Dec 08
Tree harvesting in OPTMix experimental plots is now completed (related articles here and here). Most of the exploitation was performed in one month (from 2017-09-25 to 2017-11-03) and was realized in very good conditions. A big thank you to the National Forest Office (ONF) who carried out and coordinated this operation and who was able …
Nov 23
An article dealing with stand composition effect on tree functional response during severe drought has just been published in Annals of Forest Science. This work was partly performed on OPTMix experimental plots in collaboration with Damien Bonal (INRA Nancy). This work was started during the internship of Mathilde Pau (Master 2, Irstea Nogent-sur-Vernisson, year 2016). …
Nov 22
OPTMix has recently received foreign researchers for soil sampling (more details here), but OPTMix members also visit experimental sites in foreign country in order to promote international exchanges between researchers. It is with this goal of scientific exchanges that Jordan Bello (PhD student on OPTMix) went to Sweden, and more specifically to Umeå at SLU, …
Oct 03
Tree harvesting began on September 26th (see also here). Nine management units are concerned for a total of about 40ha. This operation is carried out and coordinated by the National Forest Office (ONF). When possible, tree harvesting is done mechanically, making it possible to better take into account the constraints associated with the presence of …
Sep 25
OPTMix is one of the European site chosen for the ERA-NET SUMFOREST REFORM (REsilience of FORest Mixtures) project supervised by Quentin Ponette (professor at the Catholic University of Louvain). The aim of this REFORM project is to develop silvicultural prescriptions for mixed species stands that are highly resistant and resilient to biotic and abiotic disturbances …
Sep 11
Two stand densities are tested in the OPTMix device: a low density with a Relative Density Index (RDI) around 0.4 and a medium density with a RDI around 0.7. For the mixture there is also a third modality without thinings (for more details see here). A first thinning was carried out between 2013 and 2015 …
Sep 04
As part of the Jordan Bello Ph.D. (Irstea Nogent-sur-Vernisson), sap flow sensors were installed in the OPTMix plots in collaboration with Damien Bonal (INRA Nancy). The objective of this experiment is to better understand the water consumption of sessile oak and Scots pine when these species grow in a soil with a perched water table. …
Sep 04
Wild boars are considered as key elements of forest ecosystems by having direct or indirect effects on the environment through tillage, zoochory, or trampling, for example. These impacts can be observed in bird communities. This problem is well known in agricultural environments but what about forest bird species? This question is the subject of a …
Aug 02
According to the latest estimates, there are between 500 and 700 species of bramble in France (http://www.tela-botanica.org/). In France the inventory of bramble species is still very incomplete. The first floristic inventories carried out on OPTMix revealed the presence of several species of brambles without being able to determine them reliably. An experiment has just …
Jul 28
Vincent Seigner has just left us this summer for other horizons (Quebec). A big thank you to Vincent for all he has contributed to the OPTMix project since the installation of the plots until the installation of all the sensors and dataloggers. Below is a small illustration made by his daughter showing Vincent in action …
