Investigating red pine and white spruce growth dynamics in microplots: three-year results

Abstract

Miniature scale or “microplots” can be used in forest experiments to speed up the time period needed to understand forest dynamics. This reports analyses three years of red pine and white spruce growth in microplots located at the Cloquet Forestry Center, Cloquet, MN. Spacing of the microplots and species mixture did not influence the relative height and groundline diameter growth trees in the microplots after three years. Future work will continue to monitor these trees through annual measurements and a destructive sampling effort will inform biomass partitioning patterns that can be compared to operational scale plantings.