When using timber for construction purposes it is important to know its strength. One way to do this is by sorting the boards into strength classes that are defined by European standards.  A commonly used method for strength grading is based on dynamic excitation in the longitudinal direction of the board to obtain an average dynamic longitudinal modulus of elasticity (MOE). This in turn correlates with the bending strength of the board in such a way that it can be used as an indicating property (IP) to bending strength. The use of MOE as an IP has proven to give the highest coefficient of determination (R2) to both bending and tensile strength in boards. Through the research described in this thesis, one might find that both reducing the length of a board to half its initial length and by removing the part containing the lowest local MOE in edgewise bending provided similar results, the axial dynamic MOE remaining within a 1% tolerance whereas the lowest IP based on local MOE in edgewise bending increased by 6–7%.

<p>With the use of a process-orientated ecosystem model andmeasurements conducted at different Swedish coniferous forestsites, abiotic and biotic interactions between tree and soilwere identified and related to governing factors. Two differentmodelling approaches to describe soil temperatures at two sitesincluding hydrological transects were tested (I). The approachin which both canopy and soil were considered proved to be amore flexible tool to describe soil temperatures, especiallyduring snow-free winter periods. Five sites along a climatetransect covering Sweden were used to describe soil carbon poolchanges during an 80-year period simulation (II). The dynamicmodelling approach, with a feedback between abiotic and bioticsub-models, was successful in describing simplified patterns offorest stand dynamics and furthermore in differentiatingbetween climate and nitrogen availability factors. The largereffect of nitrogen availability compared to climate on soilcarbon pool changes was clearly shown.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>SPAC; soil surface energy balance; Norwayspruce; canopy; LAI; climate; nitrogen; CoupModel</p>

Ecologization of agriculture and forestry directly and indirectly influences the environment, water, air, and landscape. Thus, analysis of organic forestry activities, evaluation and forecast are of scientific, ecological and political significance. Weed control and the resulting organic farming and forestry issues have attracted greater attention to the use of physical methods in weed control, because this weed control method is effective and does not leave chemical residues neither in the soil, nor in water. One of the physical methods is thermal weed control method, which contrary to the other weed control methods, leaves only dead biomass, preventing self-sowing of weed seeds in the soil, destroys some of the pests and disinfects the surface layer of soil (Upadhyaya et al, 2007). Meanwhile, as an alternative to seed treatment, various physical methods are also used (Lynikienė, 2006). However, the effect of some of the techniques on seed-born fungi are not explained, optimal exposures of the effects are unidentified (Clear et al., 2002). One of the possibilities to reduce the infestation of seeds by fungi - their thermal destruction. / Žemės ir miškų ūkio ekologizavimas tiesiogiai ir netiesiogiai veikia aplinką, vandenį, orą, landšaftą. Todėl ekologinės veiklos miškų ūkyje analizė, įvertinimas ir prognozė turi mokslinę, ekologinę ir politinę reikšmę (Diepenbrock, 1996). Piktžolių naikinimas ir ekologinės žemės bei miškų ūkių problemos paskatino atkreipti dėmesį į fizikinių metodų naudojimo piktžolių kontrolei svarbą, nes šis piktžolių naikinimo metodas yra efektyvus, nepaliekantis cheminių medžiagų likučių nei dirvožemyje, nei vandenyje. Vienas iš fizikinių metodų ir yra terminis piktžolių naikinimo būdas, kuris, skirtingai nuo kitų piktžolių kontrolės būdų, palieka tik negyvą jų biomasę, neleisdamas piktžolių sėkloms pasisėti dirvoje, sunaikina kai kuriuos kenkėjus ir dezinfekuoja paviršinį dirvožemio sluoksnį (Upadhyaya, 2012). Kaip alternatyva sėkloms beicuoti taip pat naudojami įvairūs fizikiniai metodai (Lynikienė, 2006). Kai kurių metodų poveikis sėklomis plintantiems mikromicetams nenustatytas, nenustatytos ir šių poveikių optimalios ekspozicijos (Clear et al., 2002). Viena iš galimybių sumažinti sėklų užterštumą mikromicetais – jų naikinimas termiškai.

Magistro baigiamąjame darbe tiriamas biohumuso poveikis paprastųjų eglių (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) sėjinukų augimui atvirame grunte. Tyrimo objektas - vienerių metų paprastosios eglės sėjinukai. Tyrimų tikslas: nustatyti ekologiškos organinės trąšos - biohumuso įtaką paprastosios eglės sėjinukų augimui, vystymuisi, išlikimui, išeigai iš ploto vieneto, ekonominiam efektyvumui. Tyrimo metodai. Loginė mokslinės literatūros apžvalga, apskaitos aikštelių ir duomenų statistinio apdorojimo metodai. Darbo uždaviniai. Nustatyti biohumuso įtaką paprastosios eglės vienmečių sėjinukų augimui ir vystymuisi. Įvertinti vermikomposto įtaką sėjinukų išlikimui ir išeigai iš ploto vieneto. Atlikti biohumuso panaudojimo ekonominį įvertinimą. Darbo rezultatai. Paprastosios eglės vienamečių sėjinukų antžeminės dalies augimą, iš šešių tirtų biohumuso normų, labiausiai įtakojo 20 t/ha norma. Ji esmingai padidino sėjinukų aukštį, spyglių skaičių ir jų ilgį, o jos poveikis sėjinukų skersmeniui, šoninių ūglių skaičiui bei jų ilgiui, šoninių pumpurų skaičiui buvo analogiškas kaip ir mineralinių trąšų. Lyginant sėjinukų šaknų sistemas, biohumuso 10, 20 ir 30 t/ha normos patikimai padidino eglaičių pagrindinės šaknies ilgį (labiausiai – 20 t/ha), o pirmos eilės šoninių šaknų skaičių teigiamai įtakojo tik biohumuso 20 t/ha norma, palyginti su mineralinėmis trąšomis. Efektyviausiai sėjinukų bendrąją, antžeminės dalies ir šaknų masę padidino biohumuso 20 t/ha norma. Be to, biohumusas labiau skatino... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The effect of biohumus on the growth of the seedling of Norway spruce in the open soil is researched in this master thesis. The object of the research – the one year old seedling of Norway spruce. Research aim is to test the influence of biohumus on the growth, development, survival, amount of the seedling of Norway spruce from 1 hectare and its economikcal effect. Research methods. The review of logical scientific literature, the methods of statistic analysis of the data of the examined areas. Research objectives. To define the influence of biohumus on the growth and development of one year old seedling. To assess the influence of vermicompost on the seedling survival and harvest from one hectare. To perform the economical evaluation of the use of biohumus. Research results. The growth of a year old seedling from the six tested norms with biohumus was mostly influenced by 20 t/ha norm. It eesentially encreased the height of the seedling, the number and length of the needles. Its effect on the widh of the seedling, the number of the side branches, their length and the amount of the side buds was equivalent to the mineral fertilizers. By comparising the systems of the roots, the norms of biohumus 10, 20 and 30, evidentally encreased the length of the main roots of the Norway spruce (mostly 20 t/ha). However, the number of the side roots of the first row was positively effected only by the 20 t/ha norm if compared to the mineral fertilizers. The whole weight of the... [to full text]

Bc. Romana Musilová: Využití dat DPZ pro hodnocení aktuálního stavu a vývoje smrkových porostů v Krkonoších Remote sensing for evaluation of state and development of Spruce stands condition in the Giant Mountains Abstract Monitoring the health status of forest areas using remote sensing methods are still under development. This master thesis focuses on the use of SPOT, Landsat, QuickBird and WorldView-2 images to evaluate condition of spruce stands in Giant Mountains National Park. For these purposes were selected vegetation indices available in the lite- rature. First satellite images were preprocessed and subsequently calculated vegetation indices. From the generally known were used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, leaf area index and Simple Ratio. Than were calculated Green Vegetation Index and Red Green Index based on the monitoring of needles color changes. To evaluate moistu- re conditions were used indices Foliar Moisture Index and wide-band Normalized Diffe- rential Infrared Index. The goal was a comparison of the results of these indices and assessment of their applicability. Map outputs indices were compared with maps of de- foliation and mortality of coniferous stands by Ing. Milan Stoklasa. Keywords: remote sensing, Norway Spruce stands, Giant Mountains, vegetation indi- ces, SPOT,...

After decades of investigation, we still have to deal withthe problem of environmental effects of the use of de-icingsalt on roads. Lacking useful indicators of the system, westill do not know the environmental utility of ameliorativemeasures taken. The thesis aims at i) describing the system of de-icing practices and theirenvironmental effects with special reference to the exposure ofthe roadside environment to air-borne salt and damage to Norwayspruce seedlings and ii) at proposing indicators for afollow-up system. By collecting bulk deposition and relatingthe deposition pattern to factors concerning wind androad-maintenance characteristics, the influence of thesefactors on air-borne exposure is investigated. By exposingNorway spruce (Picea abies(L.) Karst.) seedlings to roadsideconditions the influence ofsalt exposure on the degree ofdamage is investigated. Based on a comparison of severalsystems of monitoring, improvements are suggested by proposingnew indicators for salt use and its environmental effects. A large part of the salt that is applied on the road surfacewill be transported by air and deposited on the ground in theroadside. While the vast majority of the salt will be depositedwithin some tens of metres of the road, some may still be windtransported several hundred metres away. The wind directionplays an important role for the deposition already at adistance of some ten metres from the road. Wind speedinfluences the distance to which the salt is transported.Chloride concentration in unwashed needles collected after thesalting season is positively related to the bulk deposition ofCl during the exposure. The degree of damage can be describedby a sigmoid curve of response to the Cl concentration inneedles. Improvements to the follow-up system are suggested byproposing indicators of the driving forces, pressures, states,impacts and possible responses as regards the undesired impactson water resources, vegetation and the roadside scenery as asocietal asset. <b>Keywords:</b>road, de-icing salt, air-borne, environmentalimpact, vegetation damage, Norway spruce, seedling, follow-up,monitoring, indicator

<p>After decades of investigation, we still have to deal withthe problem of environmental effects of the use of de-icingsalt on roads. Lacking useful indicators of the system, westill do not know the environmental utility of ameliorativemeasures taken. The thesis aims at</p><p>i) describing the system of de-icing practices and theirenvironmental effects with special reference to the exposure ofthe roadside environment to air-borne salt and damage to Norwayspruce seedlings and ii) at proposing indicators for afollow-up system. By collecting bulk deposition and relatingthe deposition pattern to factors concerning wind androad-maintenance characteristics, the influence of thesefactors on air-borne exposure is investigated. By exposingNorway spruce (<i>Picea abies</i>(L.) Karst.) seedlings to roadsideconditions the influence ofsalt exposure on the degree ofdamage is investigated. Based on a comparison of severalsystems of monitoring, improvements are suggested by proposingnew indicators for salt use and its environmental effects.</p><p>A large part of the salt that is applied on the road surfacewill be transported by air and deposited on the ground in theroadside. While the vast majority of the salt will be depositedwithin some tens of metres of the road, some may still be windtransported several hundred metres away. The wind directionplays an important role for the deposition already at adistance of some ten metres from the road. Wind speedinfluences the distance to which the salt is transported.Chloride concentration in unwashed needles collected after thesalting season is positively related to the bulk deposition ofCl during the exposure. The degree of damage can be describedby a sigmoid curve of response to the Cl concentration inneedles. Improvements to the follow-up system are suggested byproposing indicators of the driving forces, pressures, states,impacts and possible responses as regards the undesired impactson water resources, vegetation and the roadside scenery as asocietal asset.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>road, de-icing salt, air-borne, environmentalimpact, vegetation damage, Norway spruce, seedling, follow-up,monitoring, indicator</p>

Objective of the study is to assess wood yield and quality of Polish Norway spruce provenances and transfer effect in comparison with the local provenances. Object of the study is experimental plantation established in Kazlų Rūda EFE, Agurkiškės forest district (62 comp.., 43 plot). Six southern Polish proveniences were from Istebna, Ustron, Ujstoly ir Lagow forest districts and three open-pollinated families from Girionys seed orchard and progeny from the local Agurkiškės forest district were tested. Area of the experimental plantations 1,8 ha. Methods: quantitative and qualitative traits of the trees in the plantation were assessed by using the following tools and methods: height was measured with a telescopic pole, diameter with calipers and the quantitative traits were assessed by the standard methods used in genetics and breeding. Results: this study showed that growth rate and wood yield of the southern provenances were higher than of the progenies of the selected plus trees of Lithuanian origin. However, wood yield of soother Polish provenances was significantly higher than that of the local regular stands of Agurkiškių provenance. This indicates, that the seed orchard material is superior over the material form regular unimproved forests stands. This difference may be caused not only by the geographical transfer effect but also related to genetic quality of the original stands. Polish provinces possessed a lower number of forked trees but their stems were less... [to full text]

Darbo objektas - įvairaus amžiaus centrinio puvinio pažeisti eglės medžiai, kurie auga skirtinguose našumo rajonuose. Darbo tikslas – centrinio puvinio paplitimo tipinėse paprastosios eglės augavietėse (Nc, Nd, Lb, Lc, Ld) vertinimo garsiniu tomografu ARBOTOM 3D galimybių tyrimas. Darbo metodai – duomenys apie puvinio išplitimą rinkti naudojant garsinį tomografą Arbotom 3D. Surinkti duomenys apdoroti naudojant MS Excel, Statistica ir Arbotom programas. Atliekant tyrimą buvo naudoti tokie bendrieji metodai: dokumentų analizės, duomenų grupavimo, modeliavimo, loginis, palyginimo, apibendrinimo. Rezultatai – Duomenys buvo renkami 4 gamtiniuose – našumo rajonuose.Tyrimo metu pamatuota 3269 medžiai iš kurių 703 nuskenuota garsiniu tomografu. Darbo metu nustatyta, kad vaizdus, gautus garsinio tomografo Arbotom 3D pagalba, galima apdoroti su 85,44 proc patikimumu. Geriausiai puvinio buvimo stiebe faktą nusako ne absoliutus garso sklidimo greitis medienoje, bet minimalaus ir maksimalaus greičių sklidimo skirtumo santykis su mažiausiu sklidimo greičiu, bei stiebo skersmeniu 1.3 m aukštyje. Modeliuojant puvinio buvimo tikimybę Lietuvos mastu, modelyje tikslinga papildomai naudoti medžių amžių bei našumo rajoną. Didžiausias puvinio pažeistų medžių procentas buvo nustatytas IV (38,7 proc.) ir I ( 37,8 proc) Krafto klasės medžiams, II ir III klasėje pažeistų medžių buvo atitinkamai 28 proc. ir 34 proc. Tyrimų metu nustatyta, kad Lc ir Nc augavietėse puvinio pažeistų medžių dalis yra... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Subject of work –Norway spruce trees of various age class, that were damage by core rot in respect to regions of natural forest productivity. Aim of work – to investigate the possibilities of ARBOTOM 3D to identify the spread of core rot in Norway spruce regarding to forest type sites (Nc, Nd, Lb, Lc, Ld). Methods of work – material respecting rot spread were collected using tomography ARBOTOM 3D. Collected data was analyzed using Statistica, Excell and Arbotom software applications The following common scientific methods were used in this research: data analyzes, data grouping, modelling logic, comparison, syntheses. Results of work – The data of the research was collected in 4 State forests enterprises in respect to regions of natural forest productivity. In this study, 27 spruce stands of different age were choosen using random selection. The trees parameters were estimated for 3269 spruces, 703 out of estimated trees were scanned using acoustic tomography to determine the spread of rot inside stems. The reliability of 85.55 percentages was reached using ARBOTOM. The results of research revealed, that the most success approach to identify the rot in a stem was the ratio difference between maximal and minimas velocity to minimum velocity also stem diameter in 1.3 meter. Regarding to rot spread modelling in Lithuania it is advisable to use the ages of trees and regions of natural forest productivity additionally. The data of the research revealed that the most rotted... [to full text]

The demand of wood products will increase in the future when fossil-based fuel will be replaced by fossil free fuels. To meet the growing demand in the future, production increasing measurements must have to be done today. One of the most effective measurements, that increases production, is fertilization in young stands of spruce. Such measurements can give increased production of 8-12 m3sk/ha/year and reduce rotation periods by 40- 60 years in northern Sweden and 20- 40 years in southern Sweden. In this report, fertilization of young spruce stands has been studied when the operation has been implemented in a more practical scale. The aim was to compare if production differs when fertilization is implemented in a more practical scale than in previous studies of fertilization. The stands where located in Gullspång and Hällefors and this revision was made in the winter of 2018. The result of this revision showed an increased production of 102% in Gullspång and 210% in Hällefors in the fertilized stands compared to the unfertilized stands at the same locations. This indicate that fertilization of young spruce stands, when it is exercised in a bigger practical scale, is an effective measurement to increase production in Swedish forestry. / I framtiden förväntas efterfrågan och behovet av skogsråvara att öka. Vid en omställning från fossilbaserade bränslen till fossilfria kommer behovet av bioenergi av skogsråvara att öka, samtidigt förväntas exporten av massa och sågade råvaror att vara fortsatt stor. Det behövs satsas på produktionshöjande åtgärder i skogsbruket för att kunna tillgodose det ökande behovet av skogsråvara från skogsindustrin och samhället i framtiden. En av de effektivaste åtgärderna som går att göra är ungskogsgödsling av gran, vilket kan ge en merproduktion på 8–12 m3sk/ha och år och sänka omloppstider med 40–60 år i norra Sverige och 20–40 år i södra Sverige. I detta arbete har tillväxteffekten av ungskogsgödsling studerats när det utförts i operationell praktisk skala. Två bolagsförsök i SLU:s försöksprogram Fiberskog har studerats. Försöken är anlagda i Gullspång respektive Hällefors där målet var att studera möjligheten med att bedriva ungskogsgödsling av gran i större praktisk skala. Gödslingen startade vid 2–4 m höjd och gödslades vartannat år med individuellt anpassad giva fram till beståndet slutit sig. Tillväxten mättes med 6 års mellanrum med start 2003. Denna revision är utförd vintern 2018 (tre växtsäsonger efter senaste revision) och resultatet visar att tillväxteffekten av ungskogsgödsling kan ge en merproduktion på 102% och 210% på den totala volymen i Gullspång respektive Hällefors. Detta tyder på att ungskogsgödsling av gran är en effektiv åtgärd när det utförs i operationell praktisk skala och bör vara ett alternativ för det svenska skogsbruket i framtiden.