MODELING WOOD DENSITY IN EUROPEAN OAK (QUERCUS-PETRAEA AND QUERCUS-ROBUR) AND SIMULATING THE SILVICULTURAL INFLUENCE

Wood density in relation to cambial age and ring width was studied in 23 trees of European oak (Quercus petraea (Matt) Liebl. and Quercus ro bur L.) from northeast France, and based on these relationships, a mod el predicting intratree wood density through cambial age and ring widt h was developed. Wood density is closely correlated with both cambial age and ring width, but its relationships with cambial age and ring wi dth, to some extent, vary from tree to tree. The variation, however, d oes not show an appreciable pattern with tree height. The model develo ped is able to predict satisfactorily the average wood density of grow th rings in European oak, and to explain the main part of the variatio n in wood density of individual trees. Furthermore, the model appears also possible to predict the average density of a given small piece of wood from any part of the merchantable bole of the trees. A general m odel, however, accounts for a relatively low percentage of the variati on because there is large intertree variability of wood density in the species. The simulation results reveal that the dynamic silviculture applied to European oak might result in the production of denser and m ore uniform (in the sense of the radial variation of wood density) woo d, compared with classical silviculture.