GROWTH MODELS FOR Araucaria angustifolia (BERTOL.) KUNTZE IN DIFFERENT ECOLOGICAL GRADIENTS IN THE STATE OF SANTA CATARINA

Abstract

The growth of one or more individuals in a forest is variable with the biotic and abiotic conditions of the environment. Therefore, the objective of this article was to obtain the age and growth estimates of Araucaria angustifolia, in different altitude gradients of occurrence of the species, and to identify the culmination points in the basal area. The study covered three areas with Araucaria Forest in Santa Catarina state, considering different altitudes of occurrence of the species. Non-destructive samples were collected from 226 trees, 76, 73 and 77 trees in areas 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Using the time series, diametric growth models were adjusted, allowing to obtain the curves of current annual increment and average annual increment. In area 1, the age range of the samples was 174 years, in area 2, it was 170 years and in area 3, it was 42 years. The average annual increment for areas 1, 2 and 3 were 0.33 cm, 0.51 cm and 1.01 cm, respectively. Araucaria manages to reach a high growth potential when it is in better development conditions (soil, nutrients, light…).Keywords: Araucaria forest. Dendrochronology. Altitude.

Diameter growth and age of jaboticaba trees (Plinia peruviana (Poir.) Govaerts) native from Southwest of Paraná, Brazil, based on growth-rings

“…Instead, the PB site is at the lowest altitude (713 m), annual average of 21 °C, explaining the greater tree rate growth observed. Ricken et al (2022) also observed that in higher altitudes Araucaria angustifolia trees reached growth stagnation stage earlier. Furthermore, the lower jaboticaba tree density (40.6 trees ha -1 ) were probably partially responsible for the greater growth in PB compared to CH,CL,and VT sites,with 59.6,75.6,and 45.8 jaboticaba tree ha -1 , respectively (Danner et al, 2010).…”

“…Our findings have several implications for conservation and management of this species. For example, the diametric growth of P. peruviana were slow compared than others Mixed Ombrofilous Forest species (Canetti et al, 2016;Ricken et al, 2022;Stepka et al, 2021), ranged from 0.27 cm year -1 in site CH to 0.37 cm year -1 in PB, which may imply less competitiveness with other species when establishing in the forest. We also observed that jaboticaba trees in CL did not reach diameters larger than 40 cm, different from what was observed in other three locations (see Figure 5), indicating that there may be a restriction factor in growth in this site.…”

“…Until our work there had been no growth studies of Plinia peruviana based on dendrochronological analysis, although growth rings have been described previously in this species (Santos et al, 2013;Stange et al, 2018). Some studies were carried out with species in the same forest typology (Ombrofilous Mixed Forest), showing annual growth rings in Araucaria angustifolia, Cedrela fissilis, Ocotea porosa, and Podocarpus lambertti, due to the climate sazonality that shows warm summers and cold winters (Canetti et al, 2016;Ricken et al, 2022;Stepka et al, 2021). These authors have been described and applied the growth series to develop growth models.…”

“…For example, dynamics of growth of Podocarpus lambertii emphasizing the limitation growth of this species under competition at other native forest species (Canetti et al, 2016), in Colombo, Paraná State, Brazil. The species Araucaria angustifolia present different growth pattern, when growing in altitudinal gradients in Santa Catarina State (Ricken et al, 2022). Also, the importance to study growth pattern of species in different sites and regions was highlighted by Stepka et al (2021).…”

Simulating Sustainable Forest Management Practices Using Crown Attributes: Insights for Araucaria angustifolia Trees in Southern Brazil

“…Contrasting tree allometric relationships in mixtures compared with monocultures can also influence APAR. For a given tree diameter, the crown sizes (width, length, surface area, and leaf area), shapes, or heights of a given species can differ in mixtures compared with monocultures [37,[59][60][61][62]. These allometric differences can add to the effects of the vertical foliage distribution when it allows crowns to expand sideways at different levels in the canopy or upwards or downwards away from other species [59].…”