Eurasian Journal of Forest Science

18-29

Authors: H. S. Suresh*, K. Sravan Kumar, and R. Sukumar

A study was conducted at the tropical dry forest of Bandipur, south India, to understand the impact of dry season fire on survival and mortality of different species. A total of 4235 trees belonging to 66 species were enumerated in both burnt and un-burnt areas of Bandipur National Park. Standard vegetation indices were calculated to characterize the natural vegetation of the park. Of the total 2679 trees were recorded from burnt area. Fire resulted in mortality of 679 trees belonging to 33 species. Tectona grandis (Teak) suffered maximum mortality because of fire followed by Anogeissus latifolia. Large proportion of Anogeissus latifolia and Terminalia crenulata trees survived the fire. Mortality of different species was significantly related to the population sizes of each species and also the survival of each species. There was a disproportionate mortality across different size classes.

17-30

Authors: Sushil Saha, G.S.Rajwar and Munesh Kumar* and Kalidas Upadhaya

The study has been carried out in Dhanaulity region of temperate forest of Garhwal Himalaya to understand litter production, their decomposition and concentration of nutrients release by leaf litter at different altitudes. The results indicate that the litter production with altitude in each season reduced in order of Lower>middle>upper altitudes, while in each altitudes the seasonal litter production reduced in order of summer>rainy>winter. The value of decomposition constant (k) was reduced as 0.511, 0.438 and 0.256 at lower, upper, middle altitude respectively. The concentration of nutrients seasonally (irrespective altitude), potassium reduced from summer (0.92%), rainy (0.90%) and winter (0.84%) however, phosphorus shown reverse trend with potassium as summer (0.104%), rainy (0.108%) and winter (0.203%) whereas nitrogen was highest in rainy (1.13%) followed by winter (1.11%) and summer (1.01%). The nutrient concentration with altitude (irrespective season), potassium increased with increasing altitudes, whereas, phosphorus and nitrogen have not shown any trend with altitude.

40-47

Authors: Ergün GÜNTEKİN1 *, Tuğba YILMAZ AYDIN1, Peter NIEMZ2

In this study, the influence of moisture content on some orthotropic mechanical properties of sessile oak which is one of the most important wood species grown in Turkey and common in the furniture industry have been investigated. The properties studied include Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratios and compression strength of oak wood in three anatomical directions. These properties are important input parameters for three dimensional modeling of mechanical behavior in advanced computer programs such as finite elements. The samples which were approximately 20 x 20 x 60 mm in dimensions were conditioned at 20 °C and 50, 65, 85, 95 % relative humidity conditions for 6-8 weeks and subjected to compression tests in order to determine elastic and strength properties. Results indicate that properties investigated significantly differ among all anatomical directions. Young’s modulus ranged from 10305 to 6984 N/mm2 in L direction, from 2032 to 1132 N/mm2 in R direction and from 1208 to 715 in T direction. Compression strength varied between 48.5 and 25.5 N/mm2 in L direction, 16.45 and 9.60 MPa in R direction, and 10.2 and 7.1 in T direction. Poisson’s ratios are found to be in between 0.061 and 0.7. Results indicated that all properties of the samples tested were strongly affected by moisture content.