Comportamiento de Dalbergia retusa Hemsl. en el trópico húmedo, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Abstract

In 1949 the department of Forest Sciences of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Training Center (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica, established experimental plantations of some valuable forest tree species In the “Moist Premontane Forest” life zone of Holdridge´s ecological life zone system. This paper deals with ecological observations on one of these species, Dalbergia retusa Hemsl. Climatic and edaphic factors related to some mensurational variables to establish associations between them are discussed. The following correlations were analyzed diameter - heartwood, dbh - total and commercial heights, dbh - crown diameter, number of stems per tree - commercial volume with bark (m2) and dbh - percentage bark volume. Additional factors studied included plant mortality in plantations and growth rings. Tree variables studied included: dbh, heartwood, total and commercial heights, crown diameter and bark thickness. Site factors measured included: altitude, precipitation, average temperature and soil capacity for plant production.