Height to Crown Base Modelling for the Main Tree Species in an Even-Aged Pedunculate Oak Forest

The height to crown base (hcb) is a critical measure used in many investigations as an input variable to investigate the vigour of the stands, the social position of the trees, and to evaluate the behaviour of forest fires, among other uses. Though measuring height-related variables in the field is always time-consuming, the foremost benefits offered by modelling hcb are that it permits to generalize and average a very uneven attribute and, furthermore, provides insights about which tree and stand variables have a significant impact on hcb. However, there are many species in which models of the crown base height have not been developed in Croatia. The objective of this research was to develop a height to base crown model for each of the main species present in the two-layered mixed stands of this study. According to previous investigations, logistic models provide the highest precision and require the lowest inventory cost owing to less frequent measurements. Tree- and plot-level variables with distance-independent competition indexes were studied in the fitting model. In this research, we obtained models for the main stand species: Acer campestre (root mean squared error (RMSE) = 2.28 m, R2 = 82.80%); Alnus glutinosa (RMSE = 1.78 m, R2 = 85.36%); Carpinus betulus (RMSE = 2.47 m, R2 = 67.55%); Fraxinus angustifolia (RMSE = 2.46 m, R2 = 82.45%); Quercus robur (RMSE = 2.60 m, R2 = 80.57%); Tilia sp. (RMSE = 2.01 m, R 2 = 89.07%); and Ulmus laevis (RMSE = 1.71 m, R2 = 92.42%). The combination of the total height, tree, and plot-level variables with distance-independent competition indexes contributed to the prediction accuracy of proposed model significantly.

The floodplain woods of Tuscany: towards a phytosociological synthesis

The recent Landscape Plan of Tuscany Region pays particular attention towards the floodplain woods, for their conservation concern, landscape, and historical importance. The floodplain forest vegetation is defined as the natural and semi-natural wood vegetation located close to the rivers and submerged only during exceptional flooding. We gathered 180 both published and unpublished relevés coming from Tuscany and carried out in floodplain woods, where Alnus glutinosa, Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa, Quercus robur, Ulmus minor, Carpinus betulus, Populus nigra, P. alba and Salix alba were dominant, alone or in consociation with each other. On this dataset we performed a multivariate analysis, and the resulting groups were characterized by several points of view: floristic, ecological, chorological, by mean of diagnostic species, with the use of EIV. Moreover, their distribution in Tuscany was better defined. According to our results, six associations were found to be present in Tuscany. Thereby, one new association and three new subassociations were proposed. The syntaxonomic arrangement above the association level was discussed, with particular attention to the Italian Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa-rich communities. Finally, a comparison with the Annex I habitat types (sensu Directive 92/43/EEC) was carried out.

The growth of one-year-old narrow-leaved ash seedlings is strongly related to the leaf area parameters

The leaf area of plant leave scan be considered as an indicator of the plant growth conditions, and its variability is usually associated with adaptation and response to the changing environment. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation of the leaf area parameters on growth of the narrow-leaved ash 1+0 seedlings from the nursery trial and determining variability between the 18 half-sib lines. The seedlings were obtained from seeds collected from 18 maternal trees found in the area of the special nature reserve Upper Danube Region. Ten randomly selected 1+0 seedlings per half-sib line were selected for further study, and all leaves per seedling were collected, herbarized and scanned. The leaf area of each leaf (LACL) was measured using an open-source image processing program – ImageJ, and the total leaf area per seedling (TLA) was calculated. Also, the number of leaves per plant (NCL) as well as the number of leaflets within each imparipinnate compound leaf (NLCL) were counted. The results showed that differences between studied attributes were statistically significant among 18 selected half-sib lines (p < 0.05). The most variable parameter was the total leaf area per seedling (TLA; CV=68.98%), which is strongly correlated to the leaf area per each leaf (LACL; r=0.95) and the number of leaflets (NLCL; r=0.94). In this study, we confirmed that leaf parameters were highly correlated to the growth of one-year-old Fraxinus angustifolia seedlings.

Utjecaj gljiva roda Trichoderma na rast patogene gljive Hymenoscyphus fraxineus u dvojnim kulturama

Poljski jasen (Fraxinus angustifolia), važna pionirska vrsta drveća u poplavnim šumama u Hrvatskoj, posljednjih godina pokazuje sve izraženije simptome odumiranja, za koje je jedan od odgovornih čimbenika patogena gljiva Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Istraživanja pokazuju da postoji mogućnost biološke kontrole patogena uporabom endofita, gljiva koje se prirodno nalaze u zdravom biljnom tkivu i koje ne uzrokuju vidljive simptome bolesti, a čiji je velik broj potvrđen i u poljskom i običnom jasenu (F. excelsior). U ovom je istraživanju ispitan antagonistički učinak triju vrsta: Trichoderma capillare, T. harzianum i T. tomentosum, jer su prijašnja istraživanja pokazala kako su pripadnici ovoga roda najučestaliji endofiti poljskoga jasena u Hrvatskoj. U tu su svrhu postavljene dvojne kulture dvaju izolata gljive H. fraxineus s po jednim izolatom svake vrste roda Trichoderma, u kojima je mjeren rast patogena te bilježen tip međusobne interakcije. Također su uspostavljene i kontrolne kulture te kulture za praćenje samoinhibicije patogena. Rezultati su pokazali kako tri korištene vrste roda Trichoderma mogu inhibirati rast patogena in vitro, pri čemu su T. harzianum i T. tomentosum pokazale veći antagonizam s obzirom na tip ostvarene interakcije. Unatoč pozitivnim rezultatima potrebna su daljnja istraživanja, u prvom redu in planta, za potvrdu učinkovitosti vrsta roda Trichoderma u inhibiciji gljive H. fraxineus izvan laboratorijskih uvjeta.