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Free-growing, by its definition covers a limited time frame of a stands life. As the concept provides a significant milestone within stand management, debates arise regarding whether this target is an adequate method to evaluate silvicultural success (Martin, 2012). Forestry experts and the Government have conducted surveys around this debate. Currently, there is a widespread mortality of planted trees in plantations deemed to be free growing throughout British Columbia. Due to the current mortality trends of BC's free growing stands, it is crucial to re-examine the validity of this concept. Statistics have shown that the overwhelmingly favored species is lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) as this specie favors open and light abundant environments such as recently logged areas. When plantations are largely homogenous in species, they are very vulnerable to species specific attacks and diseases. However, there is a knowledge gap from the assessment conducted at free-growing declaration to final harvest. Stand development monitoring needs to be mandated to ensure BC's future timber supply. By examining the current free-growing status requirements and free-growing stands in the province it is hopeful that we can avoid another epidemic such as the mountain pine beetle for reforested lodgepole pine stands. ; Forestry, Faculty of ; Unreviewed ; Undergraduate

[See also FA 39, 2088] A 2-yr trapping study was made on (a) Rattus fuscipes, (b) Antechinus stuartii, (c) Mus musculus and (d) A. swainsonii in mature eucalypt forest, a narrow stream-side strip of eucalypt forest, and in 3 pine plantations, 8, 22 and 42 yr old. In each area (a) and (d) were largely and (c) always confined to dense native vegetation along streams, whilst (b) was more frequent along streams than on slopes. More animals were found away from streams in young pine plantations than in other forest types.

16 páginas, 3 tablas, 4 figuras ; Windstorms are forest disturbances which generate canopy gaps. However, their effects on Mediterranean forests are understudied. To fill that research gap, changes in tree, cover, growth and soil features in Pinus halepensis and Pinus sylvestris plantations affected by windthrows were quantified. In each plantation, trees and soils in closed-canopy stands and gaps created by the windthrow were sampled. Changes in tree cover and radial growth were assessed by using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and dendrochronology, respectively. Soil features including texture, nutrients concentration and soil microbial community structure were also analyzed. Windthrows reduced tree cover and enhanced growth, particularly in the P. halepensis site, which was probably more severely impacted. Soil characteristics were also more altered by the windthrow in this site: the clay percentage increased in gaps, whereas K and Mg concentrations decreased. The biomass of Gram positive bacteria and actinomycetes increased in gaps, but the biomass of Gram negative bacteria and fungi decreased. Soil gaps became less fertile and dominated by bacteria after the windthrow in the P. halepensis site. We emphasize the relevance of considering post-disturbance time recovery and disturbance intensity to assess forest resilience within a multi-scale approach ; This research was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, grant number RTI2018- 096884-B-C31, and Junta de Castilla y León, grant number CLU-2019-05 (co-financed by the European Union ERDF "Europe drives our growth"). ; Peer reviewed

AbstractClose-to-nature forest management combines the economic use of forests with nature conservation in forest, aiming promote stability, productivity, diversity and continuity within forest ecosystems. While close-to-nature management is expected to positively impact the tree growth, its effect on the belowground micro-biota has been poorly investigated. Nematodes and microbes are species-rich and abundant soil microorganisms that have long been used as ecological indicators of soil health. In this study, was assessed the impact of close-to-nature forest management on soil nematode communities and microbial activity in the pine plantations on aeolian sands in Southern Slovakia, 10 years after the introduction of this management approach. Fifteen stands in close-to-nature forest managed and fifteen stands with applying standard forest management were chosen. Our findings revealed that close-to-nature forest management significantly increased the abundance of soil nematodes and nematode biomass in each of the plots. Moreover, close-to-nature forest management significantly increased the mean abundance of omnivores and predators as stress sensitive nematodes (c–p4, c–p5). Additionally, close-to-nature forest management reduces the proportion of stress tolerant nematodes (c–p1) and enrichment opportunists (c–p2), increased all maturity and structure indices as well as composite, structure, predator and omnivore footprints. Furthermore, close-to-nature forest management significantly increased soil moisture, soil carbon content, microbial biomass carbon, basal respiration and N-mineralization, and understory vegetation diversity. These findings suggest that close-to-nature management practice, resulting in forest of different ages, positively influenced nematode communities and microbial activity by changing the quantity and quality of resources associated with increased understory cover and diversity.

Data were collected in summer and winter in a 15-year-old plantation of Pinus taeda, at Clouds Creek,
north-eastern New South Wales. In summer, diversity and abundance of bird species declined over a
distance of 900 m into the plantation. However, in winter this progressive decline in bird densities
was limited to within the first 200 m of the plantation periphery. At greater distances into the
plantation, the floristic and structural characteristics of the vegetation (including windrows) were
of more importance than the proximity of the plantation edge in accounting for variations in the
abundance and diversity of birds. Food for insectivorous birds (the dominant feeding guild) is probably
restricted in the plantation because few local species of invertebrates are likely to be adapted to living
on exotic pines; invertebrate mobility as well as abundance is probably less in winter, so that fewer
invertebrates enter the plantation from adjacent native forest. Windrows are an important habitat
feature contributing to the diversity and abundance of birds within plantations, probably serving
as 'corridors' through the alien habitat of exotic pines, thus enabling birds to range further into
plantations. For approximately 40 per cent of the plantation life cycle, the influence of proximity
of plantation edge on diversity and abundance of bird species is probably of limited importance,
particularly in winter. Reducing plantation size in order to increase the diversity and abundance of bird
species is not realistic, because plantations would have to be very small. Instead, emphasis should be
placed on increasing the structural and floristic diversity of plantations by creating a broad range of
successional stages throughout the plantation complex, by enhancing the habitat value of windrows,
and by retaining native vegetation within and near plantations.

Rainfall interception by the forest cover causes an important reduction in bulk rainfall in semiarid cli- mates, such as the Mediterranean. Unmanaged, dense pine stands in this area are expected to have an important impact on water resources. This paper studies the effect of forest management on the parti- tioning of rainfall into throughfall and stemflow in an Aleppo pine plantation in eastern Spain. Three thin- ning-intensity treatments were compared with unmanaged stands that served as the control. The results revealed a very low throughfall in the control treatments during the study period of 55.9%, whereas throughfall increased significantly after thinning to 83.8%, 67.7% and 61.3% of the bulk rainfall for high-, moderate- and low-intensity treatments, respectively. Total throughfall was negatively and line- arly related to the tree density, forest cover, basal area and leaf area index. In contrast, weekly throughfall was modelled by considering these variables together with bulk rainfall in a multiple exponential expres- sion; the weekly throughfall R2 values (corrected Pearson coefficient) were above 0.9. These models would facilitate the implementation of hydrology-oriented silviculture via a more accurate prediction of the impacts of thinning on throughfall in this type of forest. ; This study is a part of two projects: "Determination of hydrologic and forest recovery factors in Mediterranean forests and their social perception" and "CGL2011-28776-C02-02: Hydrological characterisation of forest structures at plot scale for an adaptive management (HYDROSIL)". The first project is led by Dr. Eduardo Rojas and granted by the Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine affairs (Spanish Government). The subproject in which this study has been developed is titled "Optimization of forest management techniques in terms of their hydrologic and soil conservation effects, criteria development for a hydrological silviculture". The second project is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The authors ...

Red wood ants (the Formica rufa group) are important predators which affect animal communities in their territory. Therefore, they are useful in forest protection. On the other hand, they also prey on beneficial organisms. We have asked whether Formica rufa L. affects the abundance of the parasitic flies Ernestia rudis (Fallén). Ten anthills situated in about 40-year- old pine plantations were used for the study. The presence of E. rudis cocoons was assessed in eight soil samples excavated in the surrounding of each nest at a distance of 2–17 m. Our results show a considerably lower abundance of E. rudis only to 4.5 m from the nests. The occurrence of Formica rufa ants therefore had no significant effect on the beneficial E. rudis population in plantation forests, where ants populations are low.