Continued loss of temperate old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians despite an increasing protected area network

This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Old-growth forests around the world are vanishing rapidly and have been lost almost completely from the European temperate forest region. Poor management practices, often triggered by socioeconomic and institutional change, are the main causes of loss. Recent trends in old-growth forest cover in Romania, where some of the last remaining tracts of these forests within Europe are located, are revealed by satellite image analysis. Forest cover declined by 1.3 % from 2000 to 2010. Romania's protected area network has been expanded substantially since the country's accession to the European Union in 2007, and most of the remaining old-growth forests now are located within protected areas. Surprisingly though, 72% of the old-growth forest disturbances are found within protected areas, highlighting the threats still facing these forests. It appears that logging in old-growth forests is, at least in part, related to institutional reforms, insufficient protection and ownership changes since the collapse of communism in 1989. The majority of harvesting activities in old-growth forest areas are in accordance with the law. Without improvements to their governance, the future of Romania's old-growth forests and the important ecosystem services they provide remains uncertain.Peer Reviewe

Soil and saproxylic species (Coleoptera, Collembola, Araneae) in primeval forests from the northern part of South-Easthern Carpathians

In 2006-2007 we carried out faunal investigations in the vernal, estival and autumnal seasons in the scientific reserve "Codrul Secular Giumalãu" using quantitative sampling methods. We identified 189 species of Coleoptera, 70 of Collembola and 20 of Araneae. Of these, 11 phytophagous, 18 myceto/xylo-mycetophagous,9 mixophagous, 18 xylo- and cambio-xylemophagous, 38 saproxylophagous,125 (55 Coleoptera, 70 Collembola) detritivorous (sapro-, copro- andnecrophagous), 60 (40 Coleoptera, 20 Aranea) predators/parasitoids. Hymenaphorura polonica Pomorski, 1990 (Collembola), and Leiodes rhaeticus Erichson, 1845 (Coleoptera, Leiodidae), are recorded for the first time in the Romanian fauna. The rare species and characteristic species for the old primeval spruce forests are analysed for each studied taxonomic group. The species richness and faunal diversity from the Giumalãu primeval spruce forest are compared with those of other very well preserved forests from the Carpathians scientific reserves (Codrul Secular Slãtioara,Pietrosul Rodnei). The species abundances were used to compute the similarity indexes between the sampled sectors of forest and to perform Cluster Analysis. We observed that the dead wood in the 2nd-6th phases of decomposition has a great influence not only on the saproxylic species but also on the soil fauna like ground beetles(Carabidae) that use the logs as ecologic microrefuges (winter refugees or diurnal refugees). The structure of the soil fauna is influenced by wood extraction from the forest ecosystem or by natural perturbations, this consisting in the appearance of opportunistic species as Orchesella pontica (Collembola) and in decreasing ofspecies richness of Carabidae (Coleoptera)

Original Contributions to the Chemical Composition, Microbicidal, Virulence-Arresting and Antibiotic-Enhancing Activity of Essential Oils from Four Coniferous Species

This study aimed to establish the essential oil (EO) composition from young shoots of Picea abies, Larix decidua, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Pinus nigra harvested from Romania and evaluate their antimicrobial and anti-virulence activity, as well as potential synergies with currently used antibiotics. The samples’ EO average content varied between 0.62% and 1.02% (mL/100 g plant). The mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were dominant in the composition of the studied EOs. The antimicrobial activity revealed that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for the tested EOs and some pure compounds known for their antimicrobial activity ranged from 6.25 to 100 µL/mL. The most intensive antimicrobial effect was obtained for the Pinus nigra EO, which exhibited the best synergistic effect with some antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus strains (i.e., oxacillin, tetracycline, erythromycin and gentamycin). The subinhibitory concentrations (sMIC) of the coniferous EOs inhibited the expression of soluble virulence factors (DN-ase, lipase, lecithinase, hemolysins, caseinase and siderophore-like), their efficiency being similar to that of the tested pure compounds, and inhibited the rhl gene expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, suggesting their virulence-arresting drug potential