J. For. Sci., 2025, 71(12):599-613 | DOI: 10.17221/79/2025-JFS

Leaf area index and soil water content responses to pre-commercial thinning in Norway spruce plantations under climate changeOriginal Paper

Jakub Černý ORCID...1,2,3, Zdeněk Vacek ORCID...4, Jan Cukor ORCID...1,4, Dominik Báňa2, Stanislav Vacek ORCID...4
1 Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, Jíloviště-Strnady, Czech Republic
2 Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
3 Department of Genetics and Physiology of Forest Trees, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
4 Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Global climate change (GCC) and increasing drought frequency pose a threat to the stability of European forests, particularly those of Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] plantations. We investigated how different pre-commercial thinning (PCT) intensities affect leaf area index (LAI) and its relationship to soil water content (SWC) in young spruce stands in northeastern Czechia. Three permanent research plots in a 13-year-old monoculture were subjected to mild PCT, heavy PCT, or left as an unthinned control in winter 2019/2020. Thinning caused an immediate decrease in LAI, with averages of 8.3 ± 1.1 m2·m–2 (mild), 3.8 ± 0.5 m2·m–2 (heavy) and 11.1 ±1.1 m2·m–2 (control) in 2020. By 2023, LAI in the mildly thinned stand had largely converged with the control, whereas the heavily thinned stand maintained significantly lower LAI. The strongest relationship between LAI and SWC occurred in the heavily thinned plot (R2 = 0.715 in 2021), while correlations were weak or transient in the mildly thinned and control plots. These results indicate that PCT intensity influences both the magnitude and duration of LAI reduction and is associated with differences in stand water dynamics. Appropriately adjusted thinning may therefore modestly affect water availability and could contribute to adaptive management of spruce forests under GCC.

Keywords: biometeorology, forest management; Picea abies; silvicultural intervention; stand structure

Received: November 4, 2025; Revised: December 11, 2025; Accepted: December 12, 2025; Published: December 22, 2025  Show citation

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Černý J, Vacek Z, Cukor J, Báňa D, Vacek S. Leaf area index and soil water content responses to pre-commercial thinning in Norway spruce plantations under climate change. J. For. Sci. 2025;71(12):599-613. doi: 10.17221/79/2025-JFS.
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