Structural Diversity of Plant Populations: Insight from Spatial Analyses

Spatial analysis has been one of the most rapidly growing fields in ecology. It is related directly to a growing awareness among researchers that a spatial structure of biosystems, e.g., forests, is important in ecological thinking. The availability of the specific software supports the use of spatial analyses in different fields of the science and forestry science is only one example for this. Many data collected in the forests have the spatial and temporal dimensions and it allows us to use spatial statistics to quantitative description of the spatial structure of forest, which became an important element of modern continuous cover forestry. In this chapter, key elements: data types, null models, and summary statistics, which can be applied in spatial analyses, are briefly described. Real data sets collected from different forests were given to provide examples of spatial analyses. The key elements of spatial analysis in ecology are data type, the appropriate choice of summary statistics and null models. Selecting few of them in a single analysis makes the statements more reliable and realistic in the changing world

Tumuli with circular ditch and the ritual scenario among Corded Ware Culture societies on the North European Plain

In the literature on the subject, the opinion is predominant that the construction of Corded Ware Culture (CWC) tumuli was connected with a single event, namely the burial of a person. The supposition that all actions, including digging a grave, depositing the body, digging a ditch and raising a tumulus, were made during one ceremony is still commonly accepted. In the last few years, however, in the area under investigation several new finds were unearthed which seem to be contradictory to the opinions mentioned above. This turns our attention to a new more complex explanation. Moreover, we can also use these new finds to reinterpret old data. In this paper the authors intend to analyze certain Corded Ware Culture graves from the North European Lowland. In the next step, the reconstruction of individual ritual scenarios for each of them will be presented. The analysis shows that a round ditch or a tumulus were often merely individual stages in a long lasting process and a very complex ritual scenario.Czebreszuk Janusz, Szmyt Marzena. Tumuli with Circular Ditch and the Ritual Scenario among Corded Ware Culture Societies on the North European Plain. In: Ancestral Landscape. Burial mounds in the Copper and Bronze Ages (Central and Eastern Europe – Balkans – Adriatic – Aegean, 4th-2nd millennium B.C.) Proceedings of the International Conference held in Udine, May 15th-18th 2008. Lyon : Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 2012. pp. 321-328. (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée. Série recherches archéologiques, 58

Differentiation of the Forest Structure as the Mitigation Action of Adverse Effects of Climate Change

For several decades, the attention of societies has been focused on potential environmental changes due to climate change. Although climate change is not a new phenomenon, in the recent two decades, there has been a growing interest of scientists trying to determine scenarios of trends and their potential impact on forest ecosystems and forestry. Despite the uncertainties of climate change and the response of forest ecosystem to change, the forest management must deal with these uncertainties. There is no single prescription on how to manage forest resources under climate change in order to fulfill all demands from society. Various strategies in forest management are developed to counteract the adverse effects of climate change on forests and forestry. The future forest management should implement the following three main strategies: create forests which are resistant to change, promote their greater resilience to change, and enable forests to respond to change. It is expected that the more the structured forest, the higher the adaptive capacity is expected. Experiment focused on the influence of different silvicultural procedures on the structure of Scots pine in Poland is presented. Achieved results indicated that the process of stand structure conversion is a long-term process and different structural elements can be modified to different extents

Light and propagule pressure affect invasion intensity of Prunus serotina in a 14-tree species forest common garden experiment

Experiments testing multiple factors that affect the rate of invasions in forests are scarce. We aimed to assess how the biomass of invasive Prunus serotina changed over eight years and how this change was affected by light availability, tree stand growth, and propagule pressure. The study was conducted in Siemianice Experimental Forest (W Poland), a common garden forest experiment with 14 tree species. We investigated aboveground biomass and density of P. serotina within 53 experimental plots with initial measurements in 2005 and repeated in 2013. We also measured light availability and distance from seed sources. We used generalized additive models to assess the impact of particular predictors on P. serotina biomass in 2013 and its relative change over eight years. The relative biomass increments of P. serotina ranged from 0 to 22,000-fold. The success of P. serotina, expressed as aboveground biomass and biomass increment, varied among different tree species stands, but was greater under conifers. Total biomass of P. serotina depended on light and propagule availability while biomass increment depended on the change in tree stand biomass, a metric corresponding to tree stand maturation. Our study quantified the range of invasion intensity, expressed as biomass increment, in a forest common garden experiment with 14 tree species. Canopy cover was the most important variable to reduce susceptibility to invasion by P. serotina. Even a modest decrease of overstory biomass, e.g. caused by dieback of coniferous species, may be risky in areas with high propagule pressure from invasive tree species. Thus, P. serotina control may include maintaining high canopy closure and supporting natural regeneration of tree species with high leaf area index, which shade the understory

First evidence for the forging of gold in an Early Bronze Age Site of Central Europe (2200–1800 BCE)

Evidence of gold processing in the fortified site of Bruszczewo (Poland) is the first testimony of the production of gold artefacts in a domestic Early Bronze Age site of Central Europe. This paper highlights the potential of macrolithic tool ensembles as a key element for the recognition of metallurgical work processes. Moreover, it presents an optimised methodological approach to tackle the application of stone tools in metallurgical production, based on technological characterisation, use-wear analysis, portable X-ray fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Finally, the absence of gold sources in Central Europe raises the question about the origin of the metal, constituting an especially striking issue, as gold was a raw material of restricted access. As Bruszczewo was one of the few enclosed Early Bronze Age sites north of the Central European Mountain Range, the patterning of metal processing (including gold) sheds light on the mode of the production of metal artefacts, apparently restricted to central sites of power, which controlled the communication trails.47Journal of Archaeological Science: Report

Genetic continuity, isolation, and gene flow in Stone Age Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract The genomic landscape of Stone Age Europe was shaped by multiple migratory waves and population replacements, but different regions do not all show the same patterns. To refine our understanding of the population dynamics before and after the dawn of the Neolithic, we generated and analyzed genomic sequence data from human remains of 56 individuals from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic across Central and Eastern Europe. We found that Mesolithic European populations formed a geographically widespread isolation-by-distance zone ranging from Central Europe to Siberia, which was already established 10 000 years ago. We also found contrasting patterns of population continuity during the Neolithic transition: people around the lower Dnipro Valley region, Ukraine, showed continuity over 4 000 years, from the Mesolithic to the end of Neolithic, in contrast to almost all other parts of Europe where population turnover drove this cultural change, including vast areas of Central Europe and around the Danube River