Age of heartwood initiation in trunks of young Pinus sylvestris L. trees in the taiga zone

What is it about?

Heartwood is a natural material that is resistant to biodegradation. Humans have been using pine heartwood for several hundred years, but we still only have fragmentary knowledge of the mechanisms of its formation. We have determined the heartwood initiation age in Scots pine using several methods for detecting heartwood for the first time. Comparison of the results obtained by different methods showed that the presence of true heartwood in young trees can only be determined by anatomical methods. The age of initiation and the number of annual rings of heartwood in young pine trees depended on growth conditions. The results obtained are important for understanding the mechanisms of heartwood formation and developing realistic models of this process, including under conditions of a changing climate.

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