Forests, Volume 11, Issue 8

Wood-based panels covered by melamine-impregnated paper are widely used in floors and furniture, due to its good surface texture, hardness, wear resistance, and waterproof function. However, there are still some problems, such as formaldehyde release...

Oaks are a dominant woody plant genus in the northern hemisphere that occupy a wide range of habitats and are ecologically diverse. We implemented a functional trait approach that included nine functional traits related to leaves and stems in order t...

A severe decline and dieback of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stands have been observed in Austria in recent decades. From 2008 to 2010, the distribution and diversity of Phytophthora species and pathogenic fungi and pests were surveyed in 34 b...

This paper should primarily lead to a targeted expansion of the database dealing with bending characteristics, and thus help to understand the static and dynamic bending strength depending on the direction of external forces. Wood is very often used...

The chemical composition of secondary metabolites is important for the quality control of wood products. In this study, the widely targeted metabolomics approach was used to analyze the metabolic profiles of heartwood and sapwood in the red-heart Chi...

Camptotheca acuminata is considered a natural medicinal plant with antitumor activity. The assessment of climate change impact on its suitable habitats is important for cultivation and conservation. In this study, we applied a novel approach to build...

Tropical floodplain wetlands are found in low-lying areas that are periodically inundated. During wet periods, these wetlands can receive large amounts of suspended and dissolved material from the catchment, including many potential pollutants. In th...

Beech wood is mainly used for furniture, plywood, decorative veneer manufacturing or packaging. Timber or lumber is traditionally dried in kilns by processes often taking several weeks. This research deals with more rapid process called contact-dryin...

The transverse compression property is one of most important aspects of the mechanical performance of a sandwich structure with a soft core. An experiment, analytical method and three digital strain measurement systems were applied to investigate the...

Background and Objectives: Over the last few decades, the European mountain environment has been characterized by the progressive abandonment of agro-pastoral activities and consequent forest expansion due to secondary succession. While woody encroac...

The long-term effectiveness of dry-forest fuels treatments (restoration thinning and prescribed burning) depends, in part, on the pace at which trees regenerate and recruit into the overstory. Knowledge of the factors that shape post-treatment regene...

Survival probabilities of white oak (Quercus alba) in small circular group and single tree openings ranging in size from 0.001 to 0.175 ha twelve years after opening creation are presented. At the beginning of the study, 3948 advance reproduction whi...

In Italy, after the first report in Friuli-Venezia Giulia along the border with Slovenia in 2009, ash dieback has successively been reported in Veneto, Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige. Given its alarming expansion in European ash formations along the...

Research Highlights: The complete chloroplast genome for eight individuals of Japanese larch, including from the isolated population at the northern limit of the range (Manokami larch), revealed that Japanese larch forms a monophyletic group, within...

Selection of native tree species for commercial purposes is a continuing challenge and an opportunity in tropical silviculture. Because of this, we explored domesticating 33 native species in the Philippines that were tested for survival rate, total...

The conservation of heritage structures is pivotal not only due to their cultural or historical importance for nations, but also for understanding their construction techniques as a lesson that can be applied to contemporary structures. Timber is con...

Russian boreal forests hold a considerable carbon (C) stock and are subjected to frequent surface fires that unbalance C storage and ecosystem function. Although postfire ecological changes aboveground are well understood, biological C flows (e.g., d...

N-fixing tree species, such as black locust, have achieved very promising results in the reclamation of technosols, especially those at combustion waste disposal sites, which have extremely poor nutrients and adverse physicochemical parameters. This...

We hypothesize that the ability to recovery the depth of the indentation increases with increasing the hardness of the flooring material. The research was carried out for ten lignocellulosic flooring materials: merbau, oak, maple, red oak, laminated...

Research Highlights: This research presents a novel approach for comparing structural carbon allocation to tree growth and to climate in a dendrochronological analysis. Increasing temperatures reduced the carbon proportion of wood in some cases. Back...

Species ecological envelope maps were obtained for the two main Portuguese wood-production species (Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Pinus pinaster Aiton) and projected future climate change scenarios. A machine learning approach was used to understan...

Ethnomycological information was gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with members of the Amhara, Agew, and Sidama ethnic groups in Ethiopia. A total of 300 individuals were involved in this study. Forest excursions were also undertaken...

Background and Objectives: Cultural ecosystem services of urban green spaces are increasingly important and often recognized as such by people living in urban areas. Qualitative studies on perception of cultural ecosystem services from urban green sp...

Castanopsis × kuchugouzhui Huang et Y. T. Chang was recorded in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS) as a hybrid species on Yuelushan mountain, but it is treated as a hybrid between Castanopsis sclerophylla (Lindl.) Schott. and Castanopsi...

Forests in the southwestern Amazon are rich, diverse, and dense. The region is of high ecological importance, is crucial for conservation and management of natural resources, and contains substantial carbon and biodiversity stocks. Nevertheless, few...

With the gradual decline in the proportion of spruce as the most important tree species in the Czech Republic, the importance of pine will increase. The test material for this study was selected from two localities with important representation of pu...

While complex urban morphologies including different materials, wall structures, etc., are rather adequately represented in microclimate models, replication of actual plant geometry is—so far—rather crudely handled. However, plant geometr...

Soil erosion after harvesting of forest plantations can create infertile colluvial soil, therefore, seedlings used for site reforestation should be equipped against nutrient-poor edaphic conditions. The oak genus is a suitable candidate for such refo...

The effect of visits to the country’s forests on environmental perspectives and commitments was assessed in a national survey of the Israeli public. As a highly urbanized country, visits to the country’s dryland forests constitute an impo...

Background and Objectives: It is important to match species needs with site conditions for sustainable forestry. In Eucalyptus urophylla × Eucalyptus grandis plantations in southern Yunnan, China, species-site mismatches have led to inappropria...

International expansion of forest certification programs has occurred over the last three decades. Both public and private organizations have shown increased interest in becoming certified by one or more forest certification bodies, to assure the pub...

The impact of global changes on forest ecosystem processes is based on the species-specific responses of trees to the combined effect of multiple stressors and the capacity of each species to acclimate and cope with the environment modification. Comb...

This study aims to compare the resistance against subterranean termites of wood–polymer composites produced by in situ polymerization. The biological tests were carried out by choice and no-choice feeding tests. Poly (furfuryl alcohol), poly(st...

Though on a global scale, for ecological reasons, increased forest cover is universally regarded as positive, on a local scale, the reforestation of arable land may pose threats to cultural landscapes by removing characteristic landscape features. Pa...

Madhuca pasquieri (Dubard) Lam. is a tree on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and a national key protected wild plant (II) of China, known for its seed oil and timber. However, lacking of genomic and transcriptome data for...

Phyllostachys edulis ‘Pachyloen’ can have a stalk wall thickness of up to 2.5 cm at a height of 1.3 m, which is 1.8 times that of normal Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis); this serves as an excellent cultivar, comprising both wood and ba...

Traditional agroforestry systems have received increasing attention in recent decades for their multifunctional role and as a sustainable development model for rural areas. At the international level, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launc...

The stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur from extracted wood of 87 samples of oaks from the United States were analysed. Relationships with climate variables and the stable isotope ratios of the 69 training dataset samples wer...

Color mutation is a common, easily identifiable phenomenon in higher plants. Color mutations usually affect the photosynthetic efficiency of plants, resulting in poor growth and economic losses. Therefore, leaf color mutants have been unwittingly eli...

Eucalyptus stands can be managed by coppicing, however, in several Brazilian regions reduced yield has been observed with harvesting successions. This reduction can be attributed to reduced nutrient availability, among other factors. This study aimed...

Research Highlights: Protected natural areas are a reservoir of Phytophthora species and represent the most suitable sites to study their ecology, being less disturbed by human activities than other environments. Background and Objectives: The specif...

A rapid regeneration survey within twenty-four deepwater swamps between stand ages 2 and 14 years in the North Carolina coastal plain was conducted by using a narrow rectangular inventory technique (“strip cruise”). Inventoried tracts pre...

Throughout the last three decades, north central Georgia has experienced significant loss in forest land and tree cover. This study revealed the temporal patterns and thematic transitions associated with this loss by augmenting traditional forest inv...

Faunal responses to wildfire depend on the fire effects on direct mortality, habitat structure, and resource availability for animals. Despite the importance of large predators in terrestrial trophic webs, little is still known about how fire affects...

Deforestation is currently among the most critical ecological issues, which need to be addressed urgently. Hence, identification of effective environmental monitoring methods is of top priority, especially in locations where no precise ground-based d...

Oil palm is recognized as a golden crop, as it produces the highest oil yield among oil seed crops. Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil; 16% of its land is planted with oil palm. To cope with the ever-increasing global d...

The large wildfires of June 2017 disturbed many communities in central Portugal. The civil parish of Alvares was severely affected, with about 60% of its area burnt. Assessing the risk of large wildfires affecting local communities is becoming increa...

Despite their importance as mortality factors of many insects, the detailed biology and ecology of parasitoids often remain unknown. To gain insights into the spatiotemporal biology of insect parasitoids in interaction with their hosts, modeling of t...

Genetically improved material has been proven to financially outperform unimproved material in timber production according to various studies. Genetic improvements in carbon sequestration are also promising, implying a possibility for further financi...

Extensive decline and mortality events of alder trees have recently been observed in several riparian ecosystems in Italy. Since there is little information about the aetiology of this disease and given the high ecological relevance of riparian ecosy...