20.500.12556/RUL-179640 Modeling diameter growth of european beech in mixtures with various tree species Mixed forests provide several ecosystem service benefits, and they also often show higher productivity than pure forests. In mixed forests, several interactions among tree species occur, with size-symmetric and size-asymmetric competition being particularly important. We studied diameter growth of European beech in pure stands and in mixtures with oak, maple, pine, spruce, fir, and spruce and fir combined on extremely diverse beech sites in Slovenia, using forest inventory sample plots (n = 26,793, 500 m2 each). For each mixture, we developed models of 10-year individual tree diameter increment (id) using natural splines and incorporating tree, competition, stand, site, and climate variables that were mainly gathered in regular forest inventories. Competition was represented using simple indices: stand basal area (BA) for size-symmetric competition, basal area of overtopping trees (BAL) for size-asymmetric competition, and reduced competition due to harvesting (CUT). The models revealed differences among mixtures and a strong influence of competition. Id was among the lowest in pure stands and substantially higher in mixtures, indicating strong intraspecific competition. Overall, size-symmetric competition was more influential, but size-asymmetric competition appeared important in some mixtures. We recommend growing beech in mixtures with other species and applying a forest management approach that accounts for competition symmetry, which proved crucial in each mixture. Fagus sylvatica mixed forests near-natural forests general linear modeling natural splines size-asymmetric competition size-symmetric competition Central Europe bukev mešani gozdovi naravni gozdovi linearni modeli zlepki konkurenca Srednja Evropa true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-02-18 13:51:59 2026-02-18 13:52:05 2026-02-21 03:46:36 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 25 str. iss. 2, art. 248 Vol. 17 Feb. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 630*5:582.623.1 1999-4907 10.3390/f17020248 268882691 RAZ_Boncina_Ziva_2026.pdf RAZ_Boncina_Ziva_2026.pdf 1 7C05FB9F5539159B188C04BA8C757F5D 00af36b56167fb1144f91e9ecdaf2a756d268996e731e98f7b7be324e9cc338d c04ca558-0cc8-11f1-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=228397 https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/17/2/248 1 634caf83-0cc8-11f1-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=228396 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0