Integration of technology is commonplace in forestry equipment supporting higher levels of automation and efficiency. For technology adoption to be successful it must demonstrate improvement in productivity, cost–effectiveness or in human factors and ergonomics. Cable yarding lends itself to automation with repetitive machine movement along a fixed corridor, as established by the skyline. This study aimed at investigating the difference in productivity between the two possible settings (manual and automated) of a Valentini V850 yarder equipped with automatic path programming, with a Bergwald 3-t carriage and radio controlled chokers. The study took place in the northern Italian Alpine eastern region over a period of 8 days on two separate corridors, resulting in 280 measured cycles split between manual and automated. Results in terms of absolute numbers were very close for the two system options, but significant differences were found. For example, inhaul time was longer, but outhaul time shorter for the automated system. Productivity ranged from 8.2 to 13.3 m³ PMH^-1, and cost from approximately 20 to 30 € m^-3. The automated system did achieve a significantly higher productivity, but differences declined with extraction distance. When that was combined with the slightly higher cost for the automated system, the automated system was more cost-effective on extraction distances less than 200 m, and the manual system on longer distances.

Cell suspension culture is a useful in vitro model-system for both scaling up and conserving the Brazilian conifer Araucaria angustifolia. In the present work, cell suspension of Brazilian pine was subjected to proteomics, biochemical and histochemical analyses. The results revealed new insights underlying the molecular mechanism of proembryogenic masses transition in cell suspension. Embryogenic cell cultures were cultivated in a basal liquid medium modified in a Steward apparatus (orbital agitator). Cell growth dynamics was evaluated using cell volume after sedimentation, fresh weight, mitotic index, conductivity, pH, and the number of proembryogenic masses (PEMs: I, II, III). Histochemical parameters, cell viability, and cell death analyses were performed to pinpoint growth rates. Proteomics analysis was performed using two-dimensional electrophoresis, and protein identification was carried out by MALDI-TOF-TOF tandem mass spectrometry. Cell growth dynamics showed a predominance of PEM III. Maximum slope of the exponential phase growth in fresh weight occurred at exponential phase after 15 days (optimal cultivation time), after which cell viability and pH decreased, thereby allowing the identification of stress-related proteins. Several metabolism and growth proteins were abundant, such as: cytoskeletal, WOX1, cytokinin-related, and auxin-related proteins acting on cell wall modification, suspensor cell formation, and PEM I to PEM III transition.

It has been highlighted that forest productivity is related both to species richness and to soil fertility; however, thus far it has not been investigated which of these agents is more important for the productivity. The goal of this study was to examine this problem with regard to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands in Central Europe. The study was conducted in 129 plots located in SW Poland. The productivity of even-aged pine stands was estimated based on site index. Plant species richness was investigated regarding the total richness as well as the richness referring to particular forest strata (overstorey, understorey, herb layer). Soil fertility was studied regarding the nutrients’ stocks, the contents of fine-textural classes, pH, the TOC content and the values of Soil Trophic Index. The importance of the variables for the site index was examined using Spearman correlations and the stepwise regression. Productivity of the studied stands was predominantly correlated stronger to species richness than to soil properties being related to its fertility. The higher importance for the productivity of soil variables than of species richness was exclusively found for the poorest plots being represented by Podzols. This study highlights the high importance of species richness occurring in particular forest strata for the forest stand productivity, which could involve consequences for forest economy as well as for CO₂ sequestration. Thus, the research delivers strong argument for the conversion of pine mono-stands occurring in Central Europe for mixed forests.

Elucidating variability in nutrient resorption and carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry is important for holistically understanding plant approaches to nutrient adaption. However, the patterns of these phenomena in afforested regions of the Beijing Plain have been ignored. Herein, we assessed patterns of leaf and litter C, N, and P stoichiometry and nutrient resorption in Robinia pseudoacacia L., Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, and Salix matsudana Koidz. forests in afforested areas in Beijing, China. We found that the plantation growth of R. pseudoacacia and S. matsudana was mainly limited by P nutrients. Both the N and P in the fresh leaves of R. pseudoacacia were significantly higher than those in the fresh leaves of S. matsudana and A. altissima, indicating that the N resorption efficiency (NRE) of R. pseudoacacia was higher. However, the P resorption efficiency (PRE) was significantly correlated with the leaf P nutrients in the R. pseudoacacia and A. altissima forests. Except for the significant correlation between the N content of fresh leaves and the AN content in soil, there were no significant correlations between the leaf C, N and P contents and the contents of these nutrients in the soil. These results suggested that of the factors studied, leaf P stoichiometry and PRE were more responsive indicators of the afforestation area on the Beijing Plain. Together, our data indicated that P deficiency is an important factor for the forests on the Beijing Plain and that the ability of afforested areas to adapt to barren land through nutrient resorption is gradually weakened and the N and P nutrient preservation ability is reduced over time. We thus clarified the nutrient resorption and leaf P and N patterns for the three forests studied. The findings have important implications for the application of P fertilizer, which must be conducted in a timely fashion to ensure that nutrient addition meets the nutritional needs of the plants.

Trees and shrubs belonging to the Betula L. genus seem to represent one of the most confused interspecific relationships, and hybridization is considered to be one of the main factors responsible for the substantial genetic and morphological variation of birches. In the present investigation, the internal transcribed spacer ITS1 and ITS2 regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA, nuclear alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene sequences and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) as well as the Atkinson discriminant function (ADF) of leaf morphology were used to verify hypotheses concerning the origin of the dark barked Betula obscura and B. pendula var. carelica with the patterned wood. Both plants were considered by different authors to be distinct species, intraspecific forms of common B. pendula or B. pubescens, or hybrid taxa between B. pendula and B. pubescens. In the phylogenetic trees, the ITS and ADH gene sequences of both B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica clustered with those of B. pendula, whereas B. pubescens trees were somewhat distinct. In turn, the AFLPs revealed genetic similarity of B. pendula var. carelica to both frequent species, whereas B. obscura was clearly distinct from other birches. Values of the ADF indices of the rare birches were typical for B. pendula. In the light of the results obtained, we imply that B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica represent an intraspecific variation of B. pendula, they are neither intraspecific taxa of B. pubescens nor hybrid species between the common birches. Different grouping of B. obscura in the AFLPs and DNA sequences analyses is likely a result of an unreliable phylogenetic signal of the former molecular markers.