Devitalization and sanitation fellings on permanent sample plots in the stands of pedunculate oak in Morović in the period 1994-2011

Abstract

Two permanent sample plots in Morović were analyzed in terms of the structure of trees felled in a sanitation felling in pedunculate oak stands aged 118-135 and 123-140 years. The stands belong to the most common types of hygrophile and mesophile pedunculate oak forests in the area of Flat Srem. The measurements of stem diameters, tree heights and the assessment of damage to trees were performed in 1994 and 2011. In 1994, the percentage of dead and severely damaged trees on the sample plots amounted to 28% and 40%, and in 2011 the share of se­verely damaged trees accounted for 19% and 22%. During the sanitation fellings in the period 1994-2011 the average annual harvested volume of damaged and dead trees was 1.85 and 1.59 times higher than the current increment of the remaining trees in that period. In 1994 the percentage of dead and severely damaged trees in the structure of sanitary felling ranged from 62 to 88%. The sanitation felling served to rehabilitate the unfavourable state from 1994 to a large extent, but the trend of dying trees remained strong until today. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Istraživanje klimatskih promena na životnu sredinu: praćenje uticaja, adaptacija i ublažavanje]

Keywords

• pedunculate oak
• narrow-leaved ash
• hygrophile forests
• permanent sample plots
• damage to the crown
• sanitation felling