20.500.12556/RUL-183780 Is neglecting soil variables in tree growth studies justified? Lessons from modelling the growth of three oak species We analysed differences in growth among Quercus petraea, Q. robur, and Q. cerris in natural forests across 16 reference soil groups. The study encompassed the forested area of Slovenia (11.8 thousand km2), with soil information derived from the national soil map at a scale of 1:25,000. Oak growth was evaluated using periodic basal area increment data from 52,333 trees measured on 17,733 permanent sample plots. The effects of site, stand, and individual tree characteristics on growth were examined using linear mixed-effects models. Soil unit was included as a dummy variable. Soil contributed 16.3, 11.2, and 14.0% to the explained variability in basal area increment of Q. petraea, Q. robur, and Q. cerris, respectively. The difference between the highest and the lowest mean basal area increment across soil units for Q. petraea, Q. robur, and Q. cerris amounted to 70, 39, and 29% of their mean basal area increment, respectively. The three oak species reached the highest and lowest growth rates on different soil units. Q. petraea performed best on Dystric and Eutric Planosols, Q. robur on Eutric and Dystric Gleysols, and Q. cerris on Haplic Luvisols. This study demonstrates that soil-related factors represent an important component of growth modelling and should be evaluated alongside tree, stand, site and climatic variables. reference soil groups basal area increment tree-growth modelling sessile oak pedunculate oak Turkey oak referenčne talne skupine temeljnični prirastek modeliranje rasti dreves graden dob cer Quercus petraea Quercus robur Quercus cerris true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-06-19 04:13:52 2026-06-22 14:33:02 2026-06-23 04:00:58 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 12 str. art. 110302 Vol. 272 Oct. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 [630*114+630*5]:582.623.2 1872-6887 10.1016/j.catena.2026.110302 282053123 RAZ_Trifkovic_Vasilije_2026.pdf RAZ_Trifkovic_Vasilije_2026.pdf 1 5CBB171155BCC39281503064A69657FD 122474ce4ecb7cab3eb2bc85cfb8e5ca2f2e84758b95ae2c1f7c01b04734d263 1247afb3-6e37-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=236274 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816226005126 1 71ceabfe-6e36-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=236273 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0