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POLISH JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 53 3 451-458 2005 \ (PoL J. EcoL)

Short research contribution

Ahmet Behzat GÜRKAN2, Ömer

1 Istanbul University, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Management Planning 80895 Bahçeköy-Istanbul, Turkey, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology 06532 Beytepe-Ankara, Turkey 3 Istanbul University, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Yields and Biometry 80895 Bahçeköy-Istanbul, Turkey 4 Abant Izzet Baysal University, Faculty of Forestry Department ofForest Management Planning, 81623 Konuralp-Düzce, Turkey

EFFECT OF THE PEST MARCHALINA HELLENICA GENNADIUS (HOMOPTERA, ) ON THE GROWTH PARAMETERS OF TEN. IN REGION (TURKEY)

ABSTRACT: Marchalina hellenica Genna'- Pinus brutia is distributed mainly across dius is a common pest prevalent in Pinus brutia Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Crete, Syria and Leb- Ten. forests in prq_vince of Mediterranean anon (Lev- Yad un 2000). With a total area Region ofTurkey (28°20'03"E; 3T 12'18"N). The of 3.73 million hectares in Turkey, Pinus bru- pest is known to suck sap from a number of tia is an important commercial tree species tree species, especially Pinus brutia. The goal of covering nearly 18% of forested area in the this research is to determine whether the pest country (Mayer-Aksoy 1986, Asan 1999, has a negative impact on the volume increments Konukcu 2001). The species is distributed of Pinus brutia trees and forests. Two areas with identical site conditions are selected far study: across various altitudes from sea level to 1300 one non-infested and one infested with Marcha- m. Wood and resin obtained from Pinus bru- lina hellenica. The effects of site quality and age tia is used for a range of purposes in Turkey on the sampled trees have been eliminated. The (Bozkurt-Göker 1981). The species is alsa diameter at breast height, basa! area (the the host for Marchalina hellenica Gennadius cross-sectional area ofa tree at breast height) and (Homoptera, Margarodidae), which produc- the increment of tree volume are determined es the honeydew used for honey production separately far both study areas. A t-test applied in the southwestern parts of Turkey. to volume increments of both infested and non- Marchalina hellenica mainly infest pine infested trees of ali ages proves that infestation trees, including halepensis Mill., Pinus causes significant negative impacts on trees be- brutia , Pinus silvestris L. and Pinus pinea L. tween the ages of 40 and 80 years. The greatest loss of increment in single trees is 2.0% (of the ( G o una r i et al. 2002). Furthermore, it was volume of non-infested tree) which occurs at the concluded in a study conducted in Greece age of 70 years old. When considering the entire that this pest also infests Abies cephalonica stand, rhe greatest loss of increment is 3.4% (of Loud. trees (Bacandritsos 2002). The the volume of non-infested stan

of the pest on Pinus brutia trees or forests ditions prevail during summer (7 months) 1998). Other harmful (Atalay 2002). The average annual temper- fungi, parasites or pests can alsa negatively ature in is 14.9°C. The highest average impact on the expected correlation between monthly temperature is 40°C in July, while age and increment, in a similar manner. the lowest one is in January. However, Pinus brutia forests are distributed from it may rarely decrease to -8°C. The average sea level to 1300 meters, with single trees of- annual rainfall in the region is 1196 ten settling in elevations up to 1500 meters. mm, with a considerable amount of this pre- Pinus brutia forests are widely distributed cipitation taking place in winter and spring over Mediterranean and Aegean Regions of (Fig. 2) (Atalay 2002). Turkey 1976, Baydak 2004). üne of the study plots is located within an Marchalina hellenica mainly infests the Pinus infested Pinus brutia stand situated at an alti- brutia forests within the borders of Regional tude of 790 m, while the other plot is located in Directorate of Forestry in The vegeta- a non-infested stand at an altitude of 900 m. tion in region mainly consists of Pinus The two study plots display many simi- brutia, maquis and garig vegetation, as well larities in terms of site conditions ( climate, as Quercus cerris L., Castenea sativa Mill. and soil, altitude, relief and exposure) site quality Pinus nigra Arn. in areas higher than 1000 m. (a measure of the relative productive capac- The goal of this study is to determine ity ofa site) and stand features (Table 1) ob- whether the pest living on Pinus brutia in tained from topographical and management the region of Turkey (28°20'03"E; maps (scale of 1:25 000); 31 sample trees 37° 12' 18"N) has a negative impact on the were measured in the infested study plot and diameter at breast height, basal area and ~s- 30 sample trees were measured in the non- pecially the volume incr'ements of trees and infested plot. forests. Two areas with similar site condi- Using a caliper, the diameter at breast tions and area (2592' and 2855 m 2 ), one of height (DBH) was measured by averaging which is infested and the other is infestation two measurements far all sample trees in free, were taken as study plots. both plots. The study areas were located in the The height of 15 trees in different diameter Province of the Southern Aegean Re- classes was measured and the increment cores gion, Turkey (Fig. 1). from the breast height of all trees were taken. Temperate and rainy conditions occurs The annual ring width of increment cores was in winter (5 months), warm and arid can- measured with a precision of O.Ol mm.

ITRI

40

Fig. 1. Location of study area of Pinus brutia forests in region (Turkey). Effect of Marchalina hellenica on the growth parameters of Pinus brutia 453

and NS = non-significant) and volume of trees (tH = 0.525N5) were not significant at 5% level (P> 0.05). There is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis, and therefore the sample plots represent the same popula- tion according to diameter at breast height and volume (Table 1). Figure 3 shows the development trend of diameter increment according to age. As displayed in the graph in Figure3, there is a greater difference between diameter incre- ments for older trees in infested and non-in- Fig. 2. The average monthly rainfall and tempera- fested areas than for younger trees. ture in region (Atalay 2002). The sectional area increment (the cross sectional area increment of the tree at any The number of annual rings of the in- point along the stem) at soil level reaches crement cores taken from the breast height its maximum value some years after the tree of the trees was considered to be the age of reaches the maximum diameter increment. the sample trees at breast height. The aver- As the tree is usually taller than 1.3 m at the age value of the tree age at breast height is age it reaches the maximum value, the maxi- shown in Table 1, together with other rel- mum point of bas al area increment curve can evant parameters. The following parameters be observed in the Figure 4. were calculated: mean diameter at breast :: The correlation between age and volume height (DBH), mean height and· mean vol- increment reaches the maximum value at an ume of trees of study plots, mean hasal area age older than for the correlation between (the . area of a' tree at breast age and basa! area increment; it is also seen height) and mean volume of stand, and stand asa bell-shaped curve with the volume incre- form factor and stand density factor. The ments at all ages (Fig. 5) t-test showed that the values of breast diame- The correlation between the age and ter (tH = 0.853N5, where, tH = calculated t value height increment is similar to the volume in-

Table 1. Selected characters of Pinus brutia stand on infested and non-infested region (Turkey).

Characteristics of stands Infested Non-infested Mean breast diameter of trees (cm) 49.59 52.89 Mean height of trees (m) 21.21 21.14

Mean volume of trees (m3 ) 1.745 1.981 Number of sample trees 31 30

Size of the study plot (m2 ) 2592 2855

Number of trees (ind. ha-1) 120 105

Mean basa! area of stand (m2 ha-1) 23.10 23.09

Mean volume of stand (m3 ha-1) 208.696 208.161 Stand form factor 1 0.426 0.428 Stand density factor 2 0.766 0.757 Average tree age (years at breast height) 85 75 Relief and slope status (%) Upper slope. 3-5% Upper slope. 6-9%

1 The ratio of the stand volume to cylinder volume of the same diameter and height. 2 The ratio of tree stocking assessed by coniparison with yield table 454 Ahmet et al. crement and generally reaches the maximum tively, it is believed that the increment values value at an age younger than in the corre- will be distributed normally around the av- lation between age and volume increment erage value. Diameter at breast height, hasal 1984, 2004). area and volume increments at all ages are The increment potential of trees within then determined. These average values are a stand is different in the same year due to expected to include the effects of site condi- differences in age. These different potentials tions only in the range of sampling error. The react in different ways, even though-site con- age-average increment values will have asta- ditions ( climate, soil and vegetation) may be tistical distribution on the graph due to the similar. in order to asses only the increment sampling error difference in all ages. in both change on the hasis of age, and to obtain the areas, the distribution obtained far infested correlation of age-increment more sensi- and non-infested values are shown in the

o infested + noninfested 1.0

Eo 0.8 ....C: (]) E ....(]) 0.6 o C: .... 0.4

Age (years) Fig. 3. Correlation between tree age and diameter increment in infested (y=-0.2479 Ln(x)+ 1.3557) and non-infested (y=-0.1909Ln(x)+l.2399) forest stands.

o infested + noninfested (\l' 40 E (.) 35 ....C: (]) 30 E (]) 25 ....(.) C: 20 (U ....(]) 15

(U 10

(U co 5 o o 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 11 O Age (years)

Fig. 4. Correlation between tree age and basal area increment in infested (y=-0.0027 x2 + 0.2967x+ 11.72) and non-infested (y=-0.0054x2+0.6755x+7.2077) forest stands. Effect of Marchalina hellenica on the growth parameters of Pinus brutia 455

Figs 3, 4 and 5. The distribution of values for ed by the volume increments of the sample study areas is adjusted to the models: trees in both infested and non-infested areas = a + b ln t are calculated for all ages using a t-test. The for diameter increments comparison of the populations represented ( or = a + bt +ct2 far the hasal area by the volume increments at all ages and and volume increments the age-based variance of the value P are where t = age in years. shown in Figure 6. According to this cor- The determination of the relation, the maximum probability of dif- correlations are provided in Table 2. it may ference between the increments affected by be accepted that these correlations do not the pests and not affected by the pests until include the effects of site conditions and ran- the age of 40 years is 5%. dom errors. it is known that the pests begin to live in The general similarity of correlations the cracks of tree bark once the bark thickens between the age and volume in both study and cracks at the age of 35-40 years (Gür- areas requires the estimation of difference 1989). Therefore, when between these correlations or the age after the pests infest a tree, P values are observed which the differences become to decrease below level of 0.20; Therefore, the significance level of the dif- and even below 0.05 in some cases. Based on ferences between the populations represent- this information, it can be assumed that the

Table 2. Determination (R 2 ) of the correlation between increment value and age (years) for infested and non-infested trees.

Determination Diam~er increment Basa] area increment Volume increment cients

Infested 0.96 0.49 0.79

Non-infested 0.86 0.82 0.91

infested + noninfested 60

50 -t------+------, E :E.- 40 C -Q) E Q) 30 u... C Q) 20 :,E o > 10 o o 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 Age (years)

Fig. 5. Correlation between tree age and volume increment in infested (y=-0.0042 x2 + 0.5352x+8.8671) and non-infested (y=-0.009lx2 + l.213x-0.6075) forest stands. 456 Ahmet et al.

1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 o ..... r--.. (")...... en Age (years)

Fig. 6. The comparison of the infested and non-infested populations of Pinus brutia represented by the volume increments of ali ages using t-test and the age-based variance of P value. volume increments in both study plots after the equation of which is not de- the age of 40 years differ with a probability pendent upon the age of infested and non- more than 80% and even 90%. This differ- ... infested areas, is generated. The differences ence is clearly a result of pest-infestation. it - ( due to the regression curve) of the points on can be claimed that the pest infestation de- the graph have a normal distribution around creases the volume of Pinu's brutia with the the overall average value of increment. in this same probability. The similarities in incre- case, = regression equation; i vJ = increm~nt ment values in both plots for Pinus brutia of the points around regression curve, ( = younger than 40 years are to be expected, overall average of the increments, j=l, 2, .... as the pests do not affect such young trees. (age). By comparing the populations, which Figure 6 clearly shows that volume incre- are generated for the infested and non-infest- ments in both plots do not differ for trees ed areas and represented by the increment under the age of 40 years. values independent of age with the t-test, it is in the very old ages, the volume incre- proven that these populations (tH = 20,125) ment of trees in both infested and non-in- are at a level of lower than 0.1 %. fested areas decrease, the values become in other words the possibility of them being complicated and as a result their different is more than 99.9%. This means level also decreases. Sampling errors, how- that the pests have clearly negative impact on ever, may occur during the calculation of in- the volume increments of Pinus brutia with a crement values for trees older than 80 years probability of more than 99 .9%, and that they old, which may also reduce the level of sig- certainly decrease the increment, even if this decrease is relatively small. At-test is used to The infested and non-infested areas are compare the differences. Test results indicate compared according to average tree age. in a difference between infested and order to compare the populations represent- non-infested areas (P

Sin gle Tree Stand 1 6 3 000 $', <0' E 14 E :g, "O 1 2 (/) U'> (/) 2 000 U'> 1 O o o _J o _J 8 c Q) c(]) 6 E 1 000 E 4 Ü Ü 2 f; E o o o 20 40 60 80 100 o 20 40 60 8 0 1 00 Age (yea rs) Age (y ears)

Fig. 7. The course of volume increment differences (increment loss) of single tree and stand of Pinus brutia between the infested and areas.

in the field. As the proboscis of the pest is velopment-"between April and July and are small, it relies on cracks in the bark in order stili very small. The pest grows very rapidly to reach the cambium of the trees. The't-test in the 2nd phase nymph phase, which takes confirms the hypothesis that the infested and place between July and November. Further- non-infested trees are taken from the same more, honey producers take honey during population for the first 40 years. this period, as the honeydew is produced The differences between the volume in- intensely at this time (Selmi 1983, Gür- crement of single tree according to age and 1989, Erlinghagen stand as a whole are presented in Figure 7. 2001). When the findings of the physiologi- This correlation represents an average de- cal growth of Pinus brutia and the life-ey- crease in the volume increment according de of Marchalina hellenica Gennadius are to age. examined together, it can be seen that the The greatest decrease in the increment is diameter growth of trees decreases in the 13.96 dm3 (2.0% of the volume of non-infest- period when pest activity is most intense. ed tree) and occurs around the age 70 years. in this period, the cambium cannot convert When the stand is considered as a whole, the the honeydew into wood or bark, because it greatest decrease in the increment is 2514.15 is taken by bees to produce honey. The low dm3 (3.4% of the volume of non-infested decrease in the volume increment in this stand) and occurs around the age of 45 years. period should be considered as the normal, The cumulative value ofa single tree is 880.85 because the diameter growth is also low. dm3 at the age of 100 years. in other words, Thus, the low diameter growth of trees dur- the decrease in the increment caused by the ing the period of high pest activity explains pest in 100 years is 0.88 m 3 for a single tree the negative impact of the pest on volume of this age. The cumulative decrease in the increment of Pinus brutia trees. increment occurring within 1 hectare stand in 100 years is 173817.71 dm3 • This leads to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like to a total cumulative decrease of 173.8 m 3 in thank Prof. Dr. Tahsin Akalp and Prof. Dr. Emin volume increment in 100 years old Pinus Zeki for their comments and suggestions brutia stand. on various versions of the manuscript. Special According to the studies on the life ey- thanks to Mr. Scott Hemphill for his correction of the English version. de of the pest, nymph are at l st phase of de- 458 Ahmet et al.

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(Received after revising April 2005)