2020 May - 121 articles
The health of 34 different Fraxinus taxa in association with the pathogenic fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus was assessed in four Slovak arboreta. Averaged across all arboreta, nearly one-quarter (24.9%) of all evaluated trees showed ash dieback sympto...
Canopy closure (CC) is an important parameter in forest ecosystems and has diverse applications in a wide variety of fields. Canopy closure estimation models, using a combination of measured data and remote sensing data, can largely replace tradition...
Branch chipping machines with low-power engines are distinguished with an intermittent operation due to a periodical supply of branches. A conventional drive speed control of these machines is not adapted to adjust the operating mode depending on fre...
Research Highlights: This research provides an application of a model assessing the naturalness of the forest ecosystem to demonstrate its capacity to assess either the deterioration or the rehabilitation of the ecosystem through different forest man...
This paper aims to develop the first differentiated (earlywood—EW, latewood—LW, and total ring width—RW) dendrochronological series for ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and oak (Quercus robur L.) trees from the Republic of Moldova, and t...
In the province of Québec (Canada), pre-commercial thinning (PCT) is a common silvicultural practice applied to young black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands. PCT removes some of the competing vegetation and smaller black spruce stems,...
We studied the development of soil and soil fauna, as well as selected vegetation parameters important for litter input into soil, in two chronosequences of postmining sites after opencast lignite mining near the town of Most (Czechia). Both chronose...
Biological invasions threaten global biodiversity and forest ecosystems; therefore, it is necessary to use appropriate strategies for combating the spread of invasive species. Natural regeneration of eastern beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) is conside...
Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr. (hereafter “F. mandshurica”) is known as one of northeast China′s important, valuable hardwood timber species. However, tissue culture and micropropagation of the species are difficult and have low efficie...
Background and Objectives: Physical activity, recreation and walks successfully counteract negative symptoms of stress in people, especially in large cities, and have many positive psychological and physiological effects. There are many studies showi...
Phlebiopsis gigantea (Fr.) Jülich has been successfully used as a biological control fungus for Heterobasidion annosum (Fr.) Bref., an important pathogen of pine and spruce trees. The P. gigantea species has been known for many years, but our un...
Cork oak (Quercus suber) is a declining woodland species across the island of Sardinia, despite its former economic importance for wine production and its significance for biodiversity. In particular, cork oak forests (COFs) on the island have seen a...
Peatlands in the western boreal plains of Canada are important ecosystems as they store over two percent of global terrestrial carbon. However, in recent decades, many of these peatlands have been fragmented by access roads constructed for resource e...
Research Highlights: The developed National Set of Indicators for the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) implementation in Greece at the national level sets the official, national basis on which future studies will be cond...
The frequency and size of canopy gaps largely determine light transmission to lower canopy strata, controlling structuring processes in the understory. However, quantitative data from temperate virgin forests on the structure of regeneration in gaps...
Research Highlights: The factors that control the spread and regeneration of Quercus rubra (L.) and the functional diversity of invaded forest were studied in order to indicate the significant role of disturbances in a forest and the low functional r...
Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different stand densities on wood density (WD), global modulus of elasticity (MOE), and bending strength (MOR) in 35-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway...
Information and material biological legacies that persist after catastrophic forest disturbance collectively constitute the ecological memory of the system and may strongly influence future stand development. Catastrophic disturbances often result in...
Nuclear power plant accidents have dispersed radiocesium into the atmosphere to contaminate trees with no turnover in heartwood, as occurred in Fukushima, and as has persisted for over 30 years around Chernobyl. Here we employ the ponding method, in...
Participatory forest management has been considered as a practical and effective strategy for sustainable forest management, especially in situations where land tenure is not securely settled. For effective forest restoration, local communities, as t...
Research Highlights: Thermophilous oak forests are among the most species-rich forest ecosystems in Central Europe. In the temperate zone, they evolved from mixed deciduous forests due to centuries-long livestock grazing. The abandonment of tradition...
Forest inventories based on field surveys can provide quantitative measures of regeneration such as density and stocking proportion. Understanding regeneration dynamics is a key element that supports silvicultural decision-making processes in sustain...
Ecosystem services (ES), defined as benefits provided by the ecosystem to society, are essential to human well-being. However, it remains unclear how they will be affected by land-use changes due to lack of knowledge and data gaps. Therefore, underst...
Selecting a variant of forest regeneration cuttings that would ensure fulfilling multiple, frequently conflicting forest functions is a challenging task for forest management planning. The aim of this work is to present an efficient and complex analy...
Research Highlights: This study provides much needed insight into the development of resistance to disturbance and growth dynamics of overstory trees in response to restoration-based fuel reduction, and will be useful to scientists and managers attem...
The aim of the study was to determine the water storage capacity and absorbability of deadwood of different tree species with varying degrees of decomposition. Coniferous (Silver fir—Abies alba Mill.) and deciduous (Common hornbeam—Carpin...
Wind is one of the major natural forest disturbances in Europe, and reduces the total economic (including carbon sequestration) value of forests. The aim of this study was to assess the financial benefit of silvicultural measures in young, pure, plan...
Korean pine broadleaf mixed forest is an important ecosystem for maintaining biodiversity in Northeast China. Korean pine is also an important species for the production of timber and nuts in the mountainous areas of Northeast China. In this study, w...
Research Highlights: Windthrow can interfere significantly with ecosystem management practices. In some cases, their goal could still be reached but this may prove more complex in other cases, like the partial cutting of old-growth stands. In situati...
For more than four centuries, the Tatra Mountains were affected by many factors, such as forest and pastoral management, mining and metallurgy, windthrows, snow avalanches, and bark beetle outbreaks. Due to the availability of the long-running Landsa...
The distribution of individuals of different species across different sampling units is typically non-random. This distributional non-independence can be interpreted and modelled as a correlated multivariate distribution. However, this correlation ca...
Mortality of trees is an important ecological process altering forest structure and function as well as influencing forest management decisions. Recent observations suggest that the overall rate of tree mortality is increasing at local to global scal...
Biotic stresses on forest trees are caused by various pest insects and plant pathogens. Attack by these parasites is known to induce the emissions of various biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), and the profile of these emissions often differ...
During the period of Japanese occupation (1910–1945) and the Korean War (1950–1953), extensive areas of forest were severely degraded by over-harvesting and fire in Korea. In addition, intensive use of the forest-resources to obtain fuel,...
A better understanding of wood form–structure–function relationships and potentialities can lead to an enormous pool of fascinating solutions and inventions. In this research advances from both the anatomical and the mechanical points of...
Roots have high plasticity with the ability to adapt to heterogeneous nutrient distribution, but little is known about the effects of phosphorus (P) supply methods and levels on Rosa multiflora Thunb. ex Murr. root growth and nutrient accumulation. A...
Medicinal plants, many of which are wild, have recently been under the spotlight worldwide due to growing requests for natural and sustainable eco-compatible remedies for pathological conditions with beneficial health effects that are able to support...
Agroforestry is recognized as a sustainable land use practice. However, the uptake of such a promising land use practice is slow. Through this research, carried out in a Terai district of Nepal, we thoroughly examine what influences farmers’ ch...
Windstorms are a significant disturbance in northern European Scots pine forests. Mechanistic models for assessment of their impact have been developed. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of windstorms on the financial value of Scots pine...
The process of bamboo-oriented strand lumber (BOSL) represents one of the best opportunities for automation, property control and consistency, and high utilization of material from abundant, fast-growing, and sustainable bamboo. In this study, BOSLs...
The radial movement of minerals in tree trunks is a widely accepted function of ray parenchyma cells, but there is little experimental evidence for this. We previously obtained experimental data showing that the parenchyma cells were the site of the...
Specific forest restoration aims to maximum ecosystem services (ESs); however, the complex trade-offs among ecosystem services pose considerable challenges for fulfilling such goals. Based on forest restoration on Hainan Island, China, we integrated...
Airborne bacteria play important roles in air pollution, human health and biogeochemical cycles. However, their spatial variation and determinant factors in forest environments are poorly understood. In this study, we selected five forest types in th...
An infusion of green coffee is a commonly consumed beverage, famous for its health-promoting properties. Green coffee owes its properties to the richness of active phytochemicals. The aim of this study was to determine the components of green coffee...
The process of post-fire recovery in mixed Siberian spruce–Scots pine forests (Picea obovata Ledeb.-Pinus sylvestris L.), typical for the European North-West, was studied in the Kola peninsula (Russia). We used the spatial–temporal approa...
Traditional benchmark wood durability testing methods such as stake tests take many years to give conclusive results, and in-ground tests do not always indicate the efficacy of preservatives in above-ground situations. To find test methods that would...
Wood-cement panels are becoming increasingly widely used as prefabricated building materials. In order to increase the use of renewable resources as materials for industrial applications, the use of alternative plant fibres has been gaining interest....
Understanding the dynamics of dominant tree species in tropical forests is important both for biodiversity and carbon-related issues. We focus on the Congo Basin (East of Kisangani) to investigate the respective roles of topographic/soil gradients an...
Weeds interfere with Christmas tree growth at any time and at any stage of production. Growers mostly rely on mechanical mowing and applications of herbicides for weed control in their fields. However, herbicides can be phytotoxic to non-target plant...
Shrubs growing in former burnt areas play two diametrically opposed roles. On the one hand, they protect the soil against erosion, promote rainwater infiltration, carbon sequestration and support animal life. On the other hand, after the shrubs&rsquo...
of 3
