Journal ArticleDOI
Financial Returns for Biomass on Short-Rotation Loblolly Pine Plantations in the Southeastern United States
Andrew Trlica,Rachel L. Cook,Timothy J. Albaugh,Rajan Parajuli,David R. Carter,Rafael Rubilar +5 more
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TLDR
In this article, the authors used field studies in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and the Virginia Piedmont to evaluate the performance of short-rotation pine plantations in the US Southeast and found that the management combinations that favored the highest financial returns emphasized the least expensive open-pollinated stock, lower-input operational silviculture, and moderate to high planting density.Abstract:
\n Rising demand for renewable energy has created a potential market for biomass from short-rotation pine plantations in the southeastern United States. Site preparation, competition control, fertilization, and enhanced seedling genotypes offer the landowner several variables for managing productivity, but their combined effects on financial returns are unclear. This study estimated returns from a hypothetical 10-year biomass harvest in loblolly pine plantation using field studies in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and the Virginia Piedmont testing combinations of tree genotype, planting density, and silviculture. Although enhanced varietal genotypes could yield more biomass, open-pollinated seedlings at 1,236–1,853 trees ha−1 under operational silviculture had the greatest returns at both sites, with mean whole-tree internal rates of return of 8.3%–9.9% assuming stumpage equal to current pulpwood prices. At a 5% discount rate, break-even whole-tree stumpage at the two sites in the optimal treatments was $8.72–$9.92 Mg−1, and break-even yield was 175–177 Mg ha−1 (roughly 18 Mg ha−1 yr−1 productivity), although stumpage and yield floors were higher if only stem biomass was treated as salable. Dedicated short-rotation loblolly biomass plantations in the region are more likely to be financially attractive when site establishment and maintenance costs are minimized.\n Study Implications: Our study suggests that dedicated loblolly pine plantations in the US Southeast may be managed to generate positive financial yields for biomass over relatively short (10 year) rotation windows, even at lower stumpage value than at present for pulpwood in the region (<80% current). Intensive use of costly inputs like fertilizer, vigorous chemical competition control, and elite genetics in planting stock did improve biomass yields. However, the management combinations that favored the highest financial returns emphasized the least expensive open-pollinated stock, lower-input operational silviculture, and moderate-to-high planting density.read more
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Duration of response to nitrogen and phosphorus applications in mid-rotation Pinus taeda
Timothy J. Albaugh,Janine M. Albaugh,David R. Carter,Rachel L. Cook,Chris W. Cohrs,Rafael Rubilar,Otávio Camargo Campoe +6 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantified the response duration to one-time applications of 112, 224, and 336 kg of elemental nitrogen combined with 28 or 56 kg of phosphorus in mid-rotation Pinus taeda L. stands.
Journal ArticleDOI
Potential Long Term Water Yield Impacts from Pine Plantation Management Strategies in the Southeastern United States
TL;DR: In this paper , the effects of thinning and clear-cut conditions on long term mean annual water yield across a 55-year time horizon at the watershed scale (watershed area ranging 696-7,374 km 2 ) in northern Florida, southern Georgia, and southern Alabama were examined on multiple spatial scales.
Journal ArticleDOI
Integrating Short Rotation Woody Crops into Conventional Agricultural Practices in the Southeastern United States: A Review
Omoyemeh J. Ile,Hannah A. McCormick,Sheila Skrabacz,Shamik Bhattacharya,Maricar Aguilos,Henrique da Ros Carvalho,Joshua Idassi,Justin Baker,Joshua L. Heitman,J.A. King +9 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors present a literature review to synthesize the patterns and trends in SWRC bioenergy production; highlight the benefits of integrating short rotation woody crops into row crop agriculture; and identify emerging technologies for efficiently managing the integrated system, while identifying research gaps.
References
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glmmTMB Balances Speed and Flexibility Among Packages for Zero-inflated Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling
Mollie Elizabeth Brooks,Kasper Kristensen,Koen J. van Benthem,Arni Magnusson,Casper Willestofte Berg,Anders Nielsen,Hans J. Skaug,Martin Mächler,Benjamin M. Bolker +8 more
TL;DR: The glmmTMB package fits many types of GLMMs and extensions, including models with continuously distributed responses, but here the authors focus on count responses and its ability to estimate the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson distribution parameterized by the mean is unique.
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Bootstrap Confidence Intervals
Thomas J. DiCiccio,Bradley Efron +1 more
TL;DR: Bootstrap methods for estimating confidence intervals have been surveyed in this article, with a focus on improving the accuracy of the standard confidence intervals in a way that allows routine application even to very complicated problems.
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The Development of Pine Plantation Silviculture in the Southern United States
TL;DR: The success story that is southern pine forestry was facilitated by the application of research results generated through cooperative work of the US Forest Service, southern forestry schools, state forestry agencies, and forest industry as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Integrating genetic and silvicultural strategies to minimize abiotic and biotic constraints in Brazilian eucalypt plantations
José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves,Clayton Alcarde Alvares,Antonio Rioyei Higa,Luciana Duque Silva,Acelino C. Alfenas,James Stahl,Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz,Walter de Paula Lima,Pedro H. S. Brancalion,Ayeska Hubner,Jean-Pierre Bouillet,Jean-Paul Laclau,Yann Nouvellon,Daniel Epron +13 more
TL;DR: The basic requirements for integrating genetic and silvicultural strategies to minimize abiotic and biotic constraints in eucalypt plantations are described.
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