Development phases and structural characteristics of the Penteleu-Viforâta virgin forest in the Curvature Carpathians

doi:10.3832/ifor3094-013

Development phases and structural characteristics of the Penteleu-Viforâta virgin forest in the Curvature Carpathians

Serban Chivulescu⁽¹⁾, Albert Ciceu^(1-2) , Stefan Leca⁽¹⁾, Bogdan Apostol⁽¹⁾, Octavian Popescu^(3-4), Ovidiu Badea^(1-2)

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages 389-395 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3094-013
Published: Sep 01, 2020 - Copyright © 2020 SISEF

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The stand structure of a virgin forest situated at an average altitude of 1130 m a.s.l. in the Milea Viforâta Nature Reserve (Southern Carpathians, Romania) was investigated to determine the specific development phases of the forest and understand how they influence the stand structure, with the aim of providing optimal solutions and structural models for sustainable forest management. All trees with breast height diameter (dbh) ≥ 8 cm were inventoried in the study plot (1 ha), and the main dendrometrical variables were measured. Radial increment cores were taken from all the trees and were subsequently processed. A total of 317 trees from three species - European beech (Fagus sylvatica), silver fir (Abies alba) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) - were sampled at different development phases (optimum, ageing, breakdown and dieback, rejuvenation). Testing stand structural diversity with the Gini index, a minimal stability was found in the rejuvenation development phase and a maximum stability in the ageing phase. No significant match was found between standard theoretical functions (Normal, Weibull, Gamma and Exponential) and the observed distribution of tree diameter. Also, it was confirmed that dominance of beech in all development phases is a consequence of its high competitive ability and its capacity to endure difficult environmental and biologically stressful conditions. The results revealed a series of structural models specific to these forest ecosystems, which can help managing forests under the selection system.

Keywords

Primary Forest, Development Phases, Uneven Aged Forests, Carpathians Forest

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0002-4090-8705
0000-0002-6110-8379
0000-0002-5935-4407

National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry ”Marin Dracea” (Romania)

(2)

0000-0002-4090-8705

Transilvania University of Brasov (Romania)

(3)

0000-0002-2597-7155
Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy (Romania)

(4)

0000-0002-2597-7155
Molecular Biology Center, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

Corresponding author

Albert Ciceu
albert.ciceu@yahoo.ro

Citation

Chivulescu S, Ciceu A, Leca S, Apostol B, Popescu O, Badea O (2020). Development phases and structural characteristics of the Penteleu-Viforâta virgin forest in the Curvature Carpathians. iForest 13: 389-395. - doi: 10.3832/ifor3094-013

Academic Editor

Paola Mairota

Paper history

Received: Mar 11, 2019
Accepted: Jun 17, 2020

First online: Sep 01, 2020
Publication Date: Oct 31, 2020
Publication Time: 2.53 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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