Articles containing the keyword 'coniferous forest'

Air-borne Cu and Zn from a brass foundry at Gusum, SE Sweden, have considerably disturbed the lichen and bryophyte vegetation in the coniferous forest environment. The occurrence of lichens on Norway spruce twigs decreased rapidly with increasing Cu concentrations in Hypogymnia physodes above 90 ppm (background value 10–15). The epiphytic vegetation is reduced within 2–3 km from the foundry. Only stunted individuals occur in the close vicinity of the pollution source.

The cover of one of the quantitatively most important mosses, Hylocomnium splendens, is greatly reduced by the heavy-metal deposition. Cover values of 20–50% are not uncommon in distant sites (Cu concentration 15–35 ppm). There is a significant negative correlation between Cu concentration in the moss and its cover. The moss cannot survive much more than ca. 130 ppm Cu (and 360 ppm Zn). Live individuals are no more found within 1.5 km from the foundry.

• Folkeson, E-mail: lf@mm.unknown

The purpose of this study is to clarify the forest types in pure coniferous stands in Åland in Finland, to study them in a biological light and account for the production of the stands on respective sites. The flora of the forest types in Åland has been described in an earlier study, but as the plant associations have not been described it has often been difficult to determine the correct types in field work. Sample plots were chosen in coniferous forests with maximum 20% of other species. The vegetation analysis was limited to determine composition of species, projected coverage and the frequency of species. In addition, cubic volume and growth of the growing stock was calculated for the stands.

The results of the study showed that site type and fertility correspond to each other nearly without exception only on normal moraines, if only the ground vegetation is used as a criterion for the type. The general occurense of soils of different qualities makes it necessary to determine, besides forest type, other characteristics in the stands, preferably the dominant height. The total production of coniferous forests with great probability is smaller in Åland than in mainland Finland. The results can be applied also to Åboland’s archipelago, where the milieu of the coniferous forests is similar.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Högnäs, E-mail: bh@mm.unknown

An investigation was carried out in the area of Beas River in India in the conifer forests of the region to study the possible supply of raw material for forest industries. The investigation based on an agreement between the Government of Finland and the Government of India about techcnical assistance to India.

The results of the survey suggest that though the Himalayan conifer forests are scattered and they lie on high altitude and in difficult terrain, their potential value is very important to the Indian national economy. Their extraction is feasible in much larger scale than now. The present yield coming to the markets is 30-10%, or even less, of the obtainable yield under intensive management and integrated utilization of wood. The obtainable yield could support comparatively large saw milling as well as pulp and paper industries.

The problems in developing the Himalayan conifer forestry cover the field of forest management, silviculture, re-forestation, logging, relations between forestry and the local population, forest administration, sales policy and industrial planning. Estimating the actual possibilities requires reliable resource inventories. Cultivation of trees for primitive sleeper production should be abandoned, management systems modified in accordance with the principle of progressive yield. The future management should be based on the exploitation of the existing over-mature stock and on the growth of the new stands.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Kuusela, E-mail: kk@mm.unknown

There are two fungi that cause butt rot: Fomitopsis annosa and Bjerkandera borealis. The losses they cause in pine forests are relatively mild, the share of rotten trees is between 6 and 12 % and the rot is restricted to the butt end of the tree.

In forests dominated with spruce the losses to timber are more notable. The share of trees infected with butt rot is between 10 and 40 % and of the volume at least 12 per cent. The more barren the heath forest site the greater the defect caused by decay. In the forests on peatland the pine swamps and spruce moors are the most affected.

The PDF contains a summary in Finnish.  

• Tikka, E-mail: pt@mm.unknown

The paper deals with the ground vegetation of the barren coniferous forests of Åland Islands and seeks to describe its special vegetation characters with general features. The study is based on data collected during summers from 1918-1922 on Åland Islands.  Work presents the forest types of Åland Islands classified according Cajander (1909) with their typical species.

The Ålandian coniferous forests seem to have a low number of species. This is because they are mostly old and closed, and have been developing for a long time without human induced disturbances from outside. Some changes have occurred due to forest fires. There is very few traces of non-native species in the forests. If some are found, they have not been able to regenerate or distribute widely.   

• Palmgren, E-mail: ap@mm.unknown

Dead wood profile of a forest is a useful tool for describing forest characteristics and assessing forest disturbance history. Nevertheless, there are few studies on dead wood profiles, including both coarse and fine dead wood, and on the effect of sampling intensity on the dead wood estimates. In a semi-natural boreal forest, we measured every dead wood item over 2 cm in diameter from 80 study plots. From eight plots, we further recorded dead wood items below 2 cm in diameter. Based on these data we constructed the full dead wood profile, i.e. the overall number of dead wood items and their distribution among different tree species, volumes of different size and decay stage categories. We discovered that while the number of small dead wood items was immense, their number dropped drastically from the diameter below 1 cm to diameters 2–3 cm. Different tree species had notably different abundance-diameter distribution patterns: spruce dead wood comprised most strikingly the smallest diameter fractions, whereas aspen dead wood comprised a larger share of large-diameter items. Most of the dead wood volume constituted of large pieces (>10 cm in diameter), and 62% of volume was birch. The variation in the dead wood estimates was small for the numerically dominant tree species and smallest diameter categories, but high for the sub-dominant tree species and larger size categories. In conclusion, the more the focus is on rare tree species and large dead wood items, the more comprehensive should the sampling be.

• Halme, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland; School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: panu.halme@jyu.fi
• Purhonen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: jenna.e.i.purhonen@jyu.fi
• Marjakangas, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway E-mail: emma-liina.marjakangas@ntnu.no
• Komonen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland; School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: atte.komonen@jyu.fi
• Juutilainen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: kjuutilainen@yahoo.com
• Abrego, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: nerea.abrego@helsinki.fi

We investigated the impact of a colony of great cormorants on the vegetation of the old growth Pinus sylvestris L. forest on the Curonian Spit peninsula, Lithuania. We studied the characteristics and rates of plant cover changes under varying length and intensity of bird influence. Plant species numbers, as well as the coverage of plants with different ecological requirements, varied according to the period of bird influence, but the resulting vegetation also depended upon the stand elevation above sea level. In our study, the initial increase in plant species richness at the start of bird nesting was not obvious and was of a transient character, due to the weak invasion of non-forest species and the rapid decline of forest plants. The colony area showed obvious and rapid vegetation changes during the investigation period. According to the calculated colony expansion rates, after 6–7 years of impact from birds the tree layer decreased by about four fold; the shrub layer decreased by about two fold; the field layer decreased by about 15 fold; and the dwarf shrub and bottom layers disappeared. The coverage by oligotrophic species decreased by more than four fold, while the coverage by eutrophic species increased by more than 60 fold. After 9–10 years of ornithogenic impact, all the trees were dead, and the protected coniferous forest ecosystem, with its characteristic plant species, had ceased to exist as such.

• Matulevičiūtė, Institute of Botany, Nature Research Centre, Žaliųjų ežerų Str. 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7550-1860 E-mail: dalyte.matuleviciute@botanika.lt
• Motiejunaite, Institute of Botany, Nature Research Centre, Žaliųjų ežerų Str. 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6949-1990 E-mail: jurga.motiejunaite@botanika.lt
• Uogintas, Institute of Botany, Nature Research Centre, Žaliųjų ežerų Str. 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3937-1218 E-mail: domas.uogintas@botanika.lt
• Taraškevičius, Geology and Geography Institute, Nature Research Centre, Akademijos Str. 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5110-6142 E-mail: taraskevicius@geo.lt
• Dagys, Institute of Ecology, Nature Research Centre, Akademijos Str. 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9342-3464 E-mail: dagys@ekoi.lt
• Rašomavičius, Institute of Botany, Nature Research Centre, Žaliųjų ežerų Str. 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1314-4356 E-mail: valerijus.rasomavicius@botanika.lt

• Sullivan, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of BC, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 E-mail: tom.sullivan@ubc.ca
• Sullivan, Applied Mammal Research Institute, 11010 Mitchell Avenue, Summerland, BC, Canada V0H 1Z8 E-mail: dru.sullivan@appliedmammal.com

• Gregow, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hilppa.gregow@fmi.fi
• Puranen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: up@nn.fi
• Venäläinen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: av@nn.fi
• Peltola, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: heli.peltola@uef.fi
• Kellomäki, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: seppo.kellomaki@uef.fi
• Schultz, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ds@nn.fi

• Stenberg, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: pauline.stenberg@helsinki.fi
• Rautiainen, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: mr@nn.fi
• Manninen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Meteorological research, Ozone and UV radiation research, P.O. Box 503, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: tm@nn.fi
• Voipio, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Suonenjoki Research Station, FIN-77600 Suonenjoki, Finland E-mail: pv@nn.fi
• Smolander, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Suonenjoki Research Station, FIN-77600 Suonenjoki, Finland E-mail: hs@nn.fi