<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.

The objectives of the thesis: • to analyse evapotranspiration of Norway spruce seedlings in irrigated and non-irrigated fields by applying lysimetric method; • to determine crop coefficient of spruce seedlings; • to measure dynamics of soil humidity during vegetation period; • to determine influence of irrigation regime on qualitative indices of spruce seedlings; • to determine optimal irrigation regime; • to set economic advantage of irrigation of Norway spruce seedlings. / Darbo uždaviniai: • ištirti paprastosios eglės sodinukų suminį išgaravimą drėkinamuose ir nedrėkinamuose plotuose lizimetriniu metodu; • nustatyti eglės sodinukų biologinius koeficientus; • įvertinti dirvožemio drėgmės dinamiką vegetacijos laikotarpiu; • nustatyti drėkinimo režimo įtaką eglės sodinukų kokybiniams rodikliams; • nustatyti optimalų drėkinimo režimą; • nustatyti paprastosios eglės sodinukų drėkinimo ekonominį efektyvumą.

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]

Dendrochronology studies in Atlantic Canada are rare partly because old-growth forests are scarce making it difficult to establish multiple-century tree-ring chronologies. One approach to overcome this problem is to use tree-ring records found in the wood of historical structures. For our study, the Sinclair Inn in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, was selected for a dendroarchaeological assessment because of its rich and complex history: it resulted from the merging of two early 18th Century houses (the Soullard and Skene houses). To date the Sinclair Inn, three other historical structures of a younger age were used to establish an annual ring record in lieu of old-growth forest data. Red spruce (Picea rubens), a dominant tree species in the Maritimes, was the most prominent wood found in the structures and allowed for the creation of a regional red spruce reference chronology extending far enough into the past to cover the supposed period of construction of the Sinclair Inn. Crossdating results indicate cutting dates of 1709 and 1710 for the Skene and Soullard houses, respectively, and 1769 for the inn itself. In the process of dating the structure, a ,200-year long regional floating red spruce chronology (1591–1789) was developed that will further help future dendrochronological investigations in the Maritimes.

Northeastern forests are being impacted by unprecedented environmental stressors, including acid deposition, invasive pests, and climate change. Forest health monitoring at a landscape scale is necessary to evaluate the changing condition of forest resources and to inform management of forest stressors. Traditional forest health monitoring is often limited to specific sites experiencing catastrophic decline or widespread mortality. Satellite remote sensing can complement these efforts by providing comprehensive forest health assessments over broad regions. Subtle changes in canopy health can be monitored over time by applying spectral vegetation indices to multitemporal satellite imagery. This project used historical archives of Landsat-5 TM imagery and geographic information systems to examine forest health trends in the northern Green Mountains of Vermont from 1984 to 2009. Results indicate that canopy health has remained relatively stable across most of the landscape, although decline was present in localized areas. Significant but weak relationships were discovered between declining forest health and spruce-fir-paper birch forests at high elevations. Possible causes of decline include the interacting effects of acid deposition, windthrow, and stressful growing environments typical of montane forests.

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,...

Nitrogen (N) fertilization due to atmospheric deposition (NDEP ) may explain some of the net carbon (C) sink (0.6-0.7 Pg y-1) in temperate forests, but estimates of the additional C uptake due to atmospheric N additions (∆C/∆N) can vary by over an order of magnitude (5 to 200 ∆C/∆N). High estimates from several recent studies [e.g. Magnani (2007), Nature 447 848-850], deriving ∆C/∆N from regional correlations between NDEP and measures of C uptake (such as eddy covariance -derived net ecosystem production, or forest inventory data) contradict estimates from other studies, particularly those involving 15N tracer applications added as fertilizer to the forest floor. A strong ∆C/∆N effect requires nitrogen to be efficiently acquired by trees and allocated to high C:N, long-lived woody tissues, but these isotope experiments typically report relatively little (~ 20 %) of 15N added is found above-ground, with less than 5 % of the total 15N applied found in wood. Consequently the high correlation-derived ∆C/∆N estimates are often attributed to co-variation with other factors across the range of sites investigated. However, 15N-fertilization treatments often impose considerably higher total N loads than ambient NDEP , while almost all exclusively only apply mineral 15N treatments to the soil, often in a limited number of treatment events over relatively short periods of time. Excessive N deposition loads can induce negative physiological effects and limit the resulting ∆C/∆N observed, and applying treatments to the soil ignores canopy nitrogen uptake, which has been demonstrated in numerous studies. As canopies can directly take up nitrogen, the chronic, (relatively) low levels of ambient NDEP inputs from pollution may be acquired without some of the effects of heavy N loads, with trees obtaining this N before it reaches the soil, allowing canopies to substitute for, or supplement, edaphic N nutrition. The strength of this effect depends on how much N uptake can occur across the canopy under field conditions, and if this extra N supplies growth in woody tissues such as the stem, as well as the canopy. Similarly, such mineral fertilizer isotope trace experiments are also unable to trace N in the decomposing litter and humus layers of the soil, which even under heavy NDEP loading contribute most of the N utilised for forest growth. Recent literature suggests that some organic (early decomposition) forms of N may be taken up by roots. If this litter N is not retained or distributed in the same way as mineral fertilizers, its contribution to plant nutrition and ∆C/∆N may need to be reassessed under nitrogen deposition. We tested some of these assumptions in the nursery and the field. In order to facilitate litter 15N tracing, we conducted an experiment injecting large trees with 15N-NH4NO3 to create 15N-labelled litter, tracing the applied isotope into a full harvest of the canopy. Such labelled litter substitute was used to replace the litter layer in a Sitka Spruce plantation (Picea sitchensis L. (Bong.)), where the fate of this 15N from litter decomposition in the soil system was compared against the fate of 15N in deposition. Similarly, in potted Sitka Spruce saplings, we used combination treatments of 15N-labelled litter, soil-targeted 15N-deposition, and canopy targeted 15N-deposition, investigating 15N return in different age classes of above and below ground biomass. We found that i) 15N recovery in canopies (needles and branches) in our injected trees was almost all of the injected 15N five months after injection, ii) canopy application of NDEP led to 60 % 15N return in above-ground parts of saplings compared to 21 % in soil applications and iii) a litter-derived 15N source was retained 55 % more in topsoil, and 36 % more in roots, than a similar deposition 15N source applied as mineral fertilizer. We discuss the implications of such findings in the context of 15N return in different plant organs and ecosystem pools, seasonal variation in N content, and overall inferences of a forest ∆C/∆N effect. Our results suggest that the total ∆C/∆N effect driven by a high N sequestration from canopy uptake in wood is ~ 114:1, more than double that of 15N tracer experiments but not as high as upper estimates from correlative studies, and that litter-derived organic N is better retained in trees and soils in excess of similar amounts of mineral 15N from deposition. Existing forest 15N-fertilization experiments could under-estimate the overall ∆C/∆N effect of atmospheric N deposition.

In order to fully understand the magnitude of the benefits that forests provide, it is crucial to understand the full suite of ecosystem services that they offer. A southern Appalachian red spruce-Fraser fir forest was intensively analyzed using a variety of methodologies to determine the nature and quantity of some of these services. Many hypotheses exist regarding the future of these spruce-fir forests, which were heavily disturbed by the non-native balsam wooly adelgid during the 1980s. Direct measurements over the course of a decade assessed these hypotheses and indicate that this forest is recovering structure and function. The forest is accruing overstory biomass, with vegetation composition on a trajectory towards historic conditions. By using a total forest inventory of all vegetation from overstory trees to understory mosses, rates of productivity and nutrient cycling were determined. Productivity of this forest at low elevations has returned to pre-adelgid levels, while at high elevations productivity is approaching these levels. In the absence of an intact overstory, forest understory vegetation can compensate by disproportionately cycling and retaining nutrients such as nitrogen that would otherwise leach offsite. The understory of this forest provides an important service in nutrient cycling. Our ability to actively manage forests in order to manipulate levels and rates of carbon sequestration was assessed using stand data and the Forest Vegetation Simulator Growth and Yield Model. Silvicultural intervention proved effective at sequestering additional carbon over a no action alternative by the end of our simulation period. This forest provides a variety of ecosystem services and has retained its ability to recover their function after catastrophic disturbance.

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