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The persistence and function of living roots on lodgepole pine snags and stumps grafted to living trees

Persistance et fonctions de racines de souches de Pinus contorta présentant des anastomoses avec des arbres vivants

Annals of Forest Science volume 64, pages 31–36 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

In Alberta, Canada, pairs of grafted lodgepole pine trees were selected to study the longevity and location of live roots of snags that were grafted to living trees, to determine the impact of these live residual roots on the diameter growth of the living tree. In a second study, dense groups of grafted trees were manually thinned and one leave tree was left to grow for two growing seasons. For both studies, roots were excavated. Results indicate that more live roots were maintained on snags connected to living trees with a large graft and that roots located within 90° of the root grafted to the live tree persisted longer. Also, tree ring index in the living trees significantly increased following manual thinning, but was unaffected when the grafted partner died naturally. Grafts with large phloem connections maintained a higher number of live roots on snags, than grafts with small connections.

Résumé

En Alberta (Canada), de couples d’arbres (Pinus contorta) présentant des anastomoses racinaires ont été sélectionnés pour étudier la longévité et la disposition des racines de souches connectées à des arbres vivants, et préciser l’impact des ces racines résiduelles sur la croissance en diamètre de l’arbre vivant. Dans une seconde étude, des bosquets denses d’arbres anastomosés ont été éclaircis manuellement, et les arbres conservés ont été coupés après deux saisons de végétation. Les résultat indiquent que sur ces souches connectées à des arbres vivants, de nombreuses racines ont survécu; de plus, les racines présentes dans un secteur de 90° par rapport à une anastomose avec l’arbre vivant, persistent nettement plus longtemps sur ces souches que les autres. De plus, la croissance des cernes d’arbres vivants augmentait fortement suite à l’éclaircie, mais pas suite à une mort naturelle de l’arbre partenaire anastomosé. Les anastomoses avec de fortes connections au niveau du liber ont permis de maintenir en vie un plus grand nombre de racines sur les souches que celles avec de faibles zones de contact.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Enhanced Forest Management, department of Renewable Resources, university of Alberta, T6G 2E3, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Erin C. Fraser, Victor J. Lieffers & Simon M. Landhäusser

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  1. Erin C. Fraser
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  2. Victor J. Lieffers
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  3. Simon M. Landhäusser
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Correspondence to Victor J. Lieffers.

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Fraser, E.C., Lieffers, V.J. & Landhäusser, S.M. The persistence and function of living roots on lodgepole pine snags and stumps grafted to living trees. Ann. For. Sci. 64, 31–36 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1051/forest:2006085

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/forest:2006085

Annals of Forest Science

ISSN: 1297-966X