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FCBA Network

Coordination : Cestas Pierroton, 33610, France; sites répartis dans toute la France

https://www.fcba.fr/secteurs/foret/

More than 2600 forest trials have been installed since 1964 by the French Institute of Technology for the Forest-based and Furniture Sectors (FCBA). The trials are varied, ranging from simple yield monitoring in a "standard" stand to the most complex experimentation with a rigorous statistical interpretation of the results.

Today, about 1000 trials are still being monitored. They mainly concern five genera (Pinus, Pseudotsuga, Picea, Populus, Eucalyptus) to which a few species in the Taxodiaceae family (Sequoia sempervirens, Sequoiadendron giganteum) and about 20 broadleaved or coniferous species have been added.

The main focus of the current trials is genetic improvement (>50%), followed by reforestation techniques and silviculture (about 20% each). Some domains, such as fertilisation or nursery monitoring (types of plants and containers), that were widely studied in the past are now rather poorly represented.

https://www.fcba.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/fcbainfo_2015_32_le_reseau_dessais_forestiers_de_fcba_alain_berthelot.pdf

The FCBA has recently set up the BAOGREFF website (http://base-sylviculture-genetique.fcba.fr/?lang=en), which allows users to search by "experimental device" or by "genetic unit". A multi-criterion search function and maps are also available. The site is accessible to all for descriptive data (metadata) and a differentiated rights management system allows the FCBA's Biotechnologies and Advanced Forestry cluster (BSA) to access more detailed information from plantation reports to individual "tree" data.

https://www.fcba.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/fcbainfo_2015_48_baogreff_alain_bouvet_alain_berthelot_luc_harvengt_priscilla_cailly.pdf

The network is managed by the BSA unit, based mainly in Pierroton (Bordeaux), but which also has territorial delegations (Limoges, Grenoble, Dijon). The BSA unit also benefits from the support of a statistician (Champs-sur-Marne) who manages the associated database and carries out most of the statistical processing related to the data.

The FCBA's extensive network of forestry testing facilities forms the foundation of the BSA unit's activity. Every year, new experiments are installed (about 15 per year) and about a hundred or so are monitored. This laboratory has the advantage of covering the entire French territory with often long-term measurements series. The disadvantage of this geographical dispersal is that a plethory of actors must coordinate their findings.

This network provides many research projects with high-quality data. It is open to foresters and researchers from different disciplines to help to answer their questions on possible changes, wether desired or not, in managed forests. The data are made available within the framework of a formal agreement (consortium agreements for research projects or specific agreements for one-off studies).

Variable according to demand

Berthelot, Alain; Gastine, François; Banet, Christian; Bouvet, Alain, 2021, "Tree size data from a Populus trial of the FCBA network", https://doi.org/10.15454/YJFFFJ, Portail Data INRAE, V1