GROWTH, QUALITY AND REGENERATION OF SESSILE OAK (QUERCUS PETRAEA (MATT.) LIEBL.) IN COPPICE WITH STANDARDS IN FRANCONIA, GERMANY

Coppice with standards (CWS) has recently regained importance in forestry. This is due to increased demand for firewood, the high ecological value of CWS, its potential to produce highly valuable timber from oak and Noble Hardwoods and its potential to adapt forests to climate change. In silvicultural investigations of CWS in Franconia/Bavaria which began in 2007, three treatments were carried out in oak-dominated (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) forests on two different sites. Local coppicing systems varied as to the amount of basal area maintained, canopy cover and volume hectare. Investigations of the maidens showed that pruning to a height of 6 m in 2007 failed to improve stem quality. Due to epicormic shoots, the pruned maidens had significantly shorter branch-free bole lengths five years after pruning. The level of regeneration was high (up to 220.000 plants∙ha^-1), with a large oak component (up to 95 %). Generative regeneration dominated, with coppice shoots comprising a small share of the total of young plants (<23 %). Although oak dominated in numbers, shade-tolerant species like beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) gained more height. Thus, oak is expected to play a minor role in the next stand generation and mixture regulation is needed if oak is favored. The mean height of regeneration decreased with increasing canopy cover. Furthermore, the larger the diameter of the coppiced oak stump, the more coppice shoots were produced. These results can be used to modernize and adapt management options for CWS in times of climate change, and also can give some hints for the heavy crown thinnings that have become common today in the management of broadleaf, and particularly, of oak stands with elite trees.