Edgaras Linkevičius

Vytautas Magnus University

Abstract: Climate change and warming will potentially profoundly affect forest growth and yield. However, climate change is not only a threat but also an opportunity for tree species to be more productive or colonize new territories where previously they were fragmented or absent. European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is a dominant and significant tr...

Forest growth under changing environmental conditions has been a major concern worldwide. The estimations of forests’ growth trends may provide significant insight on changing the value of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) forests. The purpose of this study was to estimate the growth dynamics of thinned and un-thinned spruce stands in Lith...

Although common juniper (Juniperus communis L.) is a widely spread species and important for the forest biodiversity and economy in many European countries, it remains one of the least studied coniferous species. This research is the first attempt to evaluate the factors affecting the increment of Juniperus communis in Lithuanian populations. The a...

The aim of this study is to relate initial stand density and thinning intensity to tree diameter, height, and volume increment based on continuous 30-year observations in thinning experimental stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The thinning experiments on Scots pine were established in 1990 and 1992, and the experimental model in each tria...

The European Commission adopted a long-term strategic vision aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. Lithuania ratified the Paris agreement, making a binding commitment to cut its 1990 baseline GHG emissions by 40% in all sectors of its economy by 2030. In Lithuania, the main construction material is cement, even though Lithuania has a strong wood-b...

Over the last decades, the natural disturbance is increasingly putting pressure on European forests. Shifts in disturbance regimes may compromise forest functioning and the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society, including their climate change mitigation potential. Although forests are central to many European policies, we lack th...

An increase in the mean monthly temperature in July and a lack of precipitation during the vegetation period will cause an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts during the vegetation period in Lithuania. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the growth response to climate change of East European pine provenances in Lithuania. The r...

Forest site (FS) and meteorological conditions are recognized as the main factors affecting tree growth and whole-stand sustainability. This study aims to detect the combined effects of FS and meteorological conditions on tree ring formation of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), the most common tree species in Lithuania and hemi-boreal forests of no...

In recent years, wood has received increased interest in Europe as a multi-storey building material. The trend is driven by the recognition that wood, as an environment friendly material, can contribute bioeconomy development and the achievement of sustainable development goals. In Lithuania, multi-storey wood-based building is still at the level o...

Climate change and warming will potentially have profound effects on forest growth and yield, especially for pure stands in the near future. Thus, increased attention has been paid to mixed stands, e.g., pine and beech mixtures. However, the interaction of tree species growing in mixtures still remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to in...

One of the main tasks for the forest managers is to form the highly productive stands, and it is mainly performed by applying intermediate cuttings during the stand development. As the impact of thinning on the premature Scots pine, commercially most important species in Lithuania, has not been sufficiently investigated yet, our objective was to ev...

Rapid development and cultivation of willow Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), driven by international companies, demand reliable, easily applicable and cheap, non-destructive biomass yield estimation methods that are not yet available in Lithuania. During the last years, knowledge transfer between research institutions and industry across Europe has th...

Strip roads serve to enable silviculture operations, maintain biodiversity, and decrease damages to the soil and environment. At the same time, strip roads decrease the productive area. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of strip roads on the productivity of spruce plantations growing in different density regimes. Five trials, each...

While very many decision-support (DS) tools (i.e. models and decision support systems (DSS)) have been developed to address forest management problems in Europe, the use of such tools in supporting forest policy processes remains limited. Additionally, while there has been very limited sharing of these tools between European countries, there may be...

Global changes occurring under different environmental conditions have changed stand competition, as well as nutrient and light availability, which has resulted in changes in productivity. Therefore, in the present study, the characteristics of tree-ring width formation of the prevailing Lithuanian tree species, Norway spruce, Scots pine and silver...

Despite of increasing areas of short rotation willow plantations in Lithuania, only few studies have been done so far regarding the biomass production in these plantations. To fill this gap, the aim of this study was to develop biomass equations for fresh and for oven drywillow biomass and to estimate the yield of short rotation plantations as expr...

Changing climatic conditions, increased length of growing season, competition, genotype and pollution are the most important factors for tree productivity and health. That is why only by knowing the impact of these factors on trees we can evaluate and change sylvicultural treatments that are important for the health and productivity of forest in Li...

Differently to other European countries Lithuania has inherited from Soviet time period quite width protection zones of state importance with wooden plantations along railways. Those protection zones vary from 20 m (in cities) up to 45 -70 m (in rural areas) in one side. The planted or spontaneous wooden plantations within those zones occupy over 2...

The relation between public and forest changes during the time. Public opinion and interests has considerable influence on decision making regarding forestry. Half of Lithuania’s forests (circa 1.1 mill. ha) has state forest status and are managed by state forest enterprises (SFEs) under confidence rights. One of the most important strategic aims f...

Competition between trees exists due to limited resources required for tree growth. The growth dependent competitive situation of each tree is described in growth models by calculating distance dependent and distance independent competition indices, CIs. The first aim of the research was to compare distance dependent and distance independent CIs an...

Objectives In Lithuania, during the most recent decades, the leading theory in forest management and planning combined optimization of forest stand density and maximal productivity at every time point of stand development. Thus, great effort was spent in creating stand level models that are highly effective in managing even-aged monocultures of pin...

As tensions among diverse forest-use interests in Lithuania are on the rise, this study examines the actual resource availability, the underlying planning approaches and the pertinent policy arena. Two 5-year cycles of sampling-based forest inventory provide accurate data showing that the overall timber harvest/increment ratio (or utilization inten...

After regaining the independence, Lithuania was in the process of making transition to the market economy, yet radical societal shifts only moderately affected Lithuanian forestry. This study evaluates the main drivers that stimulated or decreased forest utilisation. Review of numerous sources reveals that the major drivers towards increased utilis...

This work is a part of international research that was carried out in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, in order to investigate policy drivers behind the harvesting level in these countries. This thesis was focused on Lithuania. However, a comparative analysis of future tendencies for possible harvesting levels in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was done...