Analysis of the growth characteristics of a 450-year-old silver fir tree

Abstract

The growth characteristics of silver fir are of high importance for selection forest management, and for the current aims laid out in Serbia's forest management focused on increasing the share of silver firs in Serbia's growing stock. With the objective of increasing the understanding of the growth characteristics of silver fir, the growth of two silver fir trees felled during forest site production research on Mt. Goc, located in Central Serbia, have been analyzed. Both trees showed significant differences in their growth dynamics over long periods as results of micro-site and micro-stand effects (primarily ambient light regime). The common growth characteristic of the two trees, a 450-year-old tree as the main study object (labeled Tree A) and a 270-year-old Tree B is a long stagnation stage. For Tree A the latent phase, with small interruptions, lasted 410 years; one phase lasted 330 years in continuity, which is the longest period of silver fir stagnation recorded in Europe. Tree B showed a long-lasting stagnation stage that lasted 170 years. The long stagnation stage of Tree A, characterized by an average diameter increment of 1.4 mm/year (average growth ring width of 0.7 mm) and an average height increment of 0.08 m/year, shows the extraordinary silver fir capacity for physiological survival in complete shade. This study adds to the existing knowledge of the shade tolerance of the silver fir. Therefore, the silver fir belongs to the group of extremely shade-tolerant tree species. This characteristic makes silver fir an irreplaceable tree species in the selection forest structure. It offers a wide range of silvicultural flexibility in the management of these forests, and is applicable to silver fir selection Serbia's forests.