In vitro testing for the resistance of conifers to the fungus Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. on callus cultures

Defence reactions to the fungus Phaeolus schweinitzii were studied in spruce, pine, larch and Douglas-fir callus cultures. It was found that the defence reaction of the callus culture could indicate the degree of the resistance of the tree species to the wood-destroying fungus.     

Eine Methode zur integrierten Bekämpfung des Rüsselkäfers (Hylobius abietis L.)

Zusammenfassung Es wird gezeigt, da? es m?glich ist, durch die Anwendung subletaler Konzentrationen des Insektizids DTHP, d. h. durch eine allgemeine Schw?chung des Organismus erwachsener Rüsselk?fer (Hylobius abietis L.), eine geeignete Disposition dieses Sch?dlings zur Infektion durch den parasitischen PilzBeauveria bassiana (Bals-Criv.) Vuill. herbeizuführen. Die K?fer, die in Fangrinden oder Fallen an Kiefern? stchen — welche in ein kombiniertes Pr?parat einer 0,05% DTHP-Suspension (Organophosphorverbindung vom Dipterex-Typ, technischer Block 0,0-Dimethyl-2,2,2-trichlor-1-hydroxy?thyl-phosphonat) mit 0,1% Sporen vonBeauveria bassiana getaucht worden waren — konzentriert wurden, nahmen keine Nahrung mehr auf und starben allm?hlich ab. Wie die histologischen Untersuchungen gezeigt haben, wurden Erkrankung und Tod der K?fer durch den genannten parasitischen Pilz herbeigeführt. Obwohl nur zwei Vergleichsfl?chen zur Verfügung standen, ist aus dem obengesagten klar, da? bei der Anwendung des kombinierten Pr?parates mit einer gewissen selektiven Wirkung gerechnet werden kann: W?hrend an der nur mit 1% DTHP behandelten Versuchsfl?che ungef?hr 2,5% nützlicher Insekten unter den get?teten K?fern festgestellt wurden (vor allem Laufk?fer der GattungPterostichus), betrug der Prozentsatz der get?teten nützlichen Insekten bei der Anwendung des kombinierten Pr?parates (DTHPBeauveria bassiana-Sporen) nur 0,25%. Die angeführten Versuche bewiesen die Anwendbarkeit der Kombination von Insektiziden — in subletalen Dosen oder Konzentrationen — mit Sporen parasitischer Pilze.     

Lignin-carbohydrate bonds in a residual soda spruce pulp lignin

Summary The behaviour of lignin-polysaccharide complex of spruce wood in soda pulping was studied by the characterization of lignin-saccharide fractions isolated from a series of soda pulps. The dioxane pulp lignins contain 8–14% of carbohydrates in which glucose was the predominant component. Its content increased with increasing degree of delignification indicating the formation of secondary lignin-carbohydrate linkage. Both glycosidic and ether type of bond between residual lignin and cellulose in pulp was proved by methylation analysis of the pulp dioxane lignin.The work was supported by the Slovak Academy of Sciences grant number 2/999389/92.     

Chemical composition of hemicelluloses as a factor participating in the substrate specificity of wood-destroying fungi

Mycelium of twenty species of wood-destroying fungi was cultivated in nutrient solutions with one of the following sugars as the only carbon source: glucose, arabinose, galactose, mannose and xylose. The growth of the species occurring in nature only on the wood of Angiosperms was equal or lower in the solutions with galactose and mannose than in the solution with glucose. The utilization of mannose was practically the same as that of xylose. The species which are specialized in nature in the wood of conifers grow better in the solutions with galactose and mannose, than in the solution with glucose; likewise mannose is beter utilized than xylose. Fungi attacking both kinds of wood do not exhibit any dependence on the utilization of the sugars used in these investigations.     

Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdj.) under adverse weather conditions (2001) (Hom., Aphididae)

Cool and wet weather in some periods of the season generally supressed the RWA (Diuraphis noxia Kurdj.) populations in the Czech republic in 2001. However, some sites manifested population levels ranging out of the population mean stated per area, and these sites were also apparently responsible for respective peaks of alate aphids sampled by suction traps. An analysis of these sites determined them to be attributed to some poor quality barley fields in a warmer area of the state. RWA is known to vary in all-over populations in different years, and the year 2001 illustrated its capability of its surviving even unfavourable periods and seasons, remaining well-established in the area.     

Estimates of stem wood increments in forest resources: comparison of different approaches in forest inventory: consequences for international reporting: case studyof European forests

Key message

Quality and reliability of forest resource assessments depend on the ability of national forest inventories (NFIs) to supply necessary and high-quality data. Over the last decades and especially since the 1990s, the NFIs in European countries have been rapidly developing. Possibilities for obtaining reliable and accurate data on annual increment from different inventory types were evaluated, and sample-based inventories have been found to be superior to standwise inventories in providing reliable data. Simplified methods may be employed when increment cannot be directly estimated from inventory data.

Context

An increasing intensity of forest resource use requires more accurate, detailed and reliable information, not only on forest area and growing stock but also on forest stand productivity, wood increment and its components.

Aims

The main objectives were to assess the capacities of forest inventories, the methods used for estimation of gross increment and its components and their accuracy and to demonstrate an effective method for estimation of increment when direct inventory methods are not available.

Methods

Data about national forest inventory methods were obtained from 30 responses to a questionnaire, distributed amongst national correspondents of all European countries; reports of COST Actions E43 and FP 1001, databases of Temperate and Boreal Forest Resource Assessment (TBFRA) 2000 and State of Europe’s Forests (SoEF) 2011 were used as well. Analysis and comparison of results from different forest inventories were used for evaluation of data reliability. Relationships between growing stock and gross increment in European forests were also analysed, and corresponding models were proposed.

Results

Seventy-nine percent of European forest area is covered by national forest inventories (NFIs) based on sampling methods and the rest on stand-level inventory and other inventory methods. Data obtained by aggregating standwise data usually underestimate growing stock by 15–20 % and gross increment even more. Almost half of the European forest area (47 %) is monitored using permanent plots, measured twice or more, allowing the estimation of gross increment and its components to be made directly.

Conclusion

Implementation of NFIs based on sampling methods, especially with permanent plots, resulted in an improvement of data quality and in most cases an increase of growing stock and gross increment. The estimation of natural losses is the weakest link in today’s NFIs and in the current assessment of European forest resources. The proposed default values for gross increment and its components is an option to be used in countries not having NFI at all or those which have started it only recently.

     

Stand biometry and leaf area distribution in an old olive grove at Andria, southern Italy

The objectives of this paper were (1) to provide general biometry data for an 80-year-old olive (Olea europea L., cv. Coratina) grove in Andria, southern Italy, and (2) to compare different methods for estimating leaf area distributions. Stand biometry was represented by a stocking density of 132 trees ha^?1, mean spacing of 8.7 m and mean social area (proportional to spacing and tree size) of about 76 m² per tree. Trunk total circumference averaged 110 cm and after subtraction of missing or dead parts of stems averaged 81 cm, projected area of crowns averaged 17.7 m² and the mean tree height was 4.9 m. Leaf distribution was evaluated using calibrated ground-based side photographs through image analysis and through using a simple canopy-layer model (considering hollow volume within tree crowns) and double-Gaussian curves. The mean leaf size was about 5 cm² (distributed in a log-normal manner over the range of 2 to 12 cm²). Considering whole tree crowns, the mean leaf density was about 2.6 m²m^?3; the maximum leaf area occurred in canopy layers between 1.5 to 3 m, tailing with a steeper slope to the crown base and a less steep slope to the tree-top. The foliated volume of olive crowns (mean 33.2 m³) contained on average 145 thousand leaves of the total area of 72.6 m². The corresponding leaf area index on the stand level (LAI _grove = 0.96), was rather low due to low stocking density. However when taking into account only the projected crown areas (and avoiding free space between trees), the mean LAI reached about 3.5 (range from 1–7). The radial pattern of leaf distribution derived from image analysis indicated peak LAI _rad values at a distance from the stem of about 60 to 70% of crown radius in trees of different size. The applicability of different approaches to the estimation of the necessary allometric parameters is discussed.     

Gill Reaction to Pollutants from the Tamiš River in Three Freshwater Fish Species,Esox lucius L. 1758, Sander lucioperca (L. 1758) and Silurus glanis L. 1758: A Comparative Study

The study evaluated the effects of waterborne pollutants from the Tami? River on gill histology and possible differences in gill reaction patterns between three freshwater fish species, pike Esox lucius L. 1758, pike‐perch Sander lucioperca (L. 1758) and wels catfish Silurus glanis L. 1758 from the Tami? River. Gills from analysed fish species showed moderate to intense histopathological alterations. The most frequent progressive alteration was hyperplasia of epithelium, whereas the most frequent regressive alteration was epithelial lifting. Circulatory disturbances were most often manifested in the form of hyperaemia. During comparative analysis, differences in gill indices, reaction and alteration indices, as well as in gill and filament prevalence between analysed species, were observed. Although all analysed fish species did show both progressive and regressive alterations, there was a significant difference in the level of expression of these reaction patterns. Gill index obtained for pike clearly stands out as the lowest. Wels catfish showed the highest progressive reaction index, significantly higher in comparison with the other two species (P < 0.05), while pike‐perch showed the highest regressive reaction index, also significantly higher in comparison with the other species (P < 0.001). These results may implicate species‐specific gill reactions and thus present a useful tool for better understanding toxic mechanisms of various pollutants.     

Chemical Characterization of Rain and Fog Water in the Cervenohorske Sedlo (Hruby Jesenik Mountains, Czech Republic)

Field study at the Cervenohorske sedlo (1,013 m a.s.l.) (Hruby Jesenik Mountains, the Czech Republic, Central Europe) during 1999–2002 has been conducted in order to analyse the chemistry of rain/snow water using bulk and throughfall collector and fog/cloud water using modified passive Grunow collector. Fog water input to coniferous forest (Picea abies) was quantified using canopy balance method. For all samples pH, and the concentrations of $ {\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}} $ , Ca²⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Cl^?, $ {\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}} $ , and $ {\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}} $ were measured. The volume-weighted mean pH value varied from 4.92 to 5.43 in open bulk precipitation, from 4.30 to 4.71 in throughfall and from 4.66 to 5.23 in fog water. The fog droplets generally contain higher ion concentrations than rainwater. The related enrichment factors lie between 1.1 and 10.7 for the relevant species. The fog samples exhibit higher concentrations of $ {\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}} $ and $ {\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}} $ as compared to the bulk samples during 2000–2002. $ {\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}} $ are 5.7–10.7 times more concentrated in fog water and $ {\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}} $ are 3.4–7.2 times more concentrated in fog water. These differences may result from the height and characteristics of formation of the droplets. Based on canopy balance method, the annual fog water inputs were estimated to be 22 and 19% of rain and snow annual amounts in 1999 and 2000, respectively. For $ {\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}} $ , $ {\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}} $ , and $ {\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}} $ , the contribution of fog deposition in total (bulk + fog) deposition is estimated as 54, 47, and 42%, respectively.