Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) in arid areas of North-Western Bohemia

Abstract

The article analyses growth and quality of Northern red oak (Quercus rubra Linnaeus) based on 13 research plots (seven in red oak stands and six in sessile oak stands) with the ages between 17 to 159 years. The collected data includes height, DBH, crown diameter, stem and crown quality, health status of each tree on the plot. Analogous plots were chosen in sessile oak (Quercus sessilis Linnaeus) stands on similar sites to get reference data. The results proved the high wood production potential of red oak when compared to sessile oak being at the same or higher quality and health. The data propose the red oak to be a good additional species in lowland stands.

Comparison of growth of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and durmast oak (Quercus petraea [Mattusch.] Liebl.) under similar growth conditions

“…The results also confirmed better production capacity of northern red oak crowns compared to durmast oak through crown volume, which was manifested in trees thicker than 27 cm. It can be assumed that it increases even in older age, which was also confirmed by the study of Kupka et al (2018). These authors also found out greater volume production per spatial unit (crown cover area), which was significantly greater compared to durmast oak.…”

“…It was usually planted in the group of forest types Carpineto-Quercetum, but Tokár (1985), for example, states that in the region of the Little Carpathians it was mostly planted in the group of forest types Corneto-Quercetum, at altitudes up to 200 m. In Bohemia, it was similar. There are data on its planting up to 300 m (Kupka et al 2018). In contrast, in Romania it was also planted at higher altitudes up to 780 m (Sandi & Nicolescu 2011).…”

“…Northern red oak is considered an important introduced species in many countries (Réh 1999;Sandi & Nicolescu 2011;Gubka & Pittner 2014;Kupka et al 2018;Nicolescu et al 2020). In addition, it is considered the tree species resistant to the effects of polluted air and, in the 1980s, also the species with minimal damage due to tracheomycosis (Réh & Réh 1997;, better known as "mass oak dieback".…”

“…The issue of research related to growth and development of the northern red oak in Slovakia was already addressed by research in the 1960s and 1970s (Réh 1976;Tokár 1979). Due to rapid growth at a young age and higher volume production compared to domestic oak species (Kouba & Zahradník 2011;Podrázský et al 2014), relatively low demands on soil conditions (Holubík et al 2014), positive impact on the soil environment (Podrázský & Remeš 2010), good natural regeneration (Myczko et al 2014;Woziwoda et al 2019;Chmura 2020), this introduced species has become the subject of interest and intensive research from various aspects (Réh & Réh 1997;Tokár 1998;Gubka & Sklenár 2006;Sandi & Nicolescu 2011;Slávik & Štefančík 2015;Viewegh et al 2016;Kupka et al 2018;Nosko et al 2021).…”

“…In the past, several long-term research plots were established where the growth and quantitative production of northern red oak were investigated (Tokár 1987), including the evaluation of an impact of cleaning interventions (Uşurelu et al 2019), long-term tending (Réh & Réh 1997;Tokár 1998;Réh 1999) on stand structure (Gubka & Sklenár 2006), on the quality of individual trees (Gubka & Pittner 2014;Kupka et al 2018) and production (Tokár 1998;Štefančík 2011, 2018, and/or the spa-therapeutic function of the stands (Štefančík 1992, 2011). Moreover, works dealing with changes in the proportion of tree classes and the development of mortality of individual trees (Ward & Stephens 1994;Štefančík 2011) and/or the influence of soil nutrient content on mortality (Demchik & Sharpe 2000), the composition of the herbaceous layer (Viewegh et al 2016;Chmura 2020) and the chemical properties of the soil (Miltner et al , 2017Ferré & Comolli 2020;Stanek et al 2020) in the stands of this species are known too.…”