Exclusion of wild ungulates is not the Holy Grail: the stronger effect of forestry treatments than exclosures on natural forest regeneration.

Habitat associations of breeding conifer-associated birds in managed and regenerating forested stands

Initial regeneration success of tree species after different forestry treatments in a sessile oak-hornbeam forest

Several species of shrubs and trees used in the revegetation of clay mineral soils in Northern Appennine region were compared. The trial site, a quarry land, with clay soil with high pH and a little organic matter was arranged in three randomized block designs. The trial tested the following shrub species Rhamnus cathartica, Colutea arborescens, Euonymus europea, Viburnum opulus, Sambucus nigra, Cotinus coggygria, Coronilla emerus, Crataegus monogyna, Ligustrum vulgare, Prunus spinosa, Spartium junceum, Cornus sanguinea, Paliurus spina‐christi and the tree species Fraxinus excelsior, Fraxinus angustifolia, Corylus avellana, Sorbus domestica, Prunus avium, Acer monspessulanum, Ostrya carpinifolia, Pyrus communis var. pyraster, Ulmus minor, Fraxinus ornus and Acer campestre. The present study was designed to test the adaptive response of the species transplanted in clay soil without preparatory tilling or dressing operations. The overall 9 year data indicate differences in the species tested: Spartium junceum, Ligustrum vulgare and Cotinus coggygria were the shrubs adapted to these edaphics conditions and planting practises together with Sorbus domestica, Pyrus pyraster, Fraxinus ornus and Fraxinus angustifolia. Animal damages were also evaluated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A stable below‐canopy microclimate of forests is essential for their biodiversity and ecosystem functionality. Forest management necessarily modifies the buffering capacity of woodlands. However, the specific effects of different forestry treatments on site conditions, the temporal recovery after the harvests, and the reason for the contrasts between treatments are still poorly understood. The effects of four different forestry treatments (clear‐cutting, retention tree group, preparation cutting, and gap‐cutting) on microclimatic variables were studied within a field experiment in a managed oak‐dominated stand in Hungary, before (2014) and after (2015–2017) the interventions by complete block design with six replicates. From the first post‐treatment year, clear‐cuts differed the most from the uncut control due to the increased irradiance and heat load. Means and variability of air and soil temperature increased, air became dryer along with higher soil moisture levels. Retention tree groups could effectively ameliorate the extreme temperatures but not the mean values. Preparation cutting induced slight changes from the original buffered and humid forest microclimate. Despite the substantially more incoming light, gap‐cutting could retain the cool and humid air conditions and showed the highest increase in soil moisture after the interventions. For most microclimate variables, we could not observe any obvious trend within 3 yr. However, soil temperature variability decreased with time in clear‐cuts, while soil moisture difference continuously increased in gap‐ and clear‐cuts. Based on multivariate analyses, the treatments separated significantly based mainly on the temperature maxima and variability. We found that (1) the effect sizes among treatment levels were consistent throughout the years, (2) the climatic recovery time for variables appears to be far more than 3 yr, and (3) the applied silvicultural methods diverged mainly among the temperature maxima. Based on our study, the spatially heterogeneous and fine‐scaled treatments of continuous cover forestry (gap‐cutting, selection systems) are recommended. By applying these practices, the essential structural elements creating buffered microclimate could be more successfully maintained. Thus, forestry interventions could induce less pronounced alterations in environmental conditions for forest‐dwelling organism groups.

The importance of interspecific competition in the actual and future distributions of plant species assessed by a 2-D grid agent modelling

Contents of volume 37

Paired watershed experiments involving the removal or manipulation of forest cover in one of the watersheds have been conducted for more than a century to quantify the impact of forestry operations on streamflow. Because climate variability is expected to be large, forestry treatment effects would be undetectable without the treatment–control comparison. New understanding of climate variability provides an opportunity to examine whether climate variability interacts with forestry treatments, in a predictable manner. Here, we use data from the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, USA, to examine the impact of the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation on streamflow linked to forest harvesting. Our results show that the contrast between El Niño and La Niña events is so large that, whatever the state of the treated watershed in terms of regrowth of the forest canopy, extreme climatic variability related to El Niño‐Southern Oscillation remains the more dominant driver of streamflow response at this location. Improvements in forecasting interannual variation in climate might be used to minimize the impact of forestry treatments on streamflow by avoiding initial operations in La Niña years. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Increasing drought severity can affect the healthy status of forests and determine changes in structural and ecophysiological responses to such extreme climate events. Reduced canopy cover, productivity and tree growth and recent dieback phenomena are widespread responses to drought. However, favourable climatic conditions can improve the post-drought recovery capacity of forests, but also make them vulnerable to drought damage through structural overshoot by altering the root to shoot ratio due to wet conditions. Due to the lack of integrated and retrospective field data, the patterns and responses of forests to wet-dry climate variability are still poorly understood. In this work we used remote sensing data (NDVI) to characterise the canopy conditions and combined them with field and tree-ring width data to assess the effects of the summer 2017 drought on Mediterranean tree species in southern Italy (Fraxinus ornus, Quercus pubescens, Acer monspessulanum, Pinus pinaster). By comparing radial growth and resilience indices we found that growth responses to drought depended not only on tree species but also on site conditions. Overall, the growth decline due to drought was followed by a rapid recovery, while negative legacies to drought were found at lower quality sites, which corresponded to sites with the lowest NDVI values. Indeed, trees at these sites showed high growth rates before drought, in response to wet winter-spring conditions, and then suffered more from drought stress. Our results demonstrated how structural overshoots predisposes to drought damage and induced negative legacies. Specific knowledge on the effects of drought overshoot over time is important for analysing and understanding current forest responses and dynamics.

In the context of continuous cover forestry (CCF), natural regeneration is the preferred form of regeneration, but it is a long-lasting and complex process. Shelter density has a large effect on the regeneration process and results. The selection system, particularly suited for shade-tolerant species like Norway spruce, relies on continuous regeneration and ingrowth into larger size classes. Regeneration and ingrowth rates vary significantly among stands, influenced by site and historical factors, with no clear relationship to current stand conditions. In the group system, edge trees influence regeneration by providing seeds, checking weed growth, and exerting competition. Regeneration in gaps is generally satisfactory for both Norway spruce and Scots pine. However, seedlings usually grow slower, especially close to the gap edges. The shelterwood system promotes regeneration through a successive, uniform opening of the canopy. Shelter trees provide seeds, and reduce seedling damage and competition from ground vegetation. On the other hand, the remaining overstorey shelter trees reduce seedling growth. Conversion to the selection system initiates regeneration in young stands, aiming for slow and steady regeneration. Given the rapid growth and crown closure in young stands, frequent manipulation of shelter density is essential during conversion, for example by opening small gaps.

Assessing Mediterranean tree species suitability for urban environments: insights from experimental data including 23 leaf functional traits.

This paper deals with the planning of rehabilitation of spoils of asbestos mine in NW Greece with the name MABE in Prefecture of Kozani. For this purpose a detailed ecological research has taken place in the wider area in order to estimate the prevailing environmental (site) conditions. The spoils heaps are characterized by very steep slope inclination (80-90%). In order to improve the stability of the area, in cooperation with civil engineers of our scientific team, a minimization of slope inclination to 39-43% had been decided. For the avoidance of erosion hazard, broad terraces (8-12 m width) and small terraces (1.2 m width) must be constructed. After these works the whole surface of spoils will be covered by topsoil of 40 cm depth. On this topsoil the suitable trees and shrubs species will be planted. The list of these species is the result of detailed research in the mine and the surrounding area. The tree species Pinus nigra, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Quercus pubescens have proposed as dominant species and Acer campestre, Carpinus orientalis, Ostrya carpinifolia, Fraxinus ornus, Celtis austalis and Sorbus aucuparia as secondary tree species.

As a result of a field research performed of the vascular flora of the Venetsa Hill (Stolova mountain), which flora falls within the Balkan Foothill floristic region, there were 80 vascular species of 72 genera and 33 families established. Out of these 80 species, 38 were determined to be medicinal plants. Two species have been determined to be with Critical endangered (CR) status: Eranthis bulgaricus Stef. and Galanthus elwesii Hook. f. and one species was determined to be with category Vulnerable (VU): Melica altissima L. There are 10 tertiary relicts: Acer campestre L., A. monspessulanum L., Betula pendula Roth, Carpinus orientalis Mill., Corylus avellana L., Fraxinus ornus L., Syringa vulgaris L., Eranthis bulgaricus Stef., Pinus nigra subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Holmboe, Populus tremula L. One quaternary relict is Sternbergia colchiciflora Waldst. & Kit.

Root hydraulic conductance (KR was measured in terms of the ratio of volume flow through roots (F) and to the pressure (P) driving the flow in six forest trees growing in habitats characterized by different water availabilities Le. Acer campestre L., Castanea sativa Miller, Fraxinus ornus L., Fraxinus oxycarpa Bieb., Ceratonia siliqua L. and Olea oleaster Hoffmg. et Link. Measurements were made in May, August and November 1996. KR as normalized for unit leaf surface area (KRL), was higher in species growing in humid environments (A. campestre and C. sativa) than in others (C. siliqua and O. oleaster) typical of aria zones. A. campestre and C. sativa showed declining KRL values from spring to autumn while the latter had highest KRL values in summer. This is in agreement with the typical drought avoidance strategy of C. siliqua which is based on large water losses balanced by equal water uptake from the soil. Plots of F and of A (leaf surface area) to KRL as well as annual percent changes in F, AL and KRL suggest that changes in KRL are mainly due to analogous changes in F, except for O. oleaster where opposite balanced changes in F and AL contributed in maintaining the KRL constant from August to November.

Debris flows can transport large amounts of material and therefore present a significant threat to infrastructure and human life. In this research, we used tree-ring width analyses to quantify the response of trees to three debris flow events in NW Slovenia (Javoršček, Srpenica) and W Slovenia (Nikova) for which we know the time of origin. We attempted to date these and similar tree responses in the past and compared the patterns between different tree species. Altogether, we sampled 147 trees across a range of tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Pinus sylvestris, Fraxinus excelsior, Fraxinus ornus, Acer pseudoplatanus, Picea abies, Juglans regia, Acer campestre, Tilia cordata and Ostrya carpinifolia), including reference trees that were outside the debris flow fan. For 91 trees, we constructed tree-ring chronologies and used pointer-year analysis to identify years that had abnormal growth. For the remaining trees (mostly Ostrya carpinifolia, Tilia cordata and Acer pseudoplatanus), we either could not accurately distinguish tree rings or two samples from a single tree showed significantly different growth patterns. The growth patterns of Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies following debris flow events showed a weak response at the Javoršček site and no clear responses at the other two sites. Tree species responded similarly at the same locations. Due to the lack of a clear response pattern, we were not able to reconstruct past debris flows.

This study was carried out in the İğneada Waterlogged Forests (Kırklareli) located downhill of Istranca mountains at 20 km distance to Bulgaria border line and had a shore to Black Sea. These forests have different vegetation types such as waterlogged forest, peat, bog and sand dunes plant communities, sand zone and wetlands. The main arboreal species of these forests are Acer campestre, Acer trautvetteri, Alnus glutinosa, Carpinus betulus, Carpinus orientalis, Fraxinus angustifolia, Fraxinus ornus, Juglans regia, Quercus cerris, Quercus frainetto, Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, Ulmus leavis and Ulmus minor. Pollen monitoring results were obtained from six different sampling sites in the waterlogged forests around Mert and Saka Lake. The purpose of this study is to determine the modern pollen distribution of these forests and to create a basic calibration scheme for the fossil pollen studies. For this purpose, seven years of modern pollen distribution was monitored between September 2009 and 2016 using Tauber pollen traps which were placed at 6 different points in this study area. These traps were changed once a year in the field and transferred to the Palynology Laboratory of Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa. The protocol of European Pollen Monitoring Programme (EPMP) was followed in the laboratory methodology. The majority of the pollen influx obtained from the Tauber pollen traps in the İğneada Waterlogged forests belongs to Fraxinus and Carpinus from 2009 to 2016. As a result of this study, the annual arboreal pollen influxes of Fraxinus, Carpinus, Quercus, Acer, Corylus, Ulmus, Hedera helix and Alnus was higher respectively in the years of 2009-2016. Seven-year pollen influx data of these pollen traps reflects the current vegetation.