Pure and mixed forest plantations with native species of the dry tropics of Costa Rica: a comparison of growth and productivity

By D. Piotto, E. Víquez, F. Montagnini, M. Kanninen. 2004

166 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In Costa Rica, most reforestation trials with native species were established in the tropical humid regions. In the dry tropics, research on the performance of native species in forest plantations is incipient and trials comparing pure and mixed designs are limited. This paper presents the results of two experimental plantations with native trees in pure and mixed plots in the dry tropics of Costa Rica. The growth and productivity of 13 native species in pure and mixed plantations was compared with Tectona grandis (L.f.) Lam., an exotic species broadly used in the region. In a plantation of relatively slower growing species, measurements taken at 68 months of age resulted in Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merril. and Dalbergia retusa Hemsl. demonstrating the best growth, followed by Astronium graveolens Jacq. and Swietenia macrophylla King. Measurements in a plantation of relatively faster growing species, at 68 months of age, showed that growth of Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) Blake was greatest in the pure and mixed plots, followed by Terminalia oblonga (Ruiz & Pav.) Steud., Anarcadium excelsum (Bert. & Balb. ex Kunth) Skeels and Pseudosamanea guachapele (Kunth) Harms. The native species grew better in the mixed plots. The pure plots of T. grandis (L.f.) Lam. were the most productive, compared to all species and the mixture of species. Plantations of T. grandis (L.f.) Lam. seem to be well adapted to the region and are certainly a commercially interesting alternative. Nevertheless, mixed plantations with native species would contribute more to sustainable management, because while single-species plantations do not provide a great range of goods and services when compared to the natural forest, mixed plantations are likely to increase this range of benefits.

Subfields: Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/159aa6507018402c4eefc65759a155ab1a6b8cf5

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Citations in the corpus

Growth and Species Interactions of Eucalyptus pellita in a Mixed and Monoculture Plantation in the H (2006, background): “Studies of mixed vs. pure plantations have shown that mixtures have the potential for greater production of biomass (DeBell et al. 1997, Forrester et al. 2004), more diversified products (Keenan et al. 1995, Piotto et al. 2004 ), improved nutrient cycling and soil fertility (Binkley et al. 1992, Ba”
Growth, productivity, aboveground biomass, and carbon sequestration of pure and mixed native tree plantations in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica (2006, background): “However, these three species suffered complete mortality due to pests and diseases at 4–5 years of age and are not being used in the region (Piotto et al., 2004).”
Allelopathic effects of eucalyptus and the establishment of mixed stands of eucalyptus and native species. (2009, background): “Many studies have focused on mixed plantations of native and exotic tree species (Piotto et al., 2004; Duarte et al., 2006; Gareca et al., 2007), butmixed-species plantations that include eucalyptus have not been studied.”