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Forests
Special Issues
Forest Growth and Regeneration Dynamics
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Forest Growth and Regeneration Dynamics

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2025 | Viewed by 1291

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rongzhou Man

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ontario Forest Research Institute, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada
Interests: mixedwood ecology and silviculture; forest regeneration and succession; spring phenology; cold hardiness; biodiversity effect estimation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Philip G. Comeau

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Renewable Resources, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 751 General Services Bldg., Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada
Interests: silviculture; forest ecology; mixedwood ecology and management; growth and yield; quantitative silviculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are highly dynamic, especially at younger ages. Understanding the impacts of silvicultural treatments/interventions on regeneration, growth and yield, forest carbon, and other ecosystem functions and linking early performance to long-term stand dynamics are, therefore, critical to management decisions targeting the provision of multiple benefits to forest ecosystems. Quantitative effects of silvicultural treatments/interventions and linkages between regeneration performance and long-term growth and yield vary with species and site conditions, as well as with disturbances such as pests and changing climate. Traditionally, short-term effects and long-term dynamics are assessed separately at different times and by different researchers, resulting in a lack of information on the quantitative connections between regeneration performance and long-term growth and yield. This has limited our ability to quantitatively evaluate management decisions, forest management planning, and wood supply analysis. This Special Issue will be transdisciplinary and is intended to bridge silvicultural treatments, regeneration performance, intermediate interventions, and long-term growth and yield using field observations, management records, modelling, and data synthesis for understanding and establishing quantitative links between short-term treatment effects and long-term stand dynamics.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Quantitative effects of silvicultural treatments/interventions;
  • Linking regeneration to growth and yield;
  • Competition and density management;
  • Short-term treatment effects and long-term stand dynamics;
  • Quantitative tools to measure, model and predict.

Dr. Rongzhou Man
Prof. Dr. Philip G. Comeau
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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

  • silvicultural treatments/interventions
  • regeneration
  • stand dynamics
  • density management
  • growth and yield
  • quantitative silviculture

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1827 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Silvicultural Options in Renewal of Trembling Aspen–Jack Pine Mixedwood Stands, 21 Years After Treatment
by Rongzhou Man
Forests 2025, 16(4), 683; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16040683 - 15 Apr 2025
Viewed by 202
Abstract
Regenerating conifers after harvest through planting and postharvest broadcast application of herbicide is effective in ensuring the survival and growth of seedlings, but faces challenges in meeting broad social and ecological objectives of forest management. This study reports the effectiveness of alternative options [...] Read more.
Regenerating conifers after harvest through planting and postharvest broadcast application of herbicide is effective in ensuring the survival and growth of seedlings, but faces challenges in meeting broad social and ecological objectives of forest management. This study reports the effectiveness of alternative options in regenerating jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), 21 years after harvest of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.)-dominated boreal mixedwood stands. The treatment options included (i) preharvest spray—aerial broadcast spray prior to harvest, (ii) postharvest partial spray—ground herbicide application in strips, (iii) partial harvest in strips, (iv) postharvest aerial broadcast, and (v) uncut reference. Twenty-one years after treatments, the four harvest treatments were similar in overstory density (4000 stems/ha) and basal area (BA, 20 m2/ha), but differed in composition and structure. The preharvest spray had an intimate mixture of aspen and jack pine (22% and 57% by BA, respectively), compared to spatial mosaics of aspen and pine corridors in the partial spray (36% and 41%), and aspen and maple corridors in the partial cut (21% and 31%). While the postharvest broadcast was pine-dominated (74% by BA) as expected, uncut and partial cut were similar in pine composition (10% by BA), which is inadequate for aspen and pine mixedwood stands. The early positive effects of preharvest spray and partial harvest on understory species abundance and diversity became neutral 21 years postharvest. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to stand conditions before harvest, postharvest regeneration dynamics, and treatment objectives for the renewal of trembling aspen and jack pine mixedwood stands after harvest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Growth and Regeneration Dynamics)
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21 pages, 4369 KiB  
Article
Contrasting Effects of Broadleaf Thinning Treatments on Spruce Growth in Central British Columbia, Canada
by Hardy Griesbauer and Chris Hawkins
Forests 2025, 16(1), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16010051 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 652
Abstract
As forest managers increasingly seek to develop and maintain mixedwood forests, more information is required on the potential facilitative and competitive interactions between tree species. We present data from a broadleaf thinning study established in a mixedwood stand in Central British Columbia, Canada, [...] Read more.
As forest managers increasingly seek to develop and maintain mixedwood forests, more information is required on the potential facilitative and competitive interactions between tree species. We present data from a broadleaf thinning study established in a mixedwood stand in Central British Columbia, Canada, to examine how residual trembling aspen and paper birch competitively affect spruce growth after thinning but may also concurrently protect spruce from attack by the white pine weevil. Tree-level data collected at a stand age of 36 years, 19 years after broadleaf trees were thinned, show that spruce height and diameter growth declined with broadleaf competition, particularly from taller trees, resulting in a competition-related reduction in stand-level spruce volume yields. The fastest spruce growth occurred in treatments where all broadleaf trees were removed, but complete broadleaf removal also resulted in higher rates of weevil attack on spruce, which also caused height and diameter growth reductions. Our results suggest that maintaining a density of approximately 500 broadleaf trees per hectare may achieve a stand condition that balances spruce growth reductions from competitive interactions with broadleaf trees while providing some protection from white pine weevil attacks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Growth and Regeneration Dynamics)
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