Forestry Ideas

103-112

Authors: Yahia Omar Adam

The objective of the study was to recognize the baobab fruit consumers’ preferences and factors affecting the urban demand. For this purpose, data was collected in 2015 from 100 and 150 fruit consumers in Elobeid and Khartoum markets, respectively, using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages) were used for data analysis. The study results reveal that there is demand for the baobab fruit and its secondary products, and thus substantial fruit pulp commercialization exists in Sudan. The most important attraction factor for the consumer is the nutritional value (vitamins) of the fruit pulp. The study suggests a need for promoting fruits processing, and this could further create a desire for domesticating and managing baobab trees in private farms and rural livelihoods improvement.

122-144

Authors: Santosh Ojha and Luben Dimov

The effects of stand structure and species composition on the forest diversity-productivity relationship have received much attention during the last few decades. The objective of this study was to compare dry live aboveground biomass (AGB) growth among species structures (pure hardwood, mixtures of hardwoods, mixtures of pines, mixtures of pines with hardwoods, and pure pine) for different stand age, stand stocking, and site productivity classes. We also examined the relationship between AGB growth and the predictors species richness, quadratic mean diameter, height, compacted crown ratio, relative density, slope, aspect, precipitation, and elevation. We used data from 2554 USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots in Alabama. Tukey-Kramer procedure with multiplicity adjustment was applied to compare AGB growth among the five species structures. Species richness was 1–17 and AGB growth was 0.01–15.68 Mg ha-1 yr-1 across the plots. For the pooled data, there was a weak overall correlation between AGB growth and species richness (r=0.07, p=0.001). The AGB growth of pure and mixed stands was statistically the same. In high-stocked stands productivity (AGB growth) was statistically the same in the different structures. There was no difference between the AGB growth rate of pure pine stands and mixtures that contained pine. However, pure pine stands outperformed mixed stands that did not contain pines in the mix. Species identity was an important factor for AGB growth in pure and mixed stands. As stocking increased, species structure became less important for the AGB growth rate. Among stands with high-stocking, pure stands were as productive as mixtures with no overall growth benefit of monocultures. If high or medium stocking level is maintained, there is no obvious growth benefit from monocultures or mixtures. In stands with low-stocking however, there appeared to be a benefit to having multiple species in the composition.

152-159

Authors: Mariana Doncheva-Boneva, Ivanka Koleva-Lizama, Svetoslav Mitkov, and Lyudmila Gosteva

Urban climate is the most modified by humans among local climates. Industry, traffic and heating emit artificial heat, water vapor and pollution to the atmosphere. Air pollution and air temperature are becoming ones of the major factors for the quality of life of urban dwellers. The aim of present paper is to analyze the temperature conditions in Sofia, Bozhurishte and Bankya. For this purpose long term (1961–2011) meteorological data of their stations were used. The amendment of certain atmospheric pollutants, observed in southwestern areas of Sofia city – Hipodruma and Pavlovo, where there is high urbanization, intensive traffic and industrial activity is studied too. The relationship between pollutants and the temperature has been examined.

166-178

Authors: Radka Koleva and Nina Nikolova

Very High Resolution local component products provide information on specific land cover characteristics, which are necessary for land cover/land use mapping. The main objectives of this study are the Natura 2000 areas on the territories of the Natural Park Rusenski Lom and the protected area Lomovete. A Dataset and a Sample collection are created and a Validation exercise is provided, using the open access online portal LACO-Wiki. A specific land cover/land use nomenclature is used which is fully compatible with the MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services) nomenclature.