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The Effect of Changes in Forest Area on the Transcarpathian Tisza River Basin
181-185Views:85Forests are unique global factors which ensure life for almost every living being on Earth. They play a major role in controlling water flows, preventing erosion and controlling the oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere. By the end of the XXth century, it was realized that forests help to nature maintain and are vital parts of our natural environment. By the time societies realized this fact, economic and environmental effects had amplified which endanger forests. Due to their good water control and water protection abilities, and their function in climate control, mountain forests can provide a suitable environment for themselves, for their successful growth.
Forests play a major role in soil protection, especially in mountain areas where they prevent soil erosion. By converting surface waters into subsurface waters, forests help with the accumulation of subsurface waters, which are the sources of springs, rivers and streams. In the summer, they protect the soil from drying out by creating a special microclimate. They positively affect the climate of surrounding territories. -
Ecological value of wood energy plantations in the support of some animal groups
143-148Views:58Today, some environmental problems have reached such severe proportions that it is no longer enough to recognise them, but environmentally friendly solutions must be used to reduce them. The reduction in the area of natural forests of native species is causing problems in several ways.
This research aimed to highlight how environmental, conservation and economic interests can be reconciled. In addition to natural forests, wood energy plantations are becoming increasingly important. Energy import dependency is a problem for most countries, for which wood energy plantations can partly offer an alternative. Native forests can be protected, and their area increased where possible. Meanwhile, energy plantations can be established in areas with low agricultural productivity.
In this experiment, I studied a plantation of Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur), a Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and a Paulownia (Paulownia Shan Tong). I selected burrowing birds and ground-dwelling arthropods as indicator groups. I did this by establishing a nesting colony and soil trapping. I wanted to demonstrate that, in addition to natural forests, wood energy plantations have a role not only in economic terms but also in maintaining certain animal groups. Soil trapping tests were carried out in all three tree plantations.
The obtained results showed that in the Paulownia plantation, the occupancy rate of nest boxes was almost 100%, while in the Black Locust plantation it was around 30%. Among the species that occupied the nesting sites, the Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) were more abundant, while Great Tit (Parus major) was present in the Black Locust plantation. These are opportunistic species for which nesting opportunity is the most important factor, since their feeding area (in the case of the Common Starling and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow) is not typical of the nesting area. The soil trap investigations show that there are no significant differences in the composition of the arthropod group (beetles, spiders) in the study areas.
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Application fields of wood as a renewable energy source in Europe
31-35Views:152Fuelwood, and wood wastes provide almost half of the renewable energy production of the European Union. Enhancing the use of wood in renewable energy production has more constraint than wind- or solar energy. Forests in the EU member states are sustainably used, they are increasing both in terms of area, and growing stocks. There are possibilities to enhance the fallings and use more fuelwood. Short rotation coppices could fulfill the long term demand for fuelwood; because these plantations surpass the dendromass yield of forests.
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Pest species of Macrolepidoptera in the Game Reserve of Velyka Dobron’ (Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
58-64Views:268The Game Reserve of Nagydobrony extends on a marginal area of a former peatland and is covered with extended hardwood gallery forests and oak-hornbeam forests and is surrounded by a mosaic-like agricultural landscape. Due to its richness of nature-like and semi-natural habitats it supports a diverse insect assemblage. By light and bait trapping 383 species of macro-moths were recorded from which larvae of 85 species are feeding either on forest trees and scrubs or on cultivated plants thus these can be considered as potential pest species. Thirteen species (mostly Geometridae and Erebidae: Lymantriinae) have a special significance for forestry due to defoliating activity in gradation periods. Considering the habitat connections, the composition of moth assemblage is dominated by generalist species with broad spectrum of ecological tolerance but the species connected with humid forested habitats are also richly represented. The bulk of species consists of widely distributed Euro-Siberian species, but also some Holo-Mediterranean species with more southern character and Mediterranean-Subtropical migrant species were registered. The bait trapping provided significant results on the phenology of the dominant species. The faunistically significant and/or protected species were observed in a low number of individuals only, thus the applied trapping methods did not damage the faunal composition.
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Energy forests or vineyards?
237-240Views:84This paper primarily aims at giving an introduction to an alternative opportunity for vineyards owners many of whom have come to a
decision about elimination of their vineyards. The paper is focusing on the Mátra wine-region as a study area, which is the largest mountain
wine region in Hungary where more than one third of supported clearing of vineyards have been implemented in the last few years. The
abandoning of vineyards is explicable in more than one way such as very small average size of land or the increasing mean age of owners
etc. The fundamental reason is the chronic doubtfulness of the grape and wine market and the low level of overall profitability of production.
Grape production has a long tradition in this region, thus the disappearance of vineyards caused serious problems in land use through the
absolute lack of plans for the future. The popularity of biomass production in the press and the biofuel resultant from vine stocks raise
interest for short rotation forestry within a group of farmers. Short rotation forestry offers a new chance for some farmers to cut oneself adrift
from the harmful effects of the market of agricultural products. -
Plant protection praxis on Hévíz Nature Conservation Area (Lake Balaton District, Hungary)
81-83Views:182The nature conservation park, which belongs to the Spa and St. Andrew Hospital for Rheumatics of Hévíz, is 60 ha in size. The famous Lake of Hévíz, the two overfalls and the main buildings of the hospital are located in the middle of the park. They are surrounded by protective forests, parks and gravel esplanades. During the past few decades, the population of neophyton plants and invasive insects have increased considerably. These mean serious challanges to develop efficient control methods. Special care must be taken of environmental and plant protection regulations. Keeping plant protective regulations are especially strict around natural and spa waters.
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Ecological Conditions of Agricultural Land Use in Transcarpathia
190-194Views:99The unbalanced anthropogenic effects for several decades resulted in significant technogen damages in the ecosystem of Ukraine. Excessive land development, including the use of slopes, effected the disintegration of the natural balance of lands – arable-lands, meadows, forests, and watershed areas – producing quite a negative effect on the landscape’s nature itself. It has to be stressed that according to other indexes, too, agricultural lands show a tendentious deterioration.
Erosion, caused by water and wind, is one of the most influential factors in the degradation of agricultural soils and in the reduction of the productiveness of benefital lands. Nowadays the degree erosion became significant and it directly endangers the existence of the soil which is a principal chain-link of the agricultural cultivation as well as an irreplaceable element of the biosphere.
The social and political changes in Ukraine’s life demand fundamental modernization in the land utilization both in ecological and in economical aspects. However, these aims can be realized only if, during the developments, we base on the up-to-date results of agronomics, and we do further research in the relations of agricultural land use and environmental protection. According to the latest theories, rational and environmental-safe agricultural production relates to the optimum correlation of the natural- and agricultural- ecosystems as well as to the reconstruction of agricultural areas built on the basis of environmental protection. -
Forest lookout tower visitor data in the Covid epidemic periods: what the numbers tell
39-42Views:42The Covid epidemic between the spring of 2020 and the summer of 2021 showed that there is an increasing demand for various forms of forest-related tourism. Number of visitors in forests broke records in certain places: 32 million visitor days were registered in 2020 in Pilisi Parkerdő Ltd. alone. In this article we present data originated from the automatic visitor counters placed on certain forest lookout towers. Processing the data, we can get an insight of the number and distribution of hikers in each period. As a result of the research, forest managers can learn more about the popular tourist destination, furthermore, knowledge is gained about the motivations and needs of forest tourism participants. Based on this, public welfare investments that meet real demands can be planned in a cost-effective manner. Ideally, the results achieved can bring satisfaction to all actors involved in forest tourism. On the demand (visitor) side, targeted and needs-tailored developments increase the experience factor of the time spent in the forest. On the supply (forestry) side, knowing the motivations makes the performance of public welfare tasks more efficient, which ultimately contributes to the improvement of the sector's image.
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Simplified volume equations for grey poplar (Populus × canescens Smith.) standing trees
27-31Views:79Grey poplar (Populus× canescens Smith.) is a natural hybrid of white poplar (Populus alba L.) and Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula L.). It can be found throughout Europe, where both parents are present. The above mentioned species of poplars (under the term of ‘domestic poplars’) cover approximately 5% of the forests of Hungary. Of these species, grey poplar holds significance in forestry, and its role in afforestation shows a growing tendency. For this reason, improving the growing technology of grey poplar is a timely topic. In this paper we introduce algorithms which help estimate grey poplar tree volumes without having to use volume tables. Based on the performed evaluations, both equations can be used for single tree volume estimation with an error of less than 5%.
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Modelling forestation alternatives
35-41Views:253Agroforestry systems are part of the history of the European Union rural landscapes, but the regional increase of size of agricultural parcels had a significant effect on European land use in the 20th century, thereby it has radically reduced the coverage of natural forest. However, this cause conflicts between interest of agricultural and forestry sectors. The agroforestry land uses could be a solution of this conflict management. One real – ecological – problem with the remnant forests and new forest plantation is the partly missing of network function without connecting ecological green corridors, the other problem is verifiability for the agroforestry payment system, monitoring the arable lands and plantations.
Remote sensing methods are currently used to supervise European Union payments. Nowadays, next to use satellite imagery the airborne hyperspectral and LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) remote sensing technologies are becoming more widespread use for nature, environmental, forest, agriculture protection, conservation and monitoring and it is an effective tool for monitoring biomass production.
In this Hungarian case study we made a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) to create agroforestry site selection model. The aim of model building was to ensure the continuity of ecological green corridors, maintain the appropriate land use of regional endowments. The investigation tool was the more widely used hyperspectral and airborne LiDAR remote sensing technologies which can provide appropriate data acquisition and data processing tools to build a decision support system.
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Comparison of Reproductive Performance of the Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus, L.) Among Different Regions
41-46Views:98The potential and actual number of offspring of roe deer and the difference between these figures (prenatal and postnatal loss) significantly vary in each population yearly. The objective of this study is to examine the potential and actual number of offspring, the number of losses, and to find a link between the most important biological characteristics of does (body weight – BW, condition – KFI) and the number of raised offspring on four territories on the Great Hungarian Plain.
Where the number of corpora lutea (CL) is the highest, there the losses are the highest as well, and the number of raised offspring is the lowest (region I.). Here, the rearing loss is double that of the weakest territory (region IV.). Rearing losses can be associated with the fenotype of does (BW, KFI) but environmental factors also have determinative importance. Where the number of twin-calving does was the highest, I found four times more does without a fawn than where the number of twin-calving does was the lowest. The nursing success was the best (the losses were lowest) in the region where the potential offspring (number of CL) was also the lowest, but the coverage of the habitat and the proportion of forests were largest. The food supply for the animals in autumn and winter are not enough, the structure of the habitat has to be improved as well, so that it might become adequate for game protection in extreme weather conditions.
The results have to be considered as preliminary ones. It is essential to continue and extend the research to increase the reliability of the results. -
An advanced classification method for urban land cover classification
51-57Views:237This manuscript presents a detailed comparative analysis of three advanced classification techniques that were used between 2018 and 2020 to classify land cover using Landsat8 imagery, namely Support Vector Machine (SVM), Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLSC), and Random Forests (RF). The study focuses on evaluating the accuracy of these methods by comparing the classified maps with a higher-resolution ground truth map, utilising 500 randomly selected points for assessment.
The obtained results show that, compared to MLSC and RT, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach performs better. The SVM model demonstrates enhanced precision in land cover classification, showcasing its effectiveness in discerning subtle differences in landscape features.
Furthermore, using the precise classification results produced by the SVM method, this study examines the temporal variations in land cover between 2018 and 2020. The results provide insight into dynamic land cover changes and highlight the significance of applying reliable classification techniques for thorough temporal analysis with Landsat8 images.
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Black walnut as a valuable stand-forming tree species in Hungary – a growing technology review
129-132Views:203In Hungary black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) is one of the most valuable exotic tree species, mainly because of its excessively liked wood for furniture industry, that has fine tissue and singular colour. Generally it is established by seeding, it can be regenerated by coopice shoot well, but not by seeding in natural way. Black walnut crops regurarly from the age of 25–30 years and its rotation age is 75–85 years. Prosperous decorative shape of stem allows its using in tree plantings out of forests, too. In the future its role can increase mainly on good.
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Investigation of the effects of biggame-preserves on forests with different species composition
21-24Views:174Hungary is well known for its high level game management. In order to develop a concentrated and more profitable gamemanagement new game preserves were established in the last few years. According to the law, in the game-preserves the game bearing capacity is not the most important parameter, because in these areas the feeding is continuous. In practice it means that in gamepreserves we find a much higher density of games than in nature. This causes a relative big loading of the area (of the herbaceous and arboreal), where the game-preserves are located.
Our aim is to study the ecological and management issues of forest- and game resources. The scene of these work is a gamepreserves related to the Nyírerdő Corporation (Nyíregyháza). We made forest structure survey to determine the main stand-forming tree species in the area of the game preserves as well as to estimate the number of the measuring points. -
The role of production site isolation in the plant health situation of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
79-82Views:171The most destructive pathogen for the European chestnut is the blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr. The spread of the fungus was very fast in Europe within a few decades in the second half of the past century. During the tree-health checking in the chestnut and
walnut plantation in Romania, Hargita county, next to Homoródkarácsonyfalva village, we especially concentraded on the signs of blight disease occurrence. The grove is laying on a western slope, under a pine forest. This favourable geographical space protects it not only from pathogen attacts, but it has a special, mild microclimate for nut and chestnut trees. The European chestnut could be a valuable member of local forests, opening a new perspective under conditions of climate changes. -
Role of living bacteria and other amendment in early development of maize
53-56Views:129Different bacteria and wood ash, as a possible micro-nutrient, and liming material, was examined in our experiment on the early growth of corn seedlings.
The development of renewing energy resources includes the use of energy grasses and energy forests. The intensive land use in forestry and in agriculture may cause the acidification of soils due to the harvest, or leaching of cations. To maintain the sustainability of soils necessary to maintain it’s the buffer capacity, and pH. Beside the lime the wood ash can is one of the most effective sources to provide the sustainability of intensive land use. The soil born micro organisms play a significant role in the maintenance of soil quality. The bio fertilizer, that contains soil originated bacteria (Azotobacter, and Bacillus sp.), was used in the experiments. The plants release several organic acids by their roots lowering the soil pH, and make more available the sparingly soluble minerals. The amounts of released organic matter depend on stress intensity, as the high pH is. The soil life has a significant role to keep the soil conditions on sustainable level, since there are several similarities in nutrient uptake mechanism between the bacteria and higher plants. Advantageous effects of bio-fertilizer were observed in our experiments.
We came to the conclusion that the use of wood ash is recommended instead of lime for the improvement of acidic soils, on the evidence of its pH increasing effect. The wood ash contains several micronutrients in an optimum composition for forestry and agricultural plants. The solubility of heavy metals is very low; therefore there is no risk to use the wood ash in the agriculture and in the horticulture by our experiments. The retardation of growth at higher ash doses can be explained by the modification effect to the soil pH, as far as the original soil pH was pH 6.8, and when ash was given to the soil, the pH increases to 7.8 pH, that is unfavourable for the uptake of most nutrients.
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Global Issues of RangelandManagement
39-46Views:124Rangelands occupy about 50% of the world’s land area. They are ecologically and economically as important as rain forests and in even greater danger of degradation and disappearance. This paper reviews the definitions and distribution of rangelands and describes their global environmental importance in terms of erosion control, carbon storage and methane emission. Condition and degradation of rangelands are defined and discussed and it is argued that soil protection and carbon storage can be increased and methane emission per animal decreased by conservative use and improvement of rangelands, whilst at the same time alleviating hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. It is concluded that policies should be adopted by national governments and international deve-lopment programs to conserve and improve rangelands.