Tom There's a confusion of authors here. I did not say this! Bob Keeland did. (No capitals used or implied) Furthermore, I don't believe anybody really knows whether it's true since so few places in the world have ever been managed through a whole rotation to determine the effect on growth rate on longevity. glenn >> On 12/1/95 Glenn Mroz wrote (excerpted from longer message) >> I would caution, >> however, that large trees that are large through intensive management >> of growth rates are not the same as large trees that are large due to >> centuries of slow growth. I am mostly familiar with old-growth >> baldcypress that has a very tight ring structure. Some large diameter >> second growth baldcypress have very wide rings in comparison. It is >> well known that trees that grow faster do not live as long, so a >> potential problem with "managed" old-growth is that it will probably >> not be old-growth for very long. The dynamics will just not be the >> same. > >I'm not so sure how well known it is that trees that grow faster do not live >as >long. This is certainly true across species: aspen doesn't live as long as >oak or Douglas-fir. But within species (which is what is being discussed >here), >I'm not so sure that this is true. Coast redwood grows at an amazingly high >rate when young, then slows down. Intensive management might increase growth >rate while young, but if these trees are left alone, and assuming they are of >long-lived species, I'm not so sure that they wouldn't live just as long. > >There are some assumptions here: that the wood properties have not been so >changed >that the trees would break up under mechanical load; that there no site >limitations to longevity; and that anyone is going to >allow intensively managed trees to sit there. But the main point is still >valid: >I don't think we know anything about differences in longevity between fast- >growing and slow-growing individuals of the same species. > >Regarding baldcypress, I have seen some very old baldcypress in W. Kentucky >which had extraordinarily wide rings when young, and only hit the brakes >when older. > >Cheers, >Tom Kimmerer >University of Kentucky >Kuala Lumpur > >
Mail converted by
MHonArc 1.1.0