species characterized by its colonization capacity. However, at La Aguada, which had population densities of 5 000 trees/ha and 10 000 trees/ha, it showed a low stump (19% and 18 % respectively) and shoots (57 % and 63 % respectively) survival rate. The species Eucalyptus globulus showed high stump and shoot survival rates in all sites evaluated, therefore it can be considered a good option to optimize the scrub system.