‘Restoring’ an old growth forest? The more slow growing the trees the better!

Oldest trees in the forest also grow the slowest – and they likely aren’t the prettiest. These ancient trees, whether they are evergreens or hardwoods, often are stunted and may be growing in a harsh micro-climate, such as in poor soil, in the shade of larger neighbors, or on a slope. Slow-growing trees “co-mingle” with faster-growing trees, the study found, and why the trees grow at different rates likely is a combination of genetics and environment.

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“It has always been suspected but never proven that within a species,
old trees grow slower,” said Bryan Black, an assistant professor of
forestry at Oregon State University, who works out of OSU’s Hatfield
Marine Science Center in Newport. “The oldest trees, though, are not
necessarily the biggest. Even though they have longer lifespans, the
long-lived trees grow so slowly that they rarely get as big as their
faster-growing, shorter-lived counterparts. “That creates implications
for management because this slow growth is apparent within the first
50 years,” Black added.

“If the goal for a certain forest is timber
production, resource managers may want to develop strategies to
enhance fast-growing trees. The flip side would be logical if the goal
was to produce an old-growth forest.” Results of the meta-analysis
study were published in the recent issue of the journal Ecoscience.
Rapidly growing trees may occupy space more quickly, reach sexual
maturity earlier, and are more prone to frequent, catastrophic
disturbances, including flood, fire and windstorms, Black said. They
also die at a younger age.

Meanwhile, the slower growing trees channel
their energy into structural support and defense compounds, don’t burn
out from reproducing, and slowly-but-surely outpace their mercurial
cousins. These Methuselah-like trees are, in a word, “rugged,” Black
said. “These long-lived trees grow slowly – but not too slow,” Black
said. “It seems to be some kind of balance that the trees grow at just
the right pace for their environment and the conditions stop just
short of causing them to die.

The lesson is that there may be even
greater diversity to our forests than we had realized. “Moreover, this
study adds to the growing body of research that links slow growth with
longevity,” Black added. “It’s certainly true of animal species and
apparently it is a phenomenon also shared by trees.”

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