Linking forest growth and yield models to timber quality models. A scientific and technical challenge with important economic and technological implications
After a presentation of the research activities carried out by INRA's Programme on "Tree Growth,Forest Yield and Dynamics" and CIRAD's Plant Modelling Unit, this paper reviews recent trends in the field of models that link forest growth to wood quality. The methods developed under various national (e.g. in Finland, France, Portugal, Sweden) and European research projects and discussed in two international scientific workshops ("Connection between silviculture and wood quality through modelling approaches and simulation software", IUFRO Working Party S5.01-04) clearly indicate : (i) that several joint forest growth-wood quality models have already reached the status of prototypes in the case of fast-growing conifer plantations; (ii) that it is possible to go several steps forward for other species and forest types; and (iii) that European countries may have a leading role in achieving such a breakthrough. New research directions in this domain consist in (i) completing, extrapolating and validating the methods already developed for fast-growing coniferous plantations, (ii) adapting these methods to hardwood species, (iii) considering the case of mixed and uneven-aged stands, and (iv) incorporating other wood properties, such as nutrient contents, which are important for analysing the sustainability of the silviculture. These future developments will themselves rely on the diffusion of advanced methods-in mathematical and statistical modelling, in image analysis and in computer simulation-in the field of forestry and forest products. In its conclusion, this paper argues for the creation, in the frame of the COST E10 "Wood properties for industrial use", of a Working Group whose aim would be to predict the quality of timber and wood products (from solid wood to pulp and paper) as the result of biological growth processes, silvicultural treatments and technological processes. The scope of this Working Group would be to provide a framework for linking the various scientific and technical knowledge, both existing and required, along the chain that goes from tree seedlings to final wood end-products. The specific objective of the group would be to help forest managers, wood industrialists and other public and private decision-makers to evaluate the short- and long-term consequences of their silvicultural and technological choices in terms of quality of the wood resources.
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| Format: | conference_item biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
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Swedishn Pulp and Paper Research Institute
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| Subjects: | U10 - Informatique, mathématiques et statistiques, K10 - Production forestière, F50 - Anatomie et morphologie des plantes, croissance, production du bois, modèle, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3394, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_28194, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4881, |
| Online Access: | http://agritrop.cirad.fr/391466/ |
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| Summary: | After a presentation of the research activities carried out by INRA's Programme on "Tree Growth,Forest Yield and Dynamics" and CIRAD's Plant Modelling Unit, this paper reviews recent trends in the field of models that link forest growth to wood quality. The methods developed under various national (e.g. in Finland, France, Portugal, Sweden) and European research projects and discussed in two international scientific workshops ("Connection between silviculture and wood quality through modelling approaches and simulation software", IUFRO Working Party S5.01-04) clearly indicate : (i) that several joint forest growth-wood quality models have already reached the status of prototypes in the case of fast-growing conifer plantations; (ii) that it is possible to go several steps forward for other species and forest types; and (iii) that European countries may have a leading role in achieving such a breakthrough. New research directions in this domain consist in (i) completing, extrapolating and validating the methods already developed for fast-growing coniferous plantations, (ii) adapting these methods to hardwood species, (iii) considering the case of mixed and uneven-aged stands, and (iv) incorporating other wood properties, such as nutrient contents, which are important for analysing the sustainability of the silviculture. These future developments will themselves rely on the diffusion of advanced methods-in mathematical and statistical modelling, in image analysis and in computer simulation-in the field of forestry and forest products. In its conclusion, this paper argues for the creation, in the frame of the COST E10 "Wood properties for industrial use", of a Working Group whose aim would be to predict the quality of timber and wood products (from solid wood to pulp and paper) as the result of biological growth processes, silvicultural treatments and technological processes. The scope of this Working Group would be to provide a framework for linking the various scientific and technical knowledge, both existing and required, along the chain that goes from tree seedlings to final wood end-products. The specific objective of the group would be to help forest managers, wood industrialists and other public and private decision-makers to evaluate the short- and long-term consequences of their silvicultural and technological choices in terms of quality of the wood resources. |
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