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Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization...
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Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization Options

A Special Issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907) belonging to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 March 2027 | Viewed by 3146

Editor

Prof. Dr. Dirk Landgraf

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Forestry, University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Leipziger Strasse 77, 99085 Erfurt, Germany
Interests: fast-growing tree species; sustainable land management systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cultivation of fast-growing tree species has attracted increasing attention from both academia and industry worldwide in recent years for various reasons. Research and reports on new findings regarding the cultivation of fast-growing tree species have been conducted and published in temperate latitudes from North America to Europe and China.

On the one hand, focus has been on the production of fast-growing tree species in short-rotation coppice (SRC) plantations for the rapid production of dendromass for material and/or energy use. This production involves a wide variety of tree species (e.g., poplars, willows, black locusts, and also eucalyptus) on agricultural and forestry land. In agroforestry systems (AFSs), however, the focus is not solely on the rapid production of dendromass. Alongside the simultaneous production of high-quality timber (with other tree species and longer lifespans) and diverse agricultural crops, the benefits of these land-use systems are increasingly being recognized. In cleared agricultural landscapes, fast-growing trees have a significant impact on biodiversity in addition to their positive influence on the microclimate and their resulting stabilization of soil water. This impact extends to providing cover (e.g., for small game and ground-nesting birds) and serving as corridors or stepping stones, connecting the habitats of many animals (e.g., lynx or wildcat) in often fragmented areas. Furthermore, the cultivation of fast-growing tree species in agriculturally dominated regions leads to an increase in soil carbon stocks, which in turn increases the biodiversity of soil microflora, fauna, and fungi. In forests, fast-growing (pioneer) tree species are increasingly cultivated to establish new stands in their shade, but also to enhance the biodiversity of existing forests, thereby making them more resilient to various environmental influences. Furthermore, fast-growing tree species with significantly shorter harvest cycles are used to produce more timber in shorter periods and to counteract the risk of increased extreme weather events and the resulting substantial economic losses in old-growth forests.

Fast-growing tree species in all three of the aforementioned cultivation systems are able to store carbon in their wood. Their cultivation also reduces the mineralization of organic matter in the soil, resulting in a positive carbon balance.

Depending on the tree species cultivated and rotation periods applied, timber of varying qualities and with a correspondingly wide range of applications can be produced in the aforementioned land-use systems. The technological processes used for this (harvesting and processing methods) have been significantly improved in recent years and will also be presented here.

This Special Issue aims to compile and present the latest knowledge regarding all the possibilities and topics listed.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Landgraf
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fast-growing trees
  • short rotation coppice (SRC)
  • wood plantations
  • agroforest systems (AFSs)
  • ecosystem services
  • biodiversity
  • carbon sequestration
  • multiple benefits

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 10162 KB  
Article
Deformations of the Surfaces of Forest Timber Yards Caused by Transport Work—A Case Study
by Janusz Gołąb, Magdalena Kopeć and Marcin Pietrzykowski
Forests 2026, 17(9), 1004; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17091004 - 23 Aug 2026
Viewed by 520
Abstract
Road networks providing access to forest stands, including integral parts such as timber yards, are subjected to significant loads from timber-transporting vehicles. These loads act on the road surfaces, causing them to deform. This study measured and compared the extent of deformation at [...] Read more.
Road networks providing access to forest stands, including integral parts such as timber yards, are subjected to significant loads from timber-transporting vehicles. These loads act on the road surfaces, causing them to deform. This study measured and compared the extent of deformation at two timber yards in the mountain forests of southern Poland in the Western Carpathians. These surfaces were constructed as: crushed stone (timber yard in the Ustroń Forest District) and earth (Forest Experimental Station of the University of Agriculture in Kraków). The measurements were carried out using photogrammetric techniques based on aerial surveys by an unmanned aerial vehicle. The measurements were based on networks of reference points with coordinates in local coordinate systems. During the period between the flights, timber was being stored, handled and transported at both sites. The forest administration provided data on the volume of timber delivered to and removed from the storage yard, as well as basic information on the transport vehicles. Soil samples were taken from the surface of both storage yards for laboratory analysis to illustrate working conditions—the soil type, current moisture content, organic matter content and filtration coefficient (from the soil particle size distribution curve) were determined. Digital terrestrial model (DTM) rasters obtained from both aerial surveys at each storage yard were used to calculate differential rasters, which were analysed by plotting cross-sections at selected locations and directions and by calculating the volume of changes in surface geometry between the survey dates. The observed depths of ruts reach 0.4 m at the Ustroń storage yard and 0.5 m at the LZD storage yard, whilst changes involving the displacement of soil from the ruts above the previous surface level are 0.3 m at the Ustroń storage yard and 0.4 m at the LZD storage yard. Greater deformation was observed on the earth surface (with a high organic content and poorer drainage) than on the crushed stone surface, even though the latter was covered by an uncleared layer of mud and waste left over from timber handling. Given the two-site, single-cycle design of this study, this pattern is consistent with—but cannot on its own confirm—a stabilising effect of surface reinforcement; differences in soil moisture, organic content and observation period between the two sites may also have contributed and could not be separated from the effect of surface type alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization Options)
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12 pages, 1867 KB  
Article
Techniques for Stem Sucker Removal in Freshly Restored Chestnut Orchards
by Raffaele Spinelli, Natascia Magagnotti, Pietro Gallo and Marcello Biocca
Forests 2026, 17(5), 571; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17050571 - 7 May 2026
Viewed by 447
Abstract
Abandoned and semi-abandoned chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) orchards can be restored to production by removing invasive vegetation and pruning overgrown crowns. Both interventions stimulate a strong reaction from the old trees, which sprout abundant suckers at the root collar and along the [...] Read more.
Abandoned and semi-abandoned chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) orchards can be restored to production by removing invasive vegetation and pruning overgrown crowns. Both interventions stimulate a strong reaction from the old trees, which sprout abundant suckers at the root collar and along the stem. Suckers must be removed promptly to boost fruit-bearing branches. Sucker removal can be achieved with traditional manual tools (e.g., pruning saws or pole saws) or with more modern semi-mechanized methods relying on battery-powered saws. The latter are much more expensive than the former and questions arise regarding the minimum amount of work necessary to justify their purchase. This study compared the two methods, showing that the introduction of a battery-powered saw would boost work productivity by 67%, that is, from 18 to 31 trees per day. At current cost levels, that productivity margin would justify investment in a semi-mechanized system when treating at least 100 trees per year. In that case, the de-suckering cost would amount to 3.8 and 3.9 € tree−1 respectively for semi-mechanized and manual systems. Shifting from manual to semi-mechanized operation also resulted in a significant reduction in the physiological workload imposed on the workers, which would decrease by −4% to −71% depending on the circumstances. Productivity and workload variations followed the same trend, but their magnitude was highly dependent on the individual worker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization Options)
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14 pages, 3134 KB  
Article
Spatial Distribution Patterns and Environmental Drivers of Bombax ceiba L.-Associated Plant Communities in Contrasting Habitats: A Case Study from a Tropical Rainforest and a Dry-Hot Valley
by Mengting Zhang, Mingwei Bao and Xiping Cheng
Forests 2026, 17(5), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17050531 - 28 Apr 2026
Viewed by 644
Abstract
Understanding the spatial distribution patterns and environmental drivers of plant communities is fundamental for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Bombax ceiba is a widely distributed tree species that occurs in both humid tropical rainforests and drought-prone dry-hot valleys, representing two strongly contrasting ecological [...] Read more.
Understanding the spatial distribution patterns and environmental drivers of plant communities is fundamental for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Bombax ceiba is a widely distributed tree species that occurs in both humid tropical rainforests and drought-prone dry-hot valleys, representing two strongly contrasting ecological environments. However, the spatial patterns and environmental drivers of plant communities associated with B. ceiba across these habitats remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated B. ceiba-associated plant communities in two representative habitats in Yunnan Province, Southwest China: a tropical rainforest in Mengla and a dry-hot valley in Yuanjiang. The species composition, community structure, and spatial coordinates of associated plants were recorded in replicated 20 m × 20 m plots. Spatial distribution patterns were analyzed using the pair-correlation function g(r), while environmental drivers were examined using Pearson correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA). Species richness was substantially higher in the tropical rainforest (41 species from 33 families) than in the dry-hot valley (19 species from 14 families). Both communities contained a substantial proportion of tropical Asian floristic elements. Most dominant species exhibited aggregated spatial distributions at small spatial scales (0–7 m), indicating strong dispersal limitation and microhabitat heterogeneity. Spatial associations varied across scales: in the dry-hot valley, species associations alternated between positive and negative correlations at small scales (0–5 m) and shifted toward positive correlations at larger distances, whereas in the tropical rainforest negative associations were more common at small scales and positive associations increased at larger spatial scales. Environmental drivers differed markedly between habitats. In the dry-hot valley, community attributes were positively associated with slope, precipitation, and soil ammonium nitrogen, suggesting that community assembly is influenced by interactions between topography and water availability. In contrast, tropical rainforest communities were more strongly associated with soil phosphorus availability and temperature-related variables. These findings highlight distinct community assembly mechanisms in contrasting habitats and provide ecological insights for vegetation restoration in dry-hot valleys and biodiversity conservation in tropical rainforests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization Options)
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27 pages, 2535 KB  
Article
Management Effects on Biomass Partitioning in Fast-Growing Poplar in Brandenburg
by Lisa Schulz-Nielsen, Josafat-Mattias Burmeister, Cäcilia Fiege, Rico Richter and Ralf Pecenka
Forests 2026, 17(3), 395; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17030395 - 23 Mar 2026
Viewed by 879
Abstract
Woody biomass crops are increasingly considered a promising alternative to conventional agricultural systems due to their potential for sustained carbon sequestration under accelerating climate change. Optimizing management practices in such systems is therefore critical to enhance biomass production and carbon storage. In this [...] Read more.
Woody biomass crops are increasingly considered a promising alternative to conventional agricultural systems due to their potential for sustained carbon sequestration under accelerating climate change. Optimizing management practices in such systems is therefore critical to enhance biomass production and carbon storage. In this study, we investigated how management influences biomass allocation in four poplar plots differing in planting density, variety, and harvest-rotation design during their 6th and 7th year of growth. Biomass stocks were quantified for crown, stem, coarse roots, and fine roots. Management effects were most pronounced in aboveground biomass, whereas belowground responses were less consistent. The highest aboveground biomass was observed in the high-density system within the first rotation (MxHD1), reaching 55.32 Mg ha−1 in 2024 and 94.91 Mg ha−1 in 2025. Belowground biomass ranged from 8.12 to 18.35 Mg ha−1 across plots and years. The root:shoot ratio declined with increasing shoot basal diameter and was highest in the year following harvest. Based on these data, we developed general and management-specific allometric models to predict aboveground and belowground biomass from diameter at breast height. Including management factors improved prediction accuracy, supporting more precise quantification of biomass allocation under different cultivation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fast-Growing Tree Species in Different Land-Use Systems and Their Utilization Options)
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