Can forest structural diversity be a response to anthropogenic stress? A case study in old-growth fir Abies alba Mill. stands

International audienceAbstractKey messageFrom 1973 to 1991, Polish SO2emissions above 3250 Gg/year resulted in a decline of firAbies albaMill. After stresses connected with these emissions, five main diameter at breast height (DBH) structural types were described. This type of heterogeneous forest structure is supposed to increase forest resistance and resilience to abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic disturbances.ContextThe analyses of forest structure are important under the current scenario of global change, since heterogeneous structures allow for better responses to disturbances. Forests with more complex structures should present greater vitality.AimsThe main hypotheses were as follows: (1) the temporal changes of atmospheric SO2 emissions caused (a) the abrupt changes in the tree DBH radial increment and (b) the death of fir trees; and (2) atmospheric SO2 emissions and related fir decline and recovery processes ultimately result in the development of stands characterised by diverse DBH structures.MethodsRadial growth trends of 49 and 215 fir trees in the older and younger generations, respectively, and 85 dead fir trees were evaluated. Using data collected in 32 stands, the DBH structural types were identified, and the shapes of these types were illustrated.ResultsThe structural diversification of forest patches may influence forest resistance and resilience to disturbances; five main structural types were identified: ML1 and ML2 represent DBH distributions of multi-layered stands, and OS, TS1 and TS2 represent DBH distributions of one- and two-storied stands.ConclusionStructural diversity of forests was a response to SO2 emissions; fir trees had the ability to increase their radial growth, although there were still high SO2 emissions

Top-down segregated policies undermine the maintenance of traditional wooded landscapes: Evidence from oaks at the European Union’s eastern border

Semi-open oak woods and solitary oaks commonly dominate the wooded fabric (i.e. the ‘oakscape’) of European traditional rural agricultural landscapes based on animal husbandry. However, modern land use systems fail to perpetuate oakscapes, posing a serious threat to biodiversity conservation and the associated diversity of ecosystem services. Reconstructing the dynamics of oakscape remnants can provide valuable insights concerning the maintenance of oakscapes. We used the socio-economic transitions at the European Union’s eastern border as a natural experiment to explore the drivers for successful oak recruitment in 27 selected units representing 4 oakscape categories. Analyses of tree-ring data, historical maps, and orthophotos were used to reconstruct the oakscapes’ establishment trajectories in relation to land use changes in the period 1790–2010. The oaks in cultural semi-open woods and wood-pastures differed substantially from those in closed canopy forests by more stocky shape and faster early age DBH annual increase. We found two distinct recruitment patterns: (1) FAST – recruitment usually completed within 2–3 decades, attributed to an unconstrained succession of abandoned agricultural land, and (2) SLOW – recruitment extending over several or more decades. In Ukraine, frequent illegal grass burning in marginal woods was the most successful mechanism perpetuating oak recruitment. Top-down policy encouraging specialized intensive farming, sustained yield forestry, and conservation efforts concentrated on the preservation of closed canopy forests compromise the future of traditional agro-silvo-pastoral systems. Maintenance of traditional integrated agro-silvo-pastoral management sustaining oakscapes needs to combine local traditional knowledge and landscape stewardship

Patterns between crown characteristics and radial increment in trees are similar during recovery and normal growth: a long-term example from old-growth forests

Crown traits and competition attributes have an important effect on tree radial increment. Relationships among these elements are modeled using the distributions of the crown characteristics in a given calendar year, but these patterns can differ through time. The suitability of the patterns during recovery and normal growth was investigated with the example of the fir Abies alba Mill. in old-growth forests. Generalized additive models (GAMs) for fir in the older (OG, trees aged 136 to 300 years) and younger (YG, trees aged 45 to 135 years) generations were developed. To test the validity of these GAMs, field data sets representing fir recovery and normal growth were used. In the case of fir in OG, crown transparency had the largest effect, explaining more than 25% of the variance. For fir in YG, relative crown length had the largest effect on tree growth, explaining more than 15% of the variance. The absolute relative prediction errors, AREmin and AREmax, were less than 0.03 and 1.50 mm, respectively. The developed GAMs are suitable during recovery and normal growth, but the GAMs were fitted to a relatively small area which neglects climatic gradients and different disturbance types; this type of investigation should be continued.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Evaluation of Image-Assisted Forest Monitoring: A Simulation

Fiscal uncertainties can sometimes affect national continuous forest monitoring efforts. One solution of interest is to lengthen the time it takes to collect a “full set” of plot data from five to 10 years in order to reduce costs. Here, we investigate using ancillary information to partially offset this proposed solution’s negative effects. We focus our discussion on the corresponding number of years between measurements of each plot while we investigate how thoroughly the detrimental effects of the reduced sampling effort can be ameliorated with change estimates obtained from temporally-dense remotely-sensed images. We simulate measured plot data under four sampling error structures, and we simulate remotely-sensed change estimates under three reliability assumptions, integrated with assumptions about the additional unobserved growth resulting from the lengthened observation window. We investigate a number of estimation systems with respect to their ability to provide compatible annual estimates of the components of change during years spanned by at least half of the full set of plot observations. We show that auxiliary data with shorter observation intervals can contribute to a significant improvement in estimation

Lead-dependent infective endocarditis and pocket infection – similarities and differences

Introduction : Infectious complications in patients with implanted pacemakers are divided into infections of the generator pocket (PI) and lead-dependent infective endocarditis (LDIE). Aim of the research: Identification of risk factors for developing different types of infections and evaluation of the extent of infectious complications. Material and methods : We compared two groups of patients with infectious complications, who underwent transvenous lead extraction (TLE) in the Reference Centre between March 2006 and July 2013. The groups consisted of 414 patients with LDIE and 205 with PI. We analysed risk factors, clinical manifestations, inflammatory markers, microbiology, and echocardiography results. Results : The coexistence of LDIE and PI was observed in 62.1% patients. There were no significant differences in the presence of host-dependent risk factors. Patients with LDIE significantly more frequently had abrasion of leads (35.1.% vs. 21.0%; p = 0.0001) connected with other procedural risk factors: a larger number of the leads (2.2 vs. 2.0; p = 0.004) lead loops (24.6% vs. 13.2%; p = 0.001), and longer time interval from the last procedure prior to TLE (28.7 vs. 22.6 months; p = 0.005). Fever and pulmonary infections, higher level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, vegetation presence, and higher pulmonary systolic pressure were also revealed in patients with LDIE. Positive blood and leads culture were observed in 34.5% and 46.4% patients with LDIE. Conclusions: The frequent coexistence of LDIE and PI confirms their common pathogenesis, but the phenomenon of abrasion suggests also another mechanism for the development of LDIE. Intensity of clinical syndromes, high inflammatory parameters, echocardiography, and microbiology findings are helpful in assessment of the extensity of the infection