9 research outputs found
Coarse woody debris variability due to human accessibility to forest
Originally published in Forests (MDPI):
Behjou FK, Lo Monaco A*, Tavankar F, Venanzi R, Nikooy M, Picchio R (2018) Coarse woody debris variability as result of human accessibility to forest. Forests 9(9): article number 509 (open access)
Corresponding author: Angela Lo Monaco, [email protected]
DOI: 10.3390/f9090509
The article can be dowloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/9/509
Abstract: Coarse woody debris (CWD) plays an important role in supporting biodiversity and
assisting ecological processes. Sometimes local people intervene modifying the expected distribution
of CWD components, harvested as fuel wood. The effect of the human accessibility (HA) on the
volume and characteristics of CWD (snag, downed log and stump) was investigated in the natural
uneven-age mixed hardwood stands of the Hyrcanian forests of Iran to quantify the impact on CWD.
The HA was classified into three classes (easy, medium and difficult) on the basis of slope class,
slope direction to the nearest road and road type. As expected, a negative relationship between
the degree of accessibility was found with respect to the main qualitative and quantitative indices
referring to CWD. The results showed that the volume of CWD decreased with an increase in
human accessibility class (HAC), thus the mean volume of CWD in the difficult, medium and easy
accessibility classes were 14.87 m3 ha1, 8.84 m3 ha1 and 4.03 m3 ha1, respectively. The decrease in
CWD volume was more associated with the decreasing volume of small diameter of low decayed
downed logs. The ratio of snag volume to standing volume, the ratio of downed log volume to the
volume of trees and the ratio of CWD volume to standing volume increased with a decrease in HAC,
while the ratio of downed log volume to snag volume decreased with a decrease in HAC. No selective
behaviour on the botanical species of CWD was recorded. For ecological forest management, the effect
of HAC on CWD should be considered. A constant supply of snags and downed logs must be
preserved to assure a high level of biodiversity. To balance social needs and biodiversity requirements,
an increased level of CWD retention might be needed in areas with easy accessibility. The obtained
results may be useful when ecological and socio-economical needs have to be taken into consideration
in future policy-making decisions.
Keywords: snag; downed log; stump; forest road; uneven-agemixed hardwood stands; Hyrcanian forest
Modelling and comparing timber winching performance in windthrow and uniform selective cuttings for two Romanian skidders
Effects of Wheeled Cable Skidding on Residual Trees in Selective Logging in Caspian Forests
Efficiency analysis of thinning based on daily reports of forest operations: the case of Hiyoshi, Japan
A Comparison of Productivity in Five Small-Scale Harvesting Systems
The use of small-scale harvesting equipment continues to grow in forestry in many regions of the world. This equipment includes various devices and methods used to harvesting that generally are smaller, less expensive and less productive than advanced forestry machines. The objective of this study is to compare the efficiency of five alternative extraction methods implemented in a harvesting unit located in a mixed beech and oak forest ecosystem in northwestern Turkey. A continuous time study was conducted during primary transport operations that included skidding with animal power, skidding with farm tractor, hauling with farm tractor, hauling with forest tractor, and extraction by skyline. Timber was skidded uphill on a skid trail, and an average skidding distance of 100 m for all haulage methods was considered. Average slope of the harvesting unit ranged from 20 to 40 %. Average productivities for respective haulage methods were 3.80, 6.25, 2.80, 5.25 and 10.09 m3/h. Significant differences were found between productivity of haulage methods using one-way analysis of variance. The extraction by skyline, skidding with farm tractor, and hauling with forest tractor were determined to be the most statistically different methods, the productivity of these methods was found significantly higher than the other methods. Skid trails are useful for shortening distances during forest operations and skidding with farm tractor is a productive method in small-scale forestry of Turkey. © 2013 Steve Harrison, John Herbohn