Modelling the influence of stand structural, edaphic and climatic influences on juvenile Pinus radiata fibre length

The objectives of this study were to determine the influence of site, fertilisation and age on fibre length and develop predictive models of fibre length from a comprehensive set of climatic, edaphic and stand variables. Data were collected from a nationwide set of 22 site quality plots where Pinus radiata D. Don was established at high stand densities (40000stemsha−1) and grown over a period of 4 years. The main environmental drivers of fibre length were identified by assessing the strength of bivariate correlations and use of multiple regression. Path analysis was used as an extension to multiple regression to separate cause from effect and quantify the direct influence of variables significantly related to fibre length.