Host: The Japanese Forestry Society
Ranking order changes according to DBH size were studied using the data obtained every 3 years from 9 to 24 years old in fertilized and non-fertilized Abies sachalinensis stand. For all trees in each treatment, averaged fluctuation of the ranking order became smaller with increasing stand age. The fluctuation of fertilized stand was smaller than non-fertilized one at younger stage, but both showed similar value in 24 years. The smaller ranking fluctuation of the fertilized stand means increase of trees of fixed order, suggesting clear difference in growth appeared faster in this stand than in non-fertilized one. Within a small group of 6 nearest trees, trees with maximum and minimum size occupied the 1st and last order for longer period than other trees, indicating the largest and the smallest tree were fixed at initial stage of stand growth in comparison with other trees. These results confirmed that thinning should be practiced from early growing stages.
