Forests and Forest-based Products for a Greener Future

Research Highlights: We investigated the competitive interactions among three tree species (interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco), interior spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss × Picea engelmannii Engelm.), and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. Ex Loud. var. latifolia Englem.)) in multi-aged stands in central British Columbia, Canada. Background and Objectives: Understanding competitive interactions among tree species in mixed-species stands is fundamental to supporting silvicultural decision-making in such stands.

This study sought to gain insight into the impact of thinning treatments on stand structure dynamics in uneven-aged interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) dominated stands in central British Columbia (BC), Canada. We applied the Gini coefficient (GC) and the growth dominance coefficient (GDc) to determine how size inequality and growth dominance changed through time in both pre-commercially thinned (PCT) and unthinned stands across a moisture gradient.

Understanding the spatial patterns of trees and their interactions can reveal the ecological processes driving forest stand structure and stand development over time. We assessed temporal changes in tree spatial patterns in uneven-aged interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) dominated stands in central British Columbia, Canada. Data were available on 24 plots in three blocks over 21 years, 18 of which had received pre-commercial thinning (PCT) treatments of varying intensity.

We assessed the impacts of three approaches to thinning from below with varying spatial patterns on several stand and individual tree variables for interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco), interior spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss × Picea engelmannii Engelm.), and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. Ex Loud. var. latifolia Englem.) in central British Columbia, Canada.

Promoting the consumption of forest plant foods is a sustainable way of ensuring good nutrition and food  security.  This study  assessed  traditional  knowledge  on  and  use  of  forest  plant  foods  in  three administrative districts of Ghana and evaluated their potentials for domestication and processing. A total  of  606  households  were  randomly  selected  and  interviewed  using  enumerator-administered questionnaires.