| Abstract: | Abstract The primary aim of the study was to estimate economic weights of survival relative to volume production per unit area, and to analyse the observable impact of changing survival, for five different breeding populations of Scots pine in northern Sweden. The economic weights were calculated from the model previously presented by the authors. Data from genetic field trials associated with the breeding populations were used both to estimate economic weights and to analyse the validity of the model. The breeding populations used were chosen to encompass a range of climatic conditions. The effects on the estimates of economic weights of increasing harshness (expressed as decreasing temperature sum), actual levels of both survival and patchiness of survival, and different initial stand densities were also analysed. The results showed that an appropriately parameterized model can be used to estimate economic weights for Scots pine in northern Sweden. Both the economic weight of survival and the observable impact of changing survival varied markedly between the studied breeding populations. Decreasing temperature sum had no trend with increasing economic weight of survival whereas decreasing survival and increasing patchiness of survival increased the estimated economic weight of survival more than three-fold. |
