Kinga Stolarek

I am currently working on the "Seedlings and regeneration procedures for future birch forests" project as part of the Trees For Me centre of excellence (production and management project no. 4 from the Work Package 2). My research focuses on optimizing the artificial regeneration of birch, which would result in increased biomass production of this species in Sweden. The knowledge regarding this topic is highly limited, which is one of the reasons why the production of containerized birch seedlings is still relatively low and expensive. Therefore, it is important to define and understand obstacles to birch seedling production in Swedish nurseries during the different steps of this process.

The main research questions were formulated within my PhD project to address some of these challenges, creating the flow from the seed to the final product, which is a birch seedling planted in the field. Among others, we decided to look into seed germination and adaptation of nursery regimes and production systems for birch. The latter focuses mainly on exploring the possibility of freezer storage of birch seedlings during autumn and winter. Also, the performance of containerized birch seedlings in the field is being investigated in my work, including the identification of potential abiotic and biotic damage agents, which may be essential for the successful artificial regeneration of birch.