Overstory stability, growth and regeneration across ten years after shelterwood cuts in Nothofagus pumilio stands from Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15287/afr.2026.4248Keywords:
silviculture, stand stability, stand recovery, forest structure, PatagoniaAbstract
Nothofagus pumilio is a native tree from the Andean Patagonia, including Tierra del Fuego archipelago, with exceptional timber quality. In N. pumilio natural forests, harvesting generates changes in structure, which in combination with natural disturbances, particularly windthrown, modify the recovery pathways to face management proposals. Overstory stability and diameter growth of remnant trees (>5 cm diameter), and density and height of natural regeneration (<5 cm) were analysed in stands managed with shelterwood after preparatory cuts (PC), final cuts (FC), and thinning (T) in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). Overstory stability measured as fallen basal area of remnant trees was evaluated across 10 years-after-harvesting (YAH), diameter growth was evaluated during 2012-2018 and 2019-2022, and regeneration was evaluated before harvesting and 10 YAH. PC (fallen basal area 6.0%) and FC (8.4%) promoted greater stability than T (21.0%), in which higher instability was recorded during the first 4 YAH. Diameter growth did not show significant differences between shelterwood cuts (3.6-4.2 mm yr-1) and thinning (3.7-4.6 mm yr-1). PC and FC showed abundant regeneration (21.8 and 17.0 x 103 ind ha-1, respectively). Our study showed that shelterwood cuts (PC and FC) in N. pumilio forests promoted greater tree stability and natural regeneration while thinning generated greater growth values at stand level.
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