Populus euphratica Oliv. is a native species in arid and semi- arid zone of Iran distributing naturally in the vast regions. We studied the variation in fruit morphological traits in P. euphratica trees originating from seven provenances of Iran. P. euphratica samples were prepared from Karaj Research Station. In this study, catkin length, number of capsules in each catkin, capsule length, capsule width, capsule length to capsule width ratio, number of seeds in each capsule, seed length, seed width, seed length to seed width ratio, the weight of 1000 seeds and germination rate were measured. Analysis of variance on all morphological traits except germination showed significant differences (P < 0.05) among provenances. In addition, positive significant correlations were observed in some of the fruit morphological traits. Capsule length, seed length and number of seeds in each capsule showed a significant positive correlation with mean annual  precipitation, mean annual temperature and longitude. Seed width showed a significant negative correlation with longitude and latitude. The results show that morphological fruit characteristics in P. euphratica are mainly influenced by the mean annual temperature of the origins.

Callusing and root induction in air layering was evaluated aiming at evolution of procedure for mass clonal propagation of mature ortets of five tropical broadleaf species differing in their potential for adventitious root formation in shoot cuttings as: Anogiessus latifolia < Boswellia serrata < Dalbergia latifolia < Gmelina arborea < Dalbergia sissoo. Two experiments were conducted in rainy season during consecutive years; without application of growth regulators in the first year and with growth regulators (T1 - water, T2- 100 ppm indole-3-acetic acid, T3-100 ppm thiamine-HCl and T4 -combination of T2 + T3) in the next year. Air layered branches were detached from the trees to record percentage of alive airlayers, callusing and rooting (%) as well as root number and root length. Response to air layering was found to be highly variable in five tree species but appeared to be feasible procedure for clonal propagation of mature ortets of B. serrata and D. sissoo with 100% (in auxin + thiamine treatment) and 83.3% (in auxin treatment) success, respectively. Maximum callusing (%) was found in D. latifolia while no callusing was observed in D. sissoo, which is most easy-to-root among all five species. Callus formation impedes adventitious rhizogenesis in air layers as significant negative correlation of callusing (%) and adventitious root formation was recorded in air layers of five tropical broadleaved tree species. Application of exogenous auxin alone or in combination with thiamine circumvents callusing to ensure direct development of roots for successful air layering.

The trade with cultivated plants is one of the major pathways for the introduction of invasive species, pathogens included. Based on network analysis, the present study aimed the interaction between several species of cultivated woody perennials found in gardening outlets and nurseries trading with ornamental species and their documented pathogens. Focal species of the host list were Thuja plicata, Buxus sempervirens and Prunus laurocerasus, the selection being based on reported bestselling figures. Bipartite, qualitative, undirected networks were constructed to incorporate woody perennials as hosts and their documented pathogens. The tested network properties were: connectance, node degree distribution, web asymmetry and nestedness. Cluster analysis using Euclidian distance and niche overlap index of Pianka were employed as additional pattern description metrics. The main network containing 33 host species and 112 pathogens was characterized by truncated power law distribution fitting the observed degree distribution of hosts and power law distribution fitting the observed degree distribution of pathogens, low connectance (C = 0.12), intermediate web asymmetry (W = 0.54) and high significant nestedness (N = 0.94). The network containing three focal hosts showed significant lower nestedness (N = 0.54), higher asymmetry (W = 0.94) and higher connectance (C = 0.38). Cluster analysis revealed the separation of focal species distinctly, the majority of other hosts merging in one cluster. Due to the prevalence of specialized pathogens the niche breadth was narrow, with small overlap in resources’ partition (Pianka index = 0.31). Our results showed that a random assembly of hosts (woody ornamentals displayed for sale in retail centers and nurseries) could harbor pathogens which attached in a non-random manner, generating a characteristic pathosystem, with distinctive topology. The possible implications of the study consisted in a new insight in invasive spread and the inclusion of new pathogens in local pathogen communities using network analysis as a powerful investigation tool.

We analysed yearly estimates of population size data during 2001-2012 for five carnivores species of conservation interest (Ursus arctos, Canis lupus, Lynx lynx, Felis silvestris and Canis aureus). Population size estimations were done by the game management authorities and integrated by the competent authorities on the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Trends in data were detected using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. This test was chosen considering the short length of data series and its usefulness for non-normal distributed data. The trend was tested at three spatial scales: game management units (n=1565), biogeographical region (n=5) and national. Trends depicted for each game management unit were plotted using ArcGIS, resulting species trend distribution maps. For the studied period increasing population trends were observed for Ursus arctos, Canis lupus, Canis aureus and Lynx lynx, while for Felis silvestris there was no trend recorded. Such an analysis in especially useful for conservation proposes, game management and reporting obligations under article 17 of the EC Habitat Directive, using population trend as a proxy for population dynamics. We conclude that the status of the five carnivore species is favourable during the study period.

This paper deals with the use of airborne laser scanning data (ALS) in the process of the automatic delineation of forest and the generation of digital terrain models (DTM) in forested and nonforested land. The area of interest where the procedures presented in this study were examined is part of the University Forest Enterprise (UFE), Technical University in Zvolen. Within the forest delineation is presented a solution that iteratively takes into account the criterion of minimum area, height, width and crown coverage (CC). At the same time this approach also evaluates the mutual distance of identified crowns and the presence of buildings. Compared with manually identified forest boundaries, the accuracy of the automated procedure in the model area reached the value of 93%. In the DTM generation, various alternative methods of interpolation and conversion were used, while ALS data from the  summer and winter aspects were also available. The results showed that laser scanning in the area of interest provided systematically overestimated data for the DTM generation. The largest deviations of the DTM were found in terrains with a significant slope, regardless of the complexity of the afforestation structure (except for the youngest forest). In older stands and unforested areas with a moderate slope, the DTM accuracy achieved was in the range ±6-17 cm.

The objectives of the present study are to determine the most important factors affecting industrial wood material production yield in natural oriental beech forests in Turkey using a multifaceted approach and to help entrepreneurs consider these factors to develop more sensitive and realistic production plans. In Günye Forest Management in Bartın province of the West Black Sea Region of Turkey, 41 production units were chosen as the study area. The 1277 ha study area was included in the 2007 and 2010 production management plan. The general state of the stand, natural stand structure, and production methods and tools are the factors thought most strongly affect industrial wood material production yield; 26 variables representing these factors were evaluated in the study. Through multidimensional statistical analyses, including main components, factor and regression  analysis, we found that the most important factors affecting production yield were fertility, aspect of land, skidding method, stand structure, skidding distance, growing stock, transportation and harmful abiotic factors. Production units were divided into three groups based on yield rates and the 26 variables, using discriminate analysis. From the results of the study, a sample model can be developed to help forest managers predict and plan annual industrial wood production more sensitively and realistically.