Estimating Balanced Structure Areas in Multi-Species Forests on the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico Wehenkel, José Corral-Rivas, José Hernández-Díaz, Gadow
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Estimating balanced structure areas in multi-species forests on the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico Wehenkel, José Corral-Rivas, José Hernández-Díaz, Gadow To cite this version: Wehenkel, José Corral-Rivas, José Hernández-Díaz, Gadow. Estimating balanced structure areas in multi-species forests on the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. Annals of Forest Science, Springer Nature (since 2011)/EDP Science (until 2010), 2011, 68 (2), pp.385-394. 10.1007/s13595-011-0027-9. hal-00930762 HAL Id: hal-00930762 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00930762 Submitted on 1 Jan 2011 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. 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Annals of Forest Science (2011) 68:385–394 DOI 10.1007/s13595-011-0027-9 ORIGINAL PAPER Estimating balanced structure areas in multi-species forests on the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico Christian Wehenkel & José Javier Corral-Rivas & José Ciro Hernández-Díaz & Klaus von Gadow Received: 4 January 2010 /Accepted: 23 July 2010 /Published online: 22 February 2011 # INRA and Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract • Conclusion Future management monitoring in the unique • Introduction This study presents a method for estimating forests of Durango will reveal unsustainable harvesting the minimum area which exhibits a balanced diameter practices more effectively and in a more comprehensive distribution, and the corresponding number of trees, for way than before, using the methods presented in this study. different tree species and forest types in the Santiago Papasquiaro region in the State of Durango, Mexico. The Keywords Diameter distribution . Sustainable balanced structure area is defined as the minimum management . Species diversity. Covariation . Permutation contiguous area that is required for sustainable management test . Uneven-aged silviculture . Selective harvesting of a multi-sized selection forest. A multi-sized forest represents a balanced structure unit if the relationship between harvest and growth can be maintained, using a 1 Introduction defined target diameter distribution and disregarding major natural disturbances. The study is based on 17,577 sample 1.1 Sustainable forest management plots in uneven-aged forests, which are selectively har- vested by local communities. It is widely accepted that sustainable forest use should be • Results and discussion The minimum structure areas that based on principles of constancy and stability in contrast to provide a balanced diameter distribution in the diameter at overexploitation and depletion of a valuable resource to the breast height (DBH) interval of 12 to 57 cm vary from 0.4 detriment of future generations (Kotwal et al. 2008). This to 122 ha, depending on the particular tree species. This sounds logical, but the implementation of such general ideas study has shown that it is possible to identify silvicultural represents a real challenge. For successful maintenance of an treatments that are conducive to sustainable use. industry based on timber products, forest planning must ensure that there are always stands at the correct stage of Handling Editor: David E. Hibbs development and in sufficient number to yield the desired C. Wehenkel (*) : J. C. Hernández-Díaz product mix from the forest (Gadow and Puumalainen 2000). Instituto de Silvicultura e Industria de la Madera, The classical approach in rotation management systems Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, involves calculation of an allowable cutting volume based on Km 5.5 Carretera Mazatlán, 34120 Durango, México the current growing stock and estimated growth. e-mail: [email protected] In a forest managed under the selection system, forest development does not follow a cyclical harvest-and- J. J. Corral-Rivas regeneration pattern. Instead, it oscillates around some Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, ideal level of growing stock. Various techniques have been Río Papaloapan y Blvd. Durango s/n, Col. Valle del Sur, devised to ensure sustained production levels. The most 34120 Durango, México common technique involves the definition of a residual growing stock or target structure that should remain after K. von Gadow Burckhardt Institut, Büsgenweg 5, Georg-August University, each harvest event. In theory, the approach is very simple 37077 Göttingen, Germany and logical. By comparing the real and ideal diameter 386 C. Wehenkel et al. distributions, it is possible to determine the number of trees tionship, which describes the increase in the number of that should be harvested in each diameter class (see species with increasing sample area may be helpful examples by Cancino and Gadow 2002). The accumulated (Hubbell 2001). It is well known that within a particular surplus is removed on successive visits to a particular forest geographical region, larger contiguous forest areas contain stand. The challenge is to define the “residual growing more species than smaller forest fragments. Lawton (1999) stock”, not only by timber volume, but also in terms of has referred to this relationship as one of the few forest structure and diversity. fundamental laws in ecology, and several models have Pine–oak forests cover 16% of the Mexican territory, been proposed to describe the relationship (Williams comprising 31.8 million hectares in total (FAO 1998: 1995;Tjørve2003). These models allow us to estimate 30.1 million hectares), and occur throughout the major the minimum area, i.e., the smallest area that is required to mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra capture all the species occurring within a given contiguous Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre del Sur, and the Trans- region. Such estimates have been presented by Gadow and volcanic Belt (Rzedowski 1978). In total, 80% of the forest Hui (2007) for a range of forest ecosystems. area is owned and managed by about 8,000 rural commu- If it is possible to estimate the minimum species area, then nities known as Ejidos and Comuninades who manage their by analogy, it should be possible to estimate the balanced land with some level of governmental control (Thoms and structure area (BSA), which has been defined by Koop (1981) Betters 1998). as the minimum contiguous area that includes all tree Regarding the extent and economic value of its forest developmental stages. The BSA canbeconsideredasthe resources, the State of Durango is the most important state minimum area required for sustainable management in a in Mexico. It is ranked first in terms of pine growing stock multi-sized selection forest (see p. 50 in Kurth 1994). A (27.7%), annual yield of coniferous roundwood (25.7%) multi-sized stand represents a balanced structural unit if the and other roundwood yields (37.6%) nationwide relationship between harvest and growth can be maintained (SRNyMA 2002). Timber resources in the State of Durango using a defined target diameter distribution and disregarding are estimated to amount to about one-quarter of the national major natural disturbances (Seymour and Kenefic 1998). resources of Mexico. Of the total surface area of Durango Sustainability is theoretically achieved in these stands because (12,274,730 ha), about 4,900,000 ha are covered by forests. goods and services can be consistently produced over time The predominant types of forest are pine–oak stands, often (Nyland 2002). The BSA can therefore be used as an indicator mixed with Pseudotsuga, Arbutus, and Juniperus, among of demographic sustainability based on tree communities. other tree species (Corral-Rivas 2006). In a balanced diameter distribution, the ratio between Most forests are managed selectively by local communi- successive diameter at breast height (DBH) classes is ties. Uneven-aged structures are more complex than even- constant. This relationship characterizes the shape of the aged structures and one of the most pressing research curve (Baker et al. 1996) and can be described by the problems is the development of practical concepts for defining negative exponential function (Meyer 1933). Alternatively, sustainable harvests. On the basis of traditional methods of the so-called BDq model, defined by a basal area level, harvest control in multi-aged forests, the diameter distribution maximum diameter, and q factor, was proposed by Guldin may provide a useful management tool that can be used to (1991). Other differently shaped DBH distributions have ensure that the natural species diversity is maintained. Such a been found for natural forests (Goff and West 1975;Cancino tool is urgently needed for the 30.1 million hectares of and Gadow 2002; Westphal et al. 2006). Nevertheless, a temperate multi-aged and species-rich pine, oak, and fir common factor in diameter distributions in balanced uneven- forests of Mexico (FAO 1998). aged forests is that the relationship between the tree diameters and the number of trees is monotonic decreasing. 1.2 Balanced structure areas 1.3 Objective Genetic diversity is crucial for forest sustainability and ecosystem stability and has therefore been identified as one The objective of this study is to estimate the minimum