Journal of forest science 

Abstract: In this study results of hydrogel application in reclamations are presented. The application of hydrogel af - fected the survival of pine seedlings during two vegetation periods after planting. Double application of STOCKOSORB AGRO (gel) on the root system after lifting caused an about 19% higher survival rate compared to control variants. The application of 7 g/planting hole of STOCKOSORB MICRO granules caused overdosage and plant mortality. The application of hydrogel granules is simple but it is very complicated not to cause the overdosage because of the very high swelling capacity of hydrogel. Research should be carried out to determine suitable hydrogel application rates for different environmental conditions and tree species. To design a technology with regard to the economic effectiveness of application will be a very important task.

Abstract: A study of labour productivity was conducted in fully mechanised harvesting technologies. The study revealed that the productivity of harvesters was particularly affected by the average tree volume of the felled trees, and the productivity of forwarders was affected mainly by two factors – haulage distance and machine payload. Dependences of other factors such as natural and site conditions, technical parameters and skills of operators could not be demonstrated. Regression equations of dependences were created for all these three significant criteria and costs per cubic meter of processed timber were calculated for them according to the cost function. A regression function was then developed for the forwarder that takes into account both significant criteria influencing the forwarder productivity.

Abstract: The formation, size distribution and percentage of gaps in two virgin deciduous forests are presented in two case studies. Gaps are defined as openings in the canopy above 2/3 of stand height. These gaps comprise 16% of the forest area in Havesova Reserve and 14.6% of the forest area in Kyjov Reserve. The estimated turnover time is 220 years. More than half the gaps were caused by the death of one tree, and 80% of the gaps were due to the death of up to 3 trees. The largest gap in Havesova Reserve was 0.40 ha, resulting from the death of 56 trees over the last 40 years. The area of the largest gap in Kyjov Reserve was 0.44 ha. It was caused by the death of 80 trees over the last 40 years. Such large gaps are scarce. 85% of the gaps are smaller than 250 m². A correction of the bias towards the over-abun- dance of large gaps by line-transect sampling was made by estimating the percentage area of gaps of different size from the percentage length along the transects. In Havesova an attempt was made to date the death of trees that were still visible in the gaps. 1/5 of the trees initiated gaps by their death, while 4/5 of the trees extended gaps. While uprooted trees dominate in Havesova, breakage is most common in Kyjov.

Abstract: Weibull distribution was used to fit tree diameter data collected from 86 sample plots located in Chinese pine stand in Beijing. To estimate the Weibull distribution parameters, three methods (namely maximum likelihood estimation method (MLE), method of moment (MOM) and least-squares regression method (LSM)) were compared and evaluated on the basis of the mean square error (MSE) and sample size. For these sample plots, the moment method was superior for estimating the parameters of Weibull distribution for tree diameter distribution.