Professional paper
Graphical presentation of structural relations in a beech and fir stand (Abieti-Fagetum illyricum, Horv. 38) in the virgin forest of “Čorkova Uvala” in Plitvice Lakes National Park
Petar Prebježić
; Zagreb
Abstract
A sample plot was established by Academician Milan Anić, PhD, in a beech and fir stand (Abieti-Fagetum illyricum, Horv. 38) in “Čorkova Uvala” virgin forest in 1957. This is the oldest sample site in Croatia, which allows successive monitoring of the structure and dynamics of virgin forest development. Figure 12 shows a projection of standing and lying dead trees.
The 1 ha sample plot was established in the shape of a square with sides of 100 m in length. The plot is divided into one hundred 10 m x 10 m squares drawn into the map. These squares serve as the basic unit for monitoring details in the sample plot, such as terrain stoniness, tree arrangement, contour lines at one meter height difference, naturally selected trees, and others. In the process of measuring breast diameters and heights, each tree was numbered. The crown shape was defined with four mutually vertical radii, while the eccentricity direction was marked separately.
The recorded data were subsequently processed using standard methods. The results were presented in tabular and graphic form. The picture of the stand was graphically presented with a horizontal projection and the profile (Anić, M., 1965, Prpić, B., 1979).
In order to obtain a realistic picture of the stand that would visually resemble its original appearance, the stand in this paper was presented from a bird’s eye perspective, from the above and slightly to the right. The third dimension was also introduced. Tree arrangement, the relationship among the crowns, crown layers – all these elements are much more realistic if presented in this type of perspective. Tree heights were retained in the same scale in order to allow for comparisons and reading of concrete heights.
In this work, the subject stand was shown with ten profiles using the technique mentioned above. The surface area of each profile is 10 m x 100 m. The position of the profiles in the sample plot is given in Figure 1. Each profile is accompanied with its respective horizontal projection, Figures 2 – 11. Projection of dead trees in a sample plot in the beech and fir virgin forest of “Čorkova Uvala”, Figure 12.
The integrated profiles resulted in a clear picture from a bird’s eye perspective of the whole stand situated in the sample plot in “Čorkova Uvala” virgin forest, Figure 13.
The individual profiles and the total picture are in fact graphs of the stand in the sample plot with precisely defined coordinates and dimensions of even the smallest tree. There were 769 big and small trees in all.
The presentation of structural relations among the trees in the sample plot in “Čorkova Uvala” virgin forest is from 1957. The present condition will be obtained from this year’s measurements, which will be performed thanks to continuous research activities by the Department of Forest Ecology and Silviculture of the Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
22116
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2007.
Visits: 2.081 *