Damage and Tolerability Thresholds for Remaining Trees after Timber Harvesting: A Case Study from Southwest Romania

The present study analyses the damage of remaining trees after timber harvesting from 24 logging sites from southwest Romania. The purpose was to establish tolerability thresholds within which damaged trees recover in a short amount of time, reducing the possibility of further rot apparition and tree health deterioration. Observations were resumed after the growing season had passed. Healed damage was analysed in regard to damage type, width, orientation and tree circumference. By using the ratio between the width of healed damage and the circumference of trees as experimental variants, equations were elaborated to determine the tolerance threshold of trees in logging. This is expressed as a maximum value between the damage width and the damaged tree circumference for which the damage is curable. The correlation between the circumference and the abovementioned relation was analysed, and differences between the values of the analysed relation for different cardinal orientations of the damage were statistically tested. The value of this ratio, which can be considered a tolerance threshold for trees in logging, records values of 0.09 (for thinnings, for cuttings to increase the light availability for regeneration and for final cuttings from shelterwood systems) and 0.10 (for first-intervention cuttings, as well as preparatory and seed cutting from shelterwood systems or selections systems)

The Configuration of Romanian Carpathians Landscape Controls the Volume Diversity of <i>Picea Abies</i> (L.) Stands

The present study analysed how growth of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) is influenced by site conditions throughout the Eastern and Southern Romanian Carpathians. In order to achieve the aim and the objectives stated in the present study, the volume of spruce stands was taken into account and grouped into six transects, both in the north–south direction in the Southern Carpathians and in the east–west direction in the Eastern Carpathians. We used data that were extracted from the forest management plans of the areas, carried out during the period of 1980–2005. For the Eastern Carpathians, the results revealed that at the same altitudes (700–1000 m), the volumes were higher on the eastern cline than on the western. In the case of the Southern Carpathians, for altitudes between 1300 and 1600 m, the volume of trees in the southern cline was greater than that of the trees in the northern cline. It was also found that the pure spruce stands had higher growth than the mixed ones for the same age and altitude; this was true in the cases of both the Eastern and Southern Carpathians

Improving the Content of Chemical Elements from the Soil of Waste Heaps Influenced by Forest Vegetation—A Case Study of Moldova Nouă Waste Heaps, South-West Romania

The present article emphasizes the influence of forest vegetation on improving the content of toxic elements from soil, increasing the content of micro and macro elements as well as correlating these variations with characteristics of forest vegetation from the studied areas—Moldova Nouă waste heaps, South-West Romania. The research involved comparing and observing the differences in the content of micro, macro, and toxic elements (Fe, Pb, Zn, and Cd) between the soil of waste heaps from Moldova Nouă from areas with forest vegetation and the content of these elements analyzed 31 years ago during the projection of afforestation works, when forest vegetation was missing. The differences were correlated with stand characteristics of forest vegetation. We observed a significant increase for Fe and a significant decrease for Zn and Cd. The influence of forest vegetation of the variation on the soil’s chemical composition was studied for the chemical elements that previously showed significant differences (Fe, Zn, and Cd). The averages of the statistically significant differences for the concentration of each analyzed element (Fe, Zn, and Cd) were correlated with the characteristics of the stands from the studied sampling points. The variation in time for Fe, Zn, and Cd and actual content of P, Cu, Mg were correlated especially with the average height of trees