Effect of protection cut on the establishment of regeneration in Nothofagus forest

Abstract

The objective of this project was to evaluate the effect of a cut, on the establishment of regeneration in a forest dominated by Nothofagus obliqua in the Andes Mountains of the Maule Region, after four years of its application. Three tests were established, two with forest canopy cover of 147% and 89% before the cut, being 93% and 60% after the extraction, one of them flat (called dense without slope or DsP) and the other with smooth slope and SW exposure (DcP). A third test corresponded to an area with few mature trees with 10% coverage (AsP). The highest densities of regeneration occurred in the area of flat forest, with 8347 seedlings (pl.) per hectare, while in the area with slope a density of 4838 plants per hectare has estimated. The open area only reached 1528 plants per hectare. In all cases there was regeneration of species with different tolerance to light, and the relative importance of N. obliqua reached about 50%. Remarkable is the presence of species of forest type esclerophyl, of which, particularly Cryptocarya alba occupied second place in importance in the test with slope, with nearly a quarter of the total. Thus, these results are seen as an approach for managing the coverage which could be a powerful tool for controlling the composition of the future forest, even though the study period coincided with an unusual drought in the country and could have affected the density measured.

The objective of this project was to evaluate the effect of a cut, on the establishment of regeneration in a forest dominated by Nothofagus obliqua in the Andes Mountains of the Maule Region, after four years of its application. Three tests were established, two with forest canopy cover of 147% and 89% before the cut, being 93% and 60% after the extraction, one of them flat (called dense without slope or DsP) and the other with smooth slope and SW exposure (DcP). A third test corresponded to an area with few mature trees with 10% coverage (AsP). The highest densities of regeneration occurred in the area of flat forest, with 8347 seedlings (pl.) per hectare, while in the area with slope a density of 4838 plants per hectare has estimated. The open area only reached 1528 plants per hectare. In all cases there was regeneration of species with different tolerance to light, and the relative importance of N. obliqua reached about 50%. Remarkable is the presence of species of forest type esclerophyl, of which, particularly Cryptocarya alba occupied second place in importance in the test with slope, with nearly a quarter of the total. Thus, these results are seen as an approach for managing the coverage which could be a powerful tool for controlling the composition of the future forest, even though the study period coincided with an unusual drought in the country and could have affected the density measured.