Comparison of Pruning Regimes for Stone Pine (Pinus pinea L.) Using a Functional- Structural Plant Model

Functional-Structural Plant Models (FSPM) are becoming important tools for modeling the structure and growth of plants, including complex organisms like trees. These models combine the advantages of empirical, mechanistic, and structural models to simulate the growth of individual plant structures (branches, buds, leaves, etc.). This approach enables realistic evaluation of the plant’s response– including changes in structure and growth to different environmental conditions. We demonstrate the potential use of these models to evaluate individual tree growth under different management regimes (pruning). The data used in this study was obtained from 3-D measurements taken with a FASTRAK Polhemus digitizer, with specific attention given to bud creation and branching. Each branch segment was analyzed to estimate its age, enabling us to document annual structural changes. We use the XL programming language and a GroIMP environment to simulate and compare different pruning scenarios

Optimal Regeneration Regime under Continuous Crown Cover Requirements in Cork Oak Woodlands

In the present work the cork oak tree spatial growth simulator CORKFITS is used to create candidate scenarios for generating a large set of regeneration regimes combining both time and intensity factors with the individual tree spatial information. An optimal regeneration regime under continuous crown cover requirements is sought by applying a dynamic programming algorithm. It is shown that the crown cover constraint influences the total cork production potential in a negative way. The target cover constraint of 50% decreases the cork production by 66% from the potential in 40 years in our mature plot, and approximately 43% in our young plot. Higher crown cover constraint of 70% decreases the potential cork production approximately by 54% in the mature plot and does not have any influence on the younger plot. The observed losses in cork production in relation with the potential with the crown cover constrains need to be compensated economically by the higher availability of growing space for the grazing and livestock part of the montado/dehesa production system

Gestão sustentada dos montados de sobro. Soluções de engenharia florestal para a gestão adaptativa

O montado de sobro e os sobreirais são sistemas de produção florestal complexos que resultam da integração de actividades agro pastoris ou pastoris em povoamentos florestais sendo a estrutura e densidade e a dinâmica definida de acordo com a qualidade da estação e objectivos de gestão. No contexto actual é fundamental implementar técnicas de gestão adaptativa associada com modelos de crescimento e sistemas de apoio à decisão, construídos com base em sólidos sistemas de monitorização contínua, para a elaboração de planos de gestão com grande precisão assentes em objectivos de gestão de longo prazo. A implementação dos planos de gestão deve de estar alicerçada em políticas de transferência de conhecimento ligando as universidades e os centros de investigação aos produtores/gestores através da engenharia florestal. O montado de sobro e os sobreirais são particularmente relevantes já que dominam a paisagem a sudoeste da Península Ibérica, ocupando cerca de 0.574 milhões de hectares em Espanha e 0.737 milhões de hectares em Portugal Continental, representando cerca de 61 % da área mundial de sobreiro e 80% da produção mundial de cortiça