Relation between selected indicators of forest stand diversity and quality of timber production in managed Central European forests

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between the quality of timber production and the species and structural diversity of forest stands. The data used came from a regional forest inventory of the University Forest Enterprise "Kostelec nad Černými lesy", Czech Republic. The inventory was performed from 2009 to 2011 on 1,188 sample plots that represented 86 strata defined by the combination of three variables: site (5 categories), age (12 categories) and canopy cover (5 categories). On each sample plot, we quantified 171 partial biodiversity indicators that represented species or structural diversity. The quality of timber production was specified by four indicators quantified using local assortment tables. In total, we analysed 58,824 univariate linear regressions describing the relationships between diversity indicators and timber quality in individual strata. The results revealed that their relationship changes with stand age. The proportion of the best-quality assortments increases with the increasing species richness in all age categories.

Keywords

• assortment
• species diversity
• structural diversity
• timber quality