Does crown class classification improve the initiation and development analysis of post-fire pinus brutia stands?

Abstract

The present study was conducted in Pinus brutia Ten. stands which were created after the forest fire of 1989, in the island of Thassos. In 2008, 45 plots of 5 x 5 m were randomly established in three site types. In each plot, the trees were counted, while the breast height diameter of trees was measured. All trees were classified as dominant, codominant, intermediate or suppressed. In each plot, one tree from each crown class was selected (a total of 160 trees) and were cut down. From each tree a cross-sectional disc was cut from the ground level and the number of annual growth rings was counted. A few years of age difference between trees in post fire establishment determined the crown class of a tree. The age difference and the number of trees were reduced from the less productive site type to the more productive site type. Codominant trees were (or will become) the crown class with the most numerous trees in the main canopy. Dominant trees were one of the most, if not the most, significant elements of stand structure and production regarding basal area. This was not the case in low productivity site type as a result of delayed dimension differentiation. Analysis of young P. brutia stands, through the classification of trees into crown classes, increased the amount of attained information, since it provided an improved insight in the competition regime.