This project will develop decision support tools for:
- the prediction of genotype, site and management effects on
stand production
- end-use suitability of plantation-grown products
- stand-scale fluxes of carbon and water and risks inherent in
plantation development.
These tools will help managers to tailor silviculture for site
attributes and allow precise targeting of fertiliser and pesticide
application.
Project 1.3 takes the science produced under Project 1.2 and
integrates it with information from Project 1.1 to provide tools
for forest managers.
Project 1.3 recognises significant gaps in available decision
support tools and their capacity to predict the effect of competing
vegetation on forest growth. The project carries out research
into:
- plant–plant competition
- the niches of forest understorey species (including weeds)
- the role of tree and site variability, and seemingly random
events, in forming tree size-class distributions in forests.
This research will support forest workers to make forest
management decisions.
The leader of Project 1.3 is Tony O'Grady
(School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania).
Senior scientists are Yue Wang (University of
Melbourne/Department of Sustainability and Environment), Philip
Smethurst (CSIRO), and Paul Adams (Forestry Tasmania).
