Non-destructive estimation of sapwood and heartwood width in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Abstract

Accurate estimates of the water conducting sapwood area are necessary to scale sapflow measurements to tree and stand level transpiration. We tested a non-destructive method, electric resistivity tomography (ERT), to estimate the area of conductive sapwood in 9 Pinus sylvestris L. trees in lower Saxony, Germany. Tomograms were compared to cross-sections stained with benzidine after harvesting. All tomograms displayed a distinct pattern of low resistivity at the stem perimeter and high resistivity in the stem centre with a steep increase in resistivity in between, assumed to indicate the transition from sapwood to heartwood. The tomograms showed a sapwood width 2 cm smaller than the staining method. This indicates that staining methods overestimate the amount of active sapwood because when heartwood is formed, moisture content decreases before extractive contents reach levels visible by staining. The ERT method is a new powerful method for the non-destructive estimation of sapwood and heartwood width.