Original scientific paper
Effects of Silvicultural Measures in Devitalized Middle Aged Oak Stand (Quercus Robur L.) on Chernozem in Vojvodina
Martin Bobinac
; Univerzitet u Beogradu – Šumarski fakultet, Beograd, Srbija
Siniša Andrašev
orcid.org/0000-0001-7468-7819
; Istraživačko razvojni institut za nizijsko šumarstvo i životnu sredinu, Novi Sad, Srbija
Abstract
Past experience has shown that the application of silcivultural measures to pedunculate oak stands of lessened functional capacity is met with severe restrictions for the achievement of the desired results and goals. This work analyzes the effects of different silci vultural measures in comparative permanent sample plots (P.P. -1 and P.P. -2), undertaken with the purpose of tending the stands and improving the consequences of devitalisation.
Research was undertaken in an artificially established monoculture of pedunculate oak in Vojvodina (.n=45° 49’, .e=18° 39’). The altitude is 88 m, and the soil is chernozem non-carbonate, with the depth of the humus accumulative horizon of about 40–50 cm. Mean annual air temperature is 10.9 °C, and mean annual rainfall is 584 mm.
During the dormant vegetation season, two cross-section diameters were measured with an accuracy of 1 mm on all trees aged 42 and 52. All the marked trees were also measured when they reached the age of 48.
A silvicultural-salvage cut of moderate to heavy intensity was performed in P.P. 1 at the age of 42 and 48. A total of 128 future trees (FT) per hectare were selected in P.P.-1 at tree age 42. At the age of 52, the status was retained by 124 trees. The primary measure in P.P.-1 involved removing the strongest competition against future trees from the stand, so the treatment also had the character of selective thinning. Using similar silvicultural prin ciples, 156 dominant trees aged 42 were selected for comparison in P.P.-2. Of these, 148 trees retained the status of future trees at age 52, while P.P.-2 was left to natural tree se lection. During measurements in the year 42, a crown class (CC) and the degree of crown freedom position (CF) was determined for each tree. To assess crown damage intensity (defoliation), classification with degrees 0–4 was used.
Data processing consisted of determining the numerical parameters of diameter struc ture, while the non-parametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (|D| statistics) was used to com pare diameter distribution with the distribution of diameter increment. The .2test for independence was used to define dependence of the degree of crown freedom position and the degree of crown defoliation, as well as the crown class and the degree of crown defo liation in sample plots at stand age 42. The effects of different stand treatments were ana lyzed in the age period 43–52. The current (average periodical) diameter increments (id) obtained with the control method was compared for all the trees in the sample plots and separately for the future trees in P.P.-1, and the comparison trees in P.P.-2. The statistical t-test was used to assess the impact of silvicultural treatments on the increment size.
Growth elements of all the trees and future trees in the sample plots at age 42 and 52, as well as the trees cut at ages 42 and 48, are given in Table 1. Table 2 contains numerical indicators of their diameter distribution. Cumulative curves of diameter distribution of all the trees show that at age 42 the trees in P.P.-2 have a somewhat bigger breast diameter. Due to differential silvicultural treatments and different increment tree reactions, diame ter distribution of all the trees and future trees were approximated at age 52, which was also confirmed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Graph 1, Table 2).
Based on the test for independence applied at age 42, high dependence was found in the monoculture of the degree of crown defoliation on the crown class and the degree of crown freedom position. This indicates that the devitalization process in directly linked with stand structure, i.e. silvicultural treatments in the previous period (Table 3 and 4, Figure 1).
The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test confirmed the difference in diameter distribution of selec ted trees in the sample plots in the 42ndand 48thyear (Graph 2, Table 2). The thinning indi cator (qd) shows that tree selection in the sample plots had the character of low thinning. In the age period between 43 and 52, a more intensive treatment of silvicultural-sanitary cuts (P.P.-1) showed that the current diameter increment was on average higher by 37 % in all the other trees and by 35 % in future trees, in relation to the sanitary cut (Graph 3). Cumu lative curves of diameter increment in P.P.-1, for all the trees and for future trees, are shifted rightwards towards higher increment values, in relation to P.P.-2. There are also differences in the shape of the curve, which implies a difference in the variability of diameter increment (Graph 4). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test confirmed considerable differences in the distri bution of diameter increment, both for the entire group of trees and for future trees (Table 5). Dependence of diameter increment on diameters at breast height (Graph 5 and Table 6) in all the trees shows moderate correlation ((R = 0.52-0.54), whereas correlation is less dis tinct (R = 0.28-0.32) for the collective of futures. For all the remaining trees, the impor tance of a regression coefficient of diameter increment dependence on diameters at breast height confirms that at this developmental stage the recovery from stressful impacts de pends on the intensity and character of silvicultural measures and on the tree´s increment potential. For the collective of future trees in P.P.-1 (and potentially for the group of domi nant comparison trees in P.P.-2), which are the first object of tending, recovery from adverse impacts primarily depends on the nature and intensity of silvicultural measures.
Keywords
devitalisation; diameter increment; impacts of silvicultural measures; pedunculate oak; permanent experiments
Hrčak ID:
42438
URI
Publication date:
31.10.2009.
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