The influence of the burning temperature was evaluated for the non-volatile combustible content of wood and bark of plantation-grown trees, at temperature intervals ranging from 500 °C to 1000 °C ...relative to ash production and the concentration of Ca, Mg, K, Mn, Zn, and Fe in ash, thermal properties, and ash fusibility. Production of ash from combustion of juvenile wood at t = 500 °C was Ad = 0.74% and juvenile bark Ad = 6.88%. Ash production decreased with increasing burning temperature. This was attributed to the chemical diversity of minerals contained in the wood and bark and their slow decomposition. Analyses of the presence of inorganic substances in ash from wood and bark revealed the highest presence of Ca. The concentration of calcium in ash from wood was Ca = 189 ± 46 g.kg-1 and in bark Ca = 278 ± 25g.kg-1. The ratio of processed calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, and iron in ash from wood at a burning temperature of t = 500 °C was Ca:K:Mg:Zn:Mn:Fe = 1:0.58:0.13:0.04:0.03:0.02 and from bark Ca:K:Mg:Zn:Mn:Fe = 1:0.41:0.07:0.01:0.01:0.003, respectively. The influence of the burning temperature non-volatile combustible was reflected in the concentration of each elements in ash and was contradictory. While concentration of Ca, Mg, Mn, and Fe in ash from wood and bark increased, concentration K and Zn in ash decreased. The decrease in concentration K, had a positive influence upon the thermal characteristics of the ash and the creation of ash in the form of loose matter.
This paper deals with modelling the development of plantations for intentional biomass production. The model of plots for the areas of interest consider the following biomass sources: intentionally ...produced biomass from SRC of fast-growing trees and non-woody energy crops (sorrel, reed grass and triticale). Statistical data for the entire area of interest (NUTS1 size) and data for a part of this area (NUTS3 size—18% of total area of interest) were used to determine data on the area of arable land and permanent grasslands in the initial year. This paper presents a model of the development of production plots for the period 2008–2030. Yields are calculated of selected energy crops with regard to their growing cycle using so-called triangular method. The core of the algorithm for calculation of growing area of energy crop is an optimalization of processes regarding economic and technical demands for long-term and sustainable production of biomass.
The paper analyses the legal regulation of the cultivation of fast-growing trees on agricultural land in Slovakia and Czechia. The focus is on the differences in the legislation of the two countries, ...the application of the regulations of cultivation of fast-growing trees in practice, the level of protection of agricultural land, and the support system for the cultivation of fast-growing trees. Comparison of national legislation dealing with the issue of planting fast-growing trees, taking into consideration the protection of agricultural land and the legislation on granting the state support has also been investigated in the context of European legislation. The procedure before the start of planting, the permission conditions for planting of fast-growing trees, the conditions and the process of support provision have been studied. The result of the documents analysis is a comprehensive comparative overview of the above-mentioned areas of legislation on the cultivation of fast-growing trees in Slovakia and Czechia and the identification of differences, benefits and practical impacts on the cultivation of fast-growing trees.
Landscape complexity is a crucial factor for insect diversity in agricultural landscapes. Short-rotation coppices (SRCs) are characterised by high habitat heterogeneity. The impact of vegetation ...structure on the composition and diversity of ground beetle and arachnid communities was therefore investigated in four SRCs and six reference plots. The study site was located in Hesse, Germany. The invertebrates were surveyed from 2011 to 2014 using pitfall traps, and the vegetation structure was quantified by estimating the percentage cover of 10 structural variables. The impact of the selected structural variables on community composition was analysed during grove growth as well as after a timber harvest. We found correlations between the cover percentages of structural variables and the quantitative and qualitative species composition in both animal groups (p ≤ 0.05). The share of individuals of forest species increased with rising shading and litter cover, while those of open land decreased. The opposite trends were found the year after the timber harvest. The SRCs showed a higher structural diversity compared to the reference biotopes (p ≤ 0.05). This was positively correlated (p ≤ 0.001) with species diversity and the variety of habitat preference groups in both animal groups. The high diversity within the habitat preference groups indicated a functional redundancy among species for both animal groups and, consequently, a high level of resilience within these communities. Little is known about the functional aspects of ground beetles and spiders in ecosystems, and detailed studies are urgently needed. We conclude that SRCs can contribute to the diversification of agricultural landscapes as an alternative to traditional crop cultivation.
Background: Agroforestry systems have the potential to provide timber and wood as a domestic raw material, as well as an additional source of income for rural populations. In Central Asia, tree ...windbreaks from mainly poplar trees have a long tradition, but were largely cut down as source for fuel wood after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. As Central Asia is a forest-poor region, restoration of tree windbreaks has the potential to provide timber and wood resources to that region. This study aimed to assess the potential of tree windbreaks to contribute to domestic timber and wood production. Methods: This study rests on a GIS-based analysis, in which tree lines (simulated by line shape files) were intersected with cropland area. The tree data to calculate timber and wood volumes stem from a dataset with 728 single trees from a relevant range of climatic conditions. Results: The potential annually available timber volumes from tree windbreaks with 500 m spacing are 2.9 million m3 for Central Asia as a whole and 1.5 million m3 for Uzbekistan alone, which is 5 times the current domestic roundwood production and imports of the country. Conclusions: tree windbreaks offer untapped potential to deliver wood resources domestically as a raw material for wood-based value chains.
Reforestation is an effective way to alleviate deforestation and its negative impacts on ecosystem services. In tropical rainforest ecosystem, however, frequent typhoons and heavy rainfall can result ...in landslides and uprooting of many seedlings, making reforestation efforts very difficult, especially within extremely degraded sites where soil conditions cannot support any plant life. Here, we described a reforestation protocol which is based on tropical rainforest successional processes to not only prevent landslides and tree uprooting due to frequent typhoon and heavy rain, but also accelerate tropical forest succession. This protocol first used the slope and soil layer of the undisturbed old-growth tropical rainforest as a reference to reconstruct slope and soil layers. Then multiple tropical tree species with high growth and survival rate were separately monocultured in the reconstructed soil layers. In the year of 2015 and 2016, we tested the effectiveness of this protocol to recover a 0.2 km
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extremely degraded tropical rainforest which consists of bare rock and thus does not support any plant life, in Sanya city, China. Our results showed that, both typhoons and heavy rains did not result in landslide or any tree damages in the area this reforestation protocol was used. Moreover, our separately monocultured eight fast-growing tree species have much higher fast-growing related functional traits than those for tree species in the adjacent undisturbed tropical seasonal forest, which in turn resulted in large soil water and nutrient loss within 3 years. This seemed to simulate a quick transition from primary succession (consist of bare rock and cannot support any plant life) to mid-stage of secondary tropical rainforest succession (many fast-growing pioneer tree species induced high soil water and nutrient loss). Thus, mixing the late-successional tropical tree species with each of the separately monocultured eight fast-growing tree species can accelerate recovery to the undisturbed tropical rainforest as soon as possible. Overall, based on tropical rainforest successional processes, our research provides an effective protocol for quickly and effectively restoring an extremely degraded tropical rainforest ecosystem. We expect that this work will be important for the future recovery of other extremely degraded tropical rainforest ecosystems.
Research Highlights: Despite a long tradition of using poplars as wood source across Central Asia, recent international breeding developments have not penetrated that region yet. This study therefore ...explored growth performance of 30 local and international poplar cultivars. Background and Objectives: The Central Asian countries are forest poor countries, which need to cover the domestic wood demand through costly imports. Therefore, fast growing trees, such as poplars, are gaining increasing attention as option to grow wood domestically. The most common cultivars date back to Soviet Union times. As recent breeding developments have not reached the region, this study aims at investigate the growth performance of a number of newly developed poplar cultivars. Materials and Methods: The investigated cultivars were planted as cuttings across nine sites in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan between 2018 and 2020. Results: Under warm climate conditions, i.e., low elevations, P. deltoides x nigra hybrids attained highest stem volumes and biomass yields, up to 16.9 t/ha*a after two years, followed by P. nigra xmaximoviczii hybrids. One of the P. deltoides xnigra hybrids reached a tree height of 10.5 m after three years. On higher elevations, e.g., in the Pamirs and in Naryn, P. maximoviczi x trichocarpa hybrids and P. trichocarpa cultivars grew faster than the former hybrids. Conclusions: The cultivars explored in this study should be included into plantations or agroforestry systems that are being established, provided that land users are able to thoroughly control weeds and ensure nutrient and water supply. If sufficient weed control, nutrient supply, or water supply cannot be ensured, then land users should opt for local cultivars (e.g., Mirza Terek) or the P. nigra xmaximoviczii hybrids or P. trichocarpa, in order to avoid failure.
The articles in this Special Issue cover a very wide range of topics related to the cultivation, management and use of fast-growing tree species. In addition to research on breeding and on the ...influence of pruning practices on the height growth of paulownia, three articles deal with the influence of site characteristics and nutrient availability on the physiology and yield security of fast-growing tree species. Another article focuses on the modeling of soil carbon in Salix plantations, while the article by Boruszewski et al. reports on potentially suitable areas for the planting of fast-growing tree species in Poland. Zitzmann and Rode examine the impact of short-rotation plantation management on phytodiversity, while Helbig et al. deal with the influence of leaf feeding on the growth of poplars and willows. Finally, Hernandez-Estrada et al. describe the dry matter loss of poplar wood chips during storage.
Deforestation continues to be extensive in the tropics, resulting in reduced soil water content. Reforestation is an effective way to recover soil water content, but the recovery depends on the type ...of reforestation efforts that are implemented. Monoculture of fast-growing species is a common reforestation strategy, because it is an effective means of preventing landslides resulting from the frequent typhoons and heavy rains in the tropics and easy to implement. To quantify whether monoculture plantings can help recover soil water content, we initiated a reforestation project within a 0.2 km
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area of an extremely degraded tropical monsoon forest. We hypothesized that much higher transpiration rate of fast-growing tree species would deplete soil water more than the dominant slow-growing species in the adjacent secondary tropical rain forest during both wet and dry seasons, thereby resulting in much lower soil water content. To test this hypothesis, we compared transpiration rates and key functional traits that can distinguish transpiration rates between fast-growing and dominant slow-growing species in both wet and dry seasons. We also quantified whether soil water content around these species differed. We found that fast-growing species had transpiration rate and transpiration-related trait values that were 5–10 times greater than the dominant slow-growing species in both seasons. We also found that soil water content around dominant slow-growing species was 1.5–3 times greater than for fast-growing species in both seasons. Therefore, reforestation based on monoculture plantings of fast-growing species seems difficult to effectively recover the soil water content. We also provide a simple method for guiding the use of reforestation efforts to recover soil water content in extremely degraded tropical rain forests. We expect that this simple method can be an effective means to restore extremely degraded tropical rain forests in other parts of the world.
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