Romanian legal management rules limit wood production in Norway spruce and beech forests

Background： The quantitative impact of forest management on forests＇ wood resource was evaluated for Picea and Fagus mixed forests. The effects on the productivity of tendering operations, thinnings and rotation length have seldom been directly quantified on landscape scale. Methods： Two sites of similar fertility but subject to contrasted forest management were studied with detailed inventories： one in Germany, the other in Romania, and compared with the respective national forest inventories. In Romania, regulations impose very long rotations, low thinnings and a period of no-cut before harvest. In contrast, tending and thinnings are frequent and intense in Germany. Harvests start much earlier and must avoid clear cutting but maintain a permanent forest cover with natural regeneration. While Germany has an average annual wood increment representative for Central Europe, Romania represents the average for Eastern Europe. Results： The lack of tending and thinning in the Romanian site resulted in twice as many trees per hectare as in the German site for the same age. The productivity in Romanian production forests was 20 % lower than in Germany despite a similar fertility. The results were supported by the data from the national forest inventory of each country, which confirmed that the same differential exists at country scale. Furthermore, provided the difference in rotation length, two crops are harvested in Germany when only one is harvested in Romania. The losses of production due to a lower level of management in Romania where estimated to reach 12.8 million m3.y-1 in regular mountain production forests, and to 15 million m3.y-1 if managed protection forest is included. Conclusions： The productivity of Picea and Fagus mountain forests in Romania is severely depressed by the lack of tending and thinning, by overly long rotations and the existence of a 25-years no-cut period prior to harvest. The average standing volume in Germany was 50 % lower than in Romania, but the higher harvesting rate resulted in more than doubling wood production. Considering the mitigation effects of climate change by forests, it emerges that the increase in standing volume of forests in Romania is smaller than the additional harvest in Germany which serves fossil fuel substitution.

Theory and Practice of Controlling and Extinguishing Pine Wilt Disease

[Objective] This study was aimed to review the controlling experience of pine wilt disease in the past 25 years, explore the theories and methods of controlling pine wilt disease, and improve the scientific level of controlling techniques and the protection capacity of healthy pine trees. [Method] Eleven items of effects were used to refine the theory of clearing dead pine trees affected by pine wilt disease, namely, ＂1 priority＂, ＂2 objections＂, ＂3 principles＂, ＂4 measures＂, and ＂5 manage- ments＂. On the basis of comprehensive control and complete removal of the infect- ed pine trees, a variety of comprehensive and efficient controlling methods were developed to carry out targeted chemical ecology trapping, bionic pesticide killing and releasing natural enemies of Sclerodermus guani, Dastarcus helophoroides. High ef- ficient emamectin benzoate immune injection was developed to inject the healthy pine trees for prevention, so as to extinguish the pine wilt disease. [Result] The pine wilt disease dropped from the peak of 3.5 million dead trees with an infecting area of 28 273 hectares in 1999 to 0.068 million with an area of 4 333 hectares in 2012 gradually, reducing by 98.06% in number and 84.84% in area, respectively. On the basis of removal, Dastarcus helophoroides was also released, which could make the number of dead pines decrease more significantly than the control, and af- ter releasing for 5 consecutive years, the dead pine trees dropped to 0.511 plant/hm2 in 2012, with a mortality rate of 0.022 7%, which achieved the control effect, reaching extremely significant level. ＂Forest land removal＋infected trees isolation＋natural enemy release＂ could extinguish the pine wilt disease. The test of isolating 24 heaps of infected pine trees showed that there were 9 heaps of pine trees extinguished the pine wilt disease, which controlled the occurrence of pine wilt disease for 100%, accounting for 37.5% of the total, in which the number of those isolated using iron netting and nylon net were 4 for each, accounting for 88.9%, and there was one heap using polypropylene net, accounting for 11.1%. The invention of em- amectin benzoate immune injection laid the foundation for extinguishing pine wilt disease. The follow checking of the effects of emamectin benzoate immune injection on pine wilt disease found that the number of dead trees caused by pine wilt dis- ease decreased significantly after injecting, and became very small in October of the next year, and the disease was completely extinguished in the third year. [Conclusionl Pine wilt disease could be controlled and extinguished with positive control by using ＂comprehensive cleaning＋industrialized removal＂, ＂comprehensive cleaning＋ natural enemy release＂, ＂comprehensive cleaning＋infected trees isolation＋natural ene- my release＂ and ＂comprehensive cleaning＋emamectin benzoate immune＂.