Forestry Ideas

121-130

Authors: Vikaspal Singh, Sunil Prasad, and Dhanpal Singh Chauhan

A plant quantitative investigation was carried out at six oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus) dominated stands in different locations of Gahrwal Himalaya. A total of 28 tree species with 17 families, 41 shrub species with 21 families and 50 herb species with 22 families were observed in all studied oak stands. In tree layer maximum 15 genera were recorded in Chaurangikhal oak stand and minimum number of genera (11) was found in Chadrabadani, Diwalikhal and Ghuttu oak stand. For shrub layer highest number of genera (25) was observed in Ghuttu oak stand and lowest (18) – for Chadrabadani, Chaurangikhal and Makku oak stands. Herb layer showed maximum 32 genera, found at Ghuttu oak stand and minimum genera (15) – at Chandrabadani oak stand. Comparatively Quercus leucotrichophora have greater values of density, basal area and Important Value Index (IVI) among all studied oak stands to the rest of associated dominant tree species. Highest density (823.6 plant∙ha-1) and IVI (170.8) for Quercus leucotrichophora was observed at Diwalikhal oak stand, while, lowest density (176.7 plants∙ha-1) and IVI (126.3) was found at Makku and Chaurangikhal oak stands, respectively.

141-162

Authors: Nadiia Oleksiichenko and Nadiia Gatalska

The paper presents the spectrum of the research of aesthetic assessment of the landscape with the involvement of respondents (23 people), which was carried out during the summer-autumn period directly in the park environment and with the use of photographs. When using different methodological approaches and according to a comparative analysis of peculiarities of perception of the scenery park environment, the interconnections between aesthetic assessment of park landscape and features that affect its formation were revealed. It was discovered that while evaluating the park environment directly in the place, the estimation is reduced in comparison with the pictures, although at the same time the positive features of the landscapes noted by the respondents are similar, and the negative ones have significant differences in the summer and autumn periods, which are also present when using different methods of the research. Thus, the relationship between the assessment of the aesthetic qualities of the landscape and the frequency of references by respondents, both positive and negative features of the park environment are determined primarily rather by the season, than by the method of conducting research. Despite the significant difference in the frequency of references of the features of the park landscapes under the different conditions and methods of conducting the research, it has been discovered that the force of influence of a particular feature on the assessment of aesthetic quality of park landscape does not determine its factor weight in the assessment, but it is related to it. At the same time, the features (subliminal and compositional) are revealed and their influence on the aesthetic evaluation is significant, which can be taken into account during green space planning. It is revealed that conducting the research of park landscapes directly in the park is reasonable, first of all, if it is necessary, to determine the positive features of the park environment, which influence the formation of a subjective ‘general-landscape’ emotional reaction to a certain landscape, which is revealed in the definition of subliminal features by the respondents

171-181

Authors: Mehrdad Mirzaei, Amir Eslam Bonyad, Reza Akhavan, and Ramin Naghdi

Recent dust and droughts caused stress to physiological weakness of oak trees, so that insect outbreaks and pathogens lead to decline of oak trees in the Zagros forests. In addition to evaluate the effects of physiographic factors (elevation, slope and aspect) on the amount and distribution of decline, the objective of present study was to make a model of decline of Quercus brantii species in semi-arid forests of Iran. For this purpose, 509 hectares of Zagros forests, known as Dalab forests in Ilam province, were selected. Based on systematic-random sampling method, 100 circular plots (2000 m2) were measured in grid inventory of 200×250 m dimensions. In each plot, physiography factors and percentage of decline were measured. ANOVA and Duncan tests were used to compare the decline of oak trees in different physiography factors. Then, an individual tree decline models were developed with a data set from a total of 1370 oak trees. To evaluate the effects of physiographic factors on the decline of oak trees, a logistic regression model was used. Omnibus test, log-likelihood, and pseudo r-square coefficients were used to evaluate the logistic regression model. The results showed that physiography factors had significant effects on the decline of oak trees. Also, the results showed that with increasing slope and elevation, the decline of oak trees was increased. Lowest and highest declines belonged to east and south aspects, respectively. Values of both statistics related to the pseudo determination coefficient are acceptable (0.395 and 0.584), and these values indicated that the three independent variables of this study had the power of a relatively high explanation of the variance and changes in the dependent variable of trees decline. The results of this study can be effective in the oak decline area conservation.

194-200

Authors: Alireza Ghomi Motazeh, Roghaye Baniasadi, and Rosanna Gahler

Many natural disturbances accrue in Iran because of its geographical condition. Mostly the recovery of this damage is impossible or requires a lot of time and cost. The general purpose of this research is to find out the relationship between slope of the terrain and the vegetation cover from one side and the mass movement of land from the other and to finally illustrate applicable data in the field of forest road construction. In this research, 39 cluster samples at a distance of 700 m along the 28 km of road were taken by systematic random method. In each cluster, the first sample was taken 50 m upward from the road; the second sample was taken 50 m downward from the road and the third sample was taken 10 m off the road. The number of landslides in each area and its relationship with road construction was analyzed in dependence of the terrain slope and the percentage of vegetation cover. Results showed that a road construction could be an effective factor for increasing mass movements. Moreover, excavated slope causes an increase of mass movement, too. Results of the research also indicated that there was an inverse relationship between an increased percentage of vegetation cover and the frequency of landslide occurrence.

208-216

Authors: Christo Mihajlov, Gradimir Gruychev, Stoyan Stoyanov, and Evlogi Angelov

Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca Meisner, 1804) is endemic to Europe, occurring only in the Alps, the Apennines, Sicily and the Balkans. It is suspected to be declining moderately rapidly, particularly in the Balkans which hold a substantial proportion of the species population and range, based on a balanced assessment of the available evidence. Survival rates of 50 released rock partridges in typical habitats in ‘Vrachanski Balkan’ Nature Park were studied during the reintroduction program. Almost all released birds were monitored for 110 days. Twenty of them were marked with radio transmitters, which allowed the survival rate to be determined, dispersion and habitat preferences. Birds mortality reached 70 % at the end of survey period and only 6 (30 %) of them survived and bred in the next spring. Most birds (65 %) died in the first month after release due to predation. The main predators were mammals (92 % of mortality) while the avian raptors caused an insignificant part of mortality (8 % of mortality). In cold winter days with temperatures lower than -25 °C only one dead bird was found. The survival rates of Rock Partridges did not depend on sex (χ2 = 0.05, p = 0.82, df = 1) and age (χ2 = 0.1, p = 0.9, df = 1). The birds’ dispersion varied from 35 m to 1.3 km. However only single birds moved more than 1 km away from the release point.