Methylated fatty acid (FA) compounds in the heartwood and bark of some softwood species, specifically Pinus sylvestris, Abies alba, Picea abies, and Larix decidua, grown in the Czech Republic were ...evaluated. Strong H2SO4 was used for methylation of the lipids. The highest content of lipid was found in P. abies bark (40.132 mg/g o.d. sample), and the lowest content was in A. alba wood (11.027 mg/g o.d. sample). The highest concentration of FAs was observed in L. decidua bark. The highest percentages of FAs in wood of P. sylvestris were arachidic acid and oleic acid. In bark, the highest percentages of FAs were stearic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid. The FAs with the highest concentrations in A. alba wood were arachidic acid, palmitic acid, pentadecanoic acid, and margarinic, and those in bark were behenic acid, lignoceric acid, and arachidic acid. P. abies wood FAs showed arachidic acid, palmitic acid, and margarinic acid, and the bark contained lignoceric acid and arachidic acid. The FAs of L. decidua wood were arachidic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid, and in bark they were pentacosylic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), lignoceric acid, arachidic acid, and behenic acid. The lack of typically dominant unsaturated fatty acids (e.g. 18:1, 18:2), compared to literature values were attributed to the application of strong acid for the hydrolysis.
In order to determine the adaptive potential of silver fir in the southeast of Poland, the stability of the height of its five-year-old progeny was analyzed. The study was conducted in two different ...population groups in a total of four environments, including one ecologically marginal environment. The linear mixed model was used to evaluate the differentiation of populations in terms of height growth. The genotype and genotype-by-environment interaction biplot (GGE) were used to verify the stability of height. The climate of populations origin, in relation to actual fir distribution in Poland, was verified based on principal components analysis (PCA) of bioclimatic parameters. The highest total variability was explained by the genotype-environment interaction effect (GE) (54.50%), while the genotype effect (G) explained 41.27% and only 4.23% was explained by the site effect. The result of height growth variations revealed the Komańcza site as the most representative among study sites, while the Lesko site characterized the highest discriminating ability. The progeny occurring in climatic conditions most different from the average testing conditions showed a heterogeneous growth reaction, only adapting to the marginal environment, while the progeny of the second population in this region as well as the northernmost one was characterized by a mean but stable growth. The westernmost population revealed maladaptation. The assessment of the adaptability of silver fir depends on the broad spectrum of test conditions considering the ecologically marginal environments.
This paper describes the antigerminant capacity of water extracts of silver fir needles created by means of hydrodynamic cavitation processes. Fir needles (2 kg fresh weight) collected in the winter ...were blended and crushed in ice, poured in water only (120 L) and processed in a controlled hydrodynamic cavitation device based on a fixed Venturi-shaped reactor. The A. alba water extract (AWE), comprising an oil-in-water emulsion of silver fir needles’ essential oil (100% AWE), was diluted in distilled water to 75% and 50% AWE, and all aqueous solutions were tested as antigerminant against four weeds and four horticultural species and compared to control (distilled water). This study shows the effective inhibitory effect of pure AWE on germination, which mainly contains limonene (15.99 ng/mL) and α-pinene (11.87 ng/mL). Seeds showed delayed germination and inhibition but also a reduction in radicle elongation in AWE treatments as compared to control. This combined effect was particularly evident in three weeds (C. canadensis, C. album and A. retrofllexus) while horticultural species showed mainly effects on the radicle elongation as found in L. sativa, P. crispum and S. lycospermum, which showed on average 58%, 32% and 28%, respectively, shorter radicles than in the control. P. sativum was not affected by AWE, thus raising the hypothesis that seed characteristics and nutrition reserve might play a role in the resistance to terpenes inhibitory effect.
Fir (Abies alba Mill.) occupies an important place in the Pyrenean context, where the species finds its optimal conditions in this mountain zone (800–1800 m a.s.l.). In the Pyrenees, the fir woods of ...Volvestre (Ariège, France) are of particular interest because of two peculiarities of its location: its northern latitude with respect to the usual location of fir in the Pyrenean axis, and its lower altitude (330–440 m a.s.l.). This has given rise to various theories, some considering the silver fir forests as a glacial relic and others pointing to anthropogenic interference and possible plantings during the Middle Ages. Pedoanthracological and palynological studies have been performed to establish the origin and history of this ancient forest, and both approaches show an ancient anthropized landscape with a continuous presence of Abies alba throughout the mid- and late-Holocene. The fir woodlands of Volvestre are testimonies to the ancient and significant presence of fir on the northeast slope of the Pyrenees and the current suitability of this species for lowland areas. Pedoanthracological sampling inside the forest has shown differences in vegetation dynamics at different valley points (north slope, south slope, and valley bottom).
Question: We were interested if and how variation in frequency and/or size of disturbances affect the dynamics of a montane old-growth forest in Central Europe. Location: The forest, co-dominated by ...Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies and Abies alba, is located in Lower Austria and represents one of the few sizable virgin forests in Central Europe. Methods: We extracted cores from 100 trees using systematic grid sampling (grid cell size 10 m × 10 m) on each of four 1-ha plots distributed across the old-growth remnant of 300 ha. We inferred disturbance events from rapid early growth and release events. For defining release criteria, we applied the boundary line method. We investigated the spatial structure of current age and gap distributions and past disturbance events in grid cells, using a pair density statistic. Results: The disturbance histories indicate decades with peaks and also extended periods without disturbance. Some peaks occurred synchronously at three of the four plots (1910s, 1930s, 1960s and 1980s). Peaks and gaps in the disturbance chronologies widely agreed with peaks and gaps in the age distributions. Most disturbance events during single decades showed a random spatial distribution. Conclusions: There is considerable variation in disturbance frequency and/or severity over time. Most disturbance events will rather thin the stand than clear larger areas at once. Following scattered disturbance two pathways occur: (1) gap expansion leading to creation of larger gaps, and (2) gap closure by lateral encroachment or by subcanopy trees growing into the canopy. Abbreviation: PSP = Permanent sample plot.
Food preferences of the edible dormouse were revealed with the use of radio-tracking. Studies were conducted on two plots in July and August of two years: one year with good beech (Fagus sylvatica) ...mast and the second with poor beech mast. Study plots were located in Roztocze National Park (RNP) where beech constituted about 80 % of the tree stand) and in Sieraków Landscape Park (SLP) where beech formed about 30 % of the tree stand. Six individuals (three males, three females) were radio-tracked in both years on each plot. Every animal was radio-tracked during four nights by using continuous recording during which the duration of foraging on particular tree species was recorded. On both study plots, the dormice foraged mostly on the common beech, eating both ripe fruit, ripening fruit and vegetative parts of trees. In a beech mast year, on both study plots, the animals foraged on the beech (both July and August) and on the fir Abies alba in RNP and on the common hazel Corylus avellana in SLP (in August). Bigger differences in diets between the two populations studied were found in a non-mast year, resulting from differential foraging and exploitation of subdominant tree and bush species on the plots. The dormice foraged mostly on food that was characterized by the highest nutritional value at a given time.
At northern temperate latitudes trees have adjusted their ranges substantially in response to changing climates during the Holocene. Results from dispersal model simulations suggest that postglacial ...migration rates may have been over-estimated from fossil pollen data. As a contribution to this debate, we infer the migration rates of Abies alba (Mill.), silver fir, as a case-study species, by using a spatially explicit approach based on fossil pollen but taking into account its modern genetic diversity pattern. Maximum estimates of migration rates from fossil pollen data alone are higher than 700 m yr⁻1 during the Holocene. Considering the potential refugia as suggested from all the fossil data but restricting the area over which silver fir expanded from each glacial refugium using data on the current haplotype distribution, the estimated maximum migration rates of silver fir are less than 250 m yr⁻1. Genetic information may allow for (1) the exclusion of those refugial areas where the species may have survived during the last glacial period but from which it did not spread or spread only very locally and (2) the delineation of the areas over which the species spread from each glacial refugium. The estimated rates in the present study are generally consistent with rates suggested from modelling approaches. This study shows that integrating fossil pollen records can improve simulations of dispersal processes and, thus, allow for better predictions of future changes in tree species' ranges.
Essential oils (EOs) are complex mixtures of several components that show a wide range of biological activities. The objective of the present work was to investigate the composition of the essential ...oils from industrial large-scale distillation, and evaluate their antimicrobial activity on typical and clinic isolates strains. The qualitative compositions of essential oils of several aromatic plants were determined by GC-FID after their industrial large-scale distillation (Calendula Co., Nova Lubovna, Slovakia). GC-FID analysis revealed that essential oils from large-scale show different qualitative and quantitative content in comparison with literature data. Eleven essential oils, namely, Rosmarinus officinalis L., Thymus vulgaris L., Menta ×piperita L., Matricaria recutita L., Hyssopus officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L., Pimpinella anisum L., Juniperus communis L., Abies alba L., Pinus silvestris L., and Coriandrum sativum L. were tested for their antimicrobial activities using disk diffusion method. Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil shows the most potent antimicrobial activity. On other hand, the essential oil of Hyssopus officinalis L., Mentha × piperita L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., and Coriandrum sativum L.. The essential oil show medium antimicrobial activity. There was no antimicrobial activity observed for Matricaria recutita L.
Dendrogeomorphic dating of historical debris-flow events is a highly valuable tool for improving historical records in the field of natural hazard management. Previous dendrogeomorphic investigations ...generally have focused on case studies of single torrents; however, regional investigations may offer a more accurate reconstruction of regional patterns of activity and therefore may have an advantage over individual cases. The aim of the study is to provide a regional reconstruction of debris-flow events for a site in the Northern Calcareous Alps of western Austria (Gamperdonatal, Vorarlberg) and to document spatial and temporal morphological changes in individual and neighboring torrents. Analysis of 442 trees (268
Pinus mugo ssp.
uncinata, 164
Picea abies, and 10
Abies alba) allowed identification of 579 growth disturbances corresponding to 63 debris-flow events since A.D. 1839. The majority of growth disturbances were in the form of growth suppression or release (76%) owing to the nature of both the deposited material and the process characteristics. Regional patterns of event frequency indicated a paucity of activity in the early to mid-twentieth century and increased activity since A.D. 1948, whereby large events were followed by subsequent years of continued activity of smaller magnitude. Patterns of frequency could be attributed primarily to spatiotemporal changes in channel morphology, but may also be reflective of changes in transport conditions within the valley. This study provides the first regional investigation in the Austrian Alps and contributes to the documentation of tree responses to geomorphic disturbances in calcareous material.
►Dendrogeomorphic techniques reconstructed 63 debris-flow events since A.D. 1839. ► Geomorphic changes on the cone affect dated event frequency in single torrents. ► Regional investigations more accurately capture event frequency at a network scale. ► Debris-flow activity is not directly related to magnitude of precipitation events.
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