Research

Regionwide Trials

Since 1970, FPC members have established over 350 installations of 28 “Regionwide” studies in the southeast US, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Colombia. Studies are focused on a few important questions that are more effectively answered by members cooperating rather than competing. Most studies examine several silvicultural treatments, providing an opportunity to better understand interactions among treatments. All studies include multiple installations across a range of soil/site types where treatments are replicated at least twice on each site. Data from these studies provide the basis for estimating responses to silvicultural treatments, developing prescription guidelines, and parameterizing growth models.

Special Studies

The foundation of our research continues to be field studies examining the effects of silvicultural treatments applied during stand establishment (e.g., soil tillage, vegetation management, fertilization) and in established stands (e.g., thinning, fertilization, woody vegetation control) on stand growth and nutrition. FPC staff and collaborators often complete research outside the regional scope and answer some of these questions.

Research Priorities

In 2020, the US Pine strategic planning meeting was conducted virtually, allowing as many members to join as possible and providing invaluable direction and guidance for our future research. Updated Latin American strategic priorities will be forthcoming. The priorities identified by our members include a mixture of applied and basic research that has been a hallmark of the FPC for several decades. Much of the research subjects identified are relevant to a wide variety of pine and hardwood species in both the United States and Latin America. The mixture of empirical and process-based work conducted by the FPC enables us to extrapolate research from one region to another and from one species to another, increasing the efficiency of the research efforts of the FPC and the value of the program to the members.

Southeast US Working Group Research Priorities

  • Nutrition and Site-Specific Resource Supply

    • Soil mapping for fertilization response and potential productivity

    • Long-term nutrient availability

    • Mid-rotation fertilization: crown recession & potential response

  • Vegetation Control vs Fertilization

    • Midrotation release

    • Timing during rotation

  • Remote Sensing

    • Satellite and LiDAR: Competing vegetation LAI

    • Lidar: Stand inventory

Latin America Pine & Eucalyptus Research Priorities

  • Increasing plantation productivity by managing water availability, understanding water and nutrient interaction demands and water use efficiency, and use of pine and eucalyptus plantations

  • Remote sensing applications for forest health, establishment phase, and inventory

  • Adaptation of plantations to climate change: Environment x Silviculture x  Genetic interactions/opportunities

  • Maximizing response to nutrient  additions and soil specific responses

  • Remote sensing tools to evaluate forest health and productivity

  • Fundamental research to address eucalyptus water and carbon sustainability and balance under climate change

  • Eucalyptus coppice management & nutrition

  • Correction of stem deformation using nutritional amendments on intensively managed pine plantations

  • Modelling site above and belowground forest carbon stock and its long term maintenance