Ecogeographic variation in black spruce wood properties across Quebec’s boreal forest

Published Date

15 October 2016, Vol.378:131–143, doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.07.031

Title 

Ecogeographic variation in black spruce wood properties across Quebec’s boreal forest

• Author 

• Guillaume Giroud ^a,,
• Jean Bégin ^a,
• Maurice Defo ^a,
• Chhun-Huor Ung ^b,1,

• aDépt. des Sciences du bois et de la forêt, Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et de géomatique, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
• bNatural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Canada

Received 19 May 2016. Revised 20 July 2016. Accepted 21 July 2016. Available online 29 July 2016.

Highlights

• •
  Wood properties are important for assessing the wood quality for producing products.
• •
  Tree- and stand-level models were developed to predict wood properties.
• •
  The influence of ecological conditions on wood properties was assessed.
• •
  A two-stage modeling approach was used to map wood properties for Quebec’s boreal forest.

Abstract

Ecogeographic variation in black spruce clear wood properties was investigated for the two main vegetation types of the managed boreal forest of the province of Quebec, Canada. In total, 409 co-dominant and dominant trees from 82 mature stands were sampled. Basic wood density, modulus of elasticity and microfibril angle were measured using SilviScan. Mature fiber length was determined using a high-resolution Fiber Quality Analyzer. Wood growing in pure black spruce stands had longer mature fibers, a significantly denser wood with better mechanical characteristics than the wood growing in mixed stands with balsam fir. All wood properties were clearly influenced by radial growth and species composition.

Given the limited number of sample plots for mapping purposes, a two-stage modeling approach was assessed to predict stand-level estimates of black spruce clear wood properties. This scaling-up method, based on field measurements and ring data from 3350 inventory plots, has improved the performance of all models. Stand-level models explained 47%, 57%, 63% and 63% of variance in wood density, modulus of elasticity, microfibril angle and mature fiber length respectively with estimated root mean square errors of 8.9 kg/m³, 0.52 GPa, 0.60° and 0.06 mm.

An east-west gradient in black spruce clear wood properties was revealed as possibly the by-product of the change in relative proportions of both studied vegetation types across the study area. The results indicate that the black spruce wood from western regions of the managed boreal forest has a better potential for producing pulp and paper, lumber or engineered products due to its longer mature fibers and higher mechanical properties.

Keywords

• Ecogeographic variation in black spruce clear wood properties
• Basic wood density
• Microfibril angle
• Modulus of elasticity
• Mature fiber length
• Two-stage modeling approach for mapping purposes

---

Fig. 1.

 Table 1

Table 1.

Fig. 2.

 Table 2

Table 2.

 Table 3

Table 3.

Fig. 3.

 Table 4

Table 4.

 Table 5

Table 5.

Fig. 4.

 Table 6

Table 6.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author.
  
  

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716303875