Evaluating the Influence of Row Orientation and Crown Morphology on Growth of . with Drone-Based Airborne Laser Scanning.

The tree crown's directionality of growth may be an indicator of how aggressive the tree is in terms of foraging for light. Airborne drone laser scanning (DLS) has been used to accurately classify individual tree crowns (ITCs) and derive size metrics related to the crown. We compare ITCs among 6 genotypes exhibiting different crown architectures in managed loblolly pine () in the United States.

Intra-annual nutrient flux in Pinus taeda.

Intra-annual nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium) flux was quantified for Pinus taeda L. at a nutrient-poor, well-drained sandy site in Scotland County, NC, USA where a 2 × 2 factorial of irrigation and nutrition was applied in four replications in a 10-year-old stand with 1200 stems ha(-1). Treatments were applied with the goal of providing optimum nutrition (no nutritional deficiencies) and water availability.

Nutrient use and uptake in Pinus taeda.

We quantified nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) content, use (nutrient amount for one growth year), retranslocation (nutrients recycled before foliage senescence), uptake (use minus retranslocation), volume production per unit of uptake and fertilizer-uptake efficiency (percent applied taken up) in a 2 x 2 (nutrient and water) factorial experiment replicated four times in an 8-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stand growing on a nutrient-poor sandy soil in Scotland County, North Carolina, USA. Over 14 years, we applied 1140, 168, 393, 168 and 146 kg ha(-1) of elemental N, P, K, Ca and Mg fertilizer, respectively, and an average of 710 mm year(-1) of irrigation.

Below-ground carbon input to soil is controlled by nutrient availability and fine root dynamics in loblolly pine.

•  Availability of growth limiting resources may alter root dynamics in forest ecosystems, possibly affecting the land-atmosphere exchange of carbon. This was evaluated for a commercially important southern timber species by installing a factorial experiment of fertilization and irrigation treatments in an 8-yr-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation. •  After 3 yr of growth, production and turnover of fine, coarse and mycorrhizal root length was observed using minirhizotrons, and compared with stem growth and foliage development.