Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Polinko, Adam
Committee Member
Puhlick, Joshua
Committee Member
Poudel, Krishna
Date of Degree
8-7-2025
Original embargo terms
Embargo 6 months
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Forestry
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.)
College
College of Forest Resources
Department
Department of Forestry
Abstract
With the relative success of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), there is a considerable amount of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) trees planted on marginal agricultural land, with little to no guides for productivity management. This study was conducted in four distinct age classes of longleaf pine plantations at The Jones Center at Ichauway in Southwest Georgia, USA. Most of these stands were commercially thinned in 2014 and some were impacted by Hurricane Michael in 2018. I developed site index equations to represent growth trajectories of these stands while incorporating growth starting from ground level. Additionally, the concept of tree-level growth efficiency was explored for these stands. A negative exponential pattern of growth efficiency over total projected leaf area/sapwood area was found. Furthermore, influential variables on growth efficiency were studied in these same stands, and the results showed that site index and height to diameter ratio positively influenced growth efficiency.
Sponsorship (Optional)
Mississippi State University Department of Forestry, The Jones Center at Ichauway
Recommended Citation
Pegues, Jabryan, "Developing site index curves and exploring growth efficiency variation in longleaf pine planted on marginal agricultural land in Georgia, USA" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 6689.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/6689
