DEMO : Purchase from www.A-PDF.com to remove the watermark IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT EFFECTS IN URBAN COPPICE FORESTS Barbora Fedorová 1, Jan Kadavý 1, Zden ěk Adamec 1, Robert Knott 2, Aleš Ku čera 3, Michal Kneifl 1, Karel Drápela 1 1Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic 2Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zem ědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic 3Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zem ědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic Abstract Coppice was very common type of the management in the landscape in the past centuries. In these coppice forests were done only clear cuts in the end of the rotation periods. But during last twenty years renew interest in coppice forests has developed and a new trend was created, to do thinning in the coppice, due to higher resistance to climate change. It is known that coppice can be a suitable forest management how to mitigate drought issues in the forestry –and in the landscape. Furthermore, thinning is a good silvicultural treatment how to influence available water for trees in the landscape. Thinned coppice and low tree height can be attractive in urban settings, moreover visitors do not like unmanaged stands. Thinned coppice create different landscape structure. The effect of thinning in young oak-hornbeam coppice on diameter increment and soil water content was monitored in the Moravian part of the Czech Republic. It can be concluded that the diameter increment and soil moisture was significantly higher in thinned plots. Diameter increment of sessile oak was 59 % higher in thinned plots, for European hornbeam 61 %. Volumetric soil moisture content was 43 % higher in thinned plots. We can notice several advantages for visitors and forest owners. Key words: thinning, soil moisture, coppicing, diameter increment, landscape Introduction Coppice forests provide shelter for invertebrates, birds, mammals and lots of plant species. So, it is a place of high biodiversity (Vild et al. 2013). Coppice is a renewable source of energy (McKenney et al. 2011). And coppice forests are more and more suggested for urban situations (Nielsen & Møller 2008). Coppicing is the oldest silvicultural system which is used. Re-sprouting (the ability of the broadleaved trees to sprout from the stump) is used for establishment of new stands. Nowadays it seems reasonable to carry out thinning in coppice because of the global climate change and drought periods. It is a new approach in comparison to past times, where only clear cuts were done. It has been proved that soil moisture increases after thinning and that is why more water is available to remaining sprouts in stools. This topic has been mainly studied in the Mediterranean area and several papers published a positive impact of thinning on soil moisture (Cotillas et al. 2009; Rodríguez-Calcerrada et al. 2011). For the Central Europe does not exist lots of studies. The study was focused on the effect of thinning on diameter increment and soil water content in young oak-hornbeam coppice. - 153 - Materials and methods The study was located near Brno in Southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic (49º25´N, 16º68´E). The study area was located at an altitude of 328 m a.s.l.. This site is characterized by an annual mean temperature of 7.5°C, with annual mean precipitation of 550–650 mm. The soils are Cambisols. Studied forest stand is young oak-hornbeam coppice. In 2008, a coppice stand was established by the clear-cut on the area of 40 x 125 meters according to the methodology of Kadavý et al. (2011). Thinning was done on the half of the total area during the winter 2014/2015 with a hand saw at the ground level and 50% of basal area of each stool was reduced. One to five dominant sprouts were left. Volumetric soil moisture content was monitored during the years 2015 and 2016 by using a PR2 Profile Probe (Delta-T Devices, Ltd., Cambridge, UK) and SM300 Soil Moisture Sensor with HH2 Moisture Meter ‒ Readout Unit (Delta-T Devices, Ltd., Cambridge, UK). In each plot, three 40 cm long probes were permanently installed and soil moisture was measured every week at 5 cm depth with SM300 Soil Moisture Sensor and at 10, 20, 30 and 40 cm depths with PR2 Profile Probe. Sprout diameters were measured at a height of 50 cm above the sprout base by calliper in millimeters. At one sprout two measurements perpendicular to each other were done. The diameters were measured in the growing season 2015 and 2016. All data were analysed in STATISTICA 12 (StatSoft 2013). Results Volumetric soil moisture was higher at thinned plots (Fig. 1). Difference between soil moisture of thinned and unthinned plots was statistically significant during two years after thinning. Soil moisture of thinned plots was 43 % higher than that of unthinned plots in 2015 (Fedorová et al. 2016). In 2016, soil moisture was 26 % higher in thinned plots. Thinning influenced the diameter increment of the studied species (Fig. 2). Difference between diameter increment of thinned and unthinned plots was statistically significant during two years after thinning. In 2015, diameter increment of Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl was 59 % higher in thinned plots and 61 % for Carpinus betulus L. respectively. In 2016, diameter increment of Q. petraea was 40 % higher in thinned plots and 28 % for C. betulus respectively. Discussion We can notice several advantages for visitors and forest owners when the thinning in coppice is done. Thinning in coppice have a good impact on aesthetic values and create place for children playgrounds. Another point is that thinning effects ecological values, especially soil moisture. In the future it will be the factor of drought more and more important. Thinning also influence the economic output from the coppice. Thinned coppice and low tree height can be attractive in urban settings, moreover visitors does not like unmanaged stands (Rydberg 2000). Lots of visitors do not like logging residues, dead snags and decaying wood in forests (Tyrväinen et al. 2003). And this is not the case of coppice, where all sprouts are used for biomass and/or for firewood. In urban areas coppice can be also recommended for vegetation filters to remove nutrients from municipal waste and surface water (Rydberg & Falc 2000). Thinned coppice can be used for screening and sheltering from wind without blocking sunshine, enrich the environment for the urban wildlife (Rydberg 2000). - 154 - In the future coppice may ensure stability of forest landscape. Coppice is a suitable active urban forest, where the management is more ecologically-oriented. Coppice can make your neighbourhoods more green, coppice with trees and bushes of low tree height is a good forest management close to the gardens and houses (Rydberg & Falc 2000). Such silvicultural system is for example preferred in Finland by younger residents with a higher education and active urban forest users (Tyrväinen et al. 2003). Fig. 1: Mean values of soil moisture (with 95% confidence interval) for thinned and unthinned plots in 2015 (Fedorová et al. 2016) and 2016 Fig. 2: Mean values of diameter increment (with 95% confidence interval) of sessile oak and European hornbeam for thinned and unthinned plots in 2015 (Fedorová et al. 2016) and 2016 Conclusion In conclusion, thinning in coppice influence social, economical and ecological values and is recommended to do. Thinning in coppice brings advantages for the forest owners and visitors. - 155 - References Cotillas, M., Sabaté, S., Gracia, C., & Espelta, J. M., (2009): Growth response of mixed mediterranean oak coppices to rainfall reduction. Could selective thinning have any influence on it? Forest Ecology and Management, 258(7): 1677–1683. Fedorová, B., Kadavý, J., Adamec, Z., Kneifl, M., Knott, R., (2016): Response of diameter and height increment to thinning in oak-hornbeam coppice in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic. 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Acknowledgement The research was realized with the contribution of funds of Internal Grant Agency of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno, CZ, project number 15/2015 and of funds of Cost Action FP 1301: “Coppice as a biological and production alternative for future in the Czech Republic”, project number LD15117.