National Forest Species Trial: 44 Tree Species Growth on Lowland Sites

A series of species trials investigated the establishment and early growth of 44 native and non-native tree species on various lowland British sites up to 14 years old. The dataset, produced by the Forestry Commission, highlights species performance under different site conditions and discusses implications for climate change adaptation. Results are detailed in a 2007 Forestry journal article by Willoughby et al.

Use Cases

• Compare establishment success between native and non-native tree species based on trial results.
• Assess species suitability for afforestation on good quality sites versus poorly restored land based on described growth patterns.
• Model long-term species performance under climate change scenarios based on early growth data up to 14 years.
• Evaluate the relative growth rates of different species over time to avoid premature suitability judgments.

Strengths

• Trials cover 44 distinct tree species, providing a broad comparison.
• Growth data spans up to 14 years, offering a medium-term perspective.
• Experiments were conducted on a variety of contrasting site types in lowland Britain.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description suggests further long-term and larger scale trials are required to confirm findings.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission

Collection Method

Field trials investigating tree establishment and growth.

Time Range

Trials tracked growth up to 14 years old; associated publication is from 2007.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-29 22:11:03.237015; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Lowland Britain, on a variety of site types.