In developing countries, wood harvesting is a labor-intensive work, carried out under difficult terrain conditions
and using a heavy work material. This makes the harvest workers exposed to many hazards due to the
nature of their work or working environment. Wood harvesting activities are carried out by villagers who living
in areas near the forests. They are seasonal workers and do not have any health insurance related to wood
harvesting works or vocational training. This prevents the creation of a database about work accidents and
occupational diseases connected with wood harvesting. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between
work accidents and demographic characteristics of seasonal harvesting workers in the Northeast of Turkey.
In the scope of the study, a total of 97 male harvest workers were interviewed using the face-to-face method
in Trabzon and Giresun. Male workers’ demographic characteristics, work accidents during their professional
lives, and discomfort from harvesting works were determined. As a result, it was found that approximately
41% of the workers experienced work accidents. It was revealed that the accident rates had decreased related
to workers’ age and work experience in the past 5 years. It was also found that 18% of work accidents occurred
on Wednesdays and between 15.00 and 17.00. This may have been caused by the exhaustion due to working
all day. Considering the extent of the work done and the burden it carries, the duration of breaks should be
revised to prevent carelessness and fatigue in workers. To avoid injuries of the hands and feet, wood harvest
workers must use suitable work safety shoes and gloves resistant to cutting.
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Forest degradation is threatening the biodiversity of moist tropical forests since the beginning of their development. Bangladesh is losing its forests and associated biodiversity continuously due to forest-dependent livelihoods. The only freshwater swamp forest of the Ratargul Special Biodiversity Protection Area in Bangladesh is also very prone to degradation due to anthropogenic disturbance. This distinct swamp forest has unique biological diversity compared to other forest types. To assess its degradation and to propose implications for conservation, sentinel images with 10×10 m resolution were used. Also, field data were collected and analyzed. This research produced a map of forest cover change and outlined an area that can be used in restoration planning. Branch cutting, dry season overgrazing, illegal tree felling, fuelwood collection, trampling by tourists, and insect and disease epidemics were identified as causes of degradation. Functional conservation effort ensured by strong political will and area-specific forest protection regulation is essential for the conservation of last swamp forest and its remnant biodiversity. Community-based conservation approaches need to be applied for mass awareness regarding this ecosystem's value and its sustainability.
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The main goal of this study was to assess the effect of coppice forest removal on soil moisture and temperature (e.g., maximum, minimum and mean daily temperatures) along with some selected soil properties. The study was conducted in the Belgrad Forest in Istanbul. A coppice forest plot was selected in the forestland. Half of the plot was cleared as a treatment site while other half was left as a control plot. The plots were 100 m by 100 m in size. Soil moisture and temperature values were recorded at hourly intervals at 1 m and 50 cm soil depths, respectively. Soil samples in disturbed and undisturbed areas were collected at 0–5 cm soil depth and analyzed for saturation capacity (SC), hydraulic conductivity (HC), bulk density (BD), particle density (PD), total porosity (TP), sand silt and clay contents, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, loss on ignition (LOI), and organic matter content (OM). Two-tailed paired student t-test were used to compare means at an alpha level of 0.05. Results revealed that daily soil moisture significantly increased from 32% to 37%, daily temperature from 14.5oC to 15.9oC, daily maximum temperature from 14.6oC to 16.2oC, and daily minimum temperature 14.4oC to 15.7oC following coppice forest clearance. Clearcutting of woody vegetation did not affect the soil sand, silt and clay contents, HD, PD, pH, and EC values in the soil; however, it caused a significant increase from 1.3 g/cm3 to 1.5 g/cm3 in the BD and decreases from 6% to 3% in the OM content, from 17% to 8% in the LOI, from 52% to 46% in the TP, from 51 cm/min to 32 cm/min in the HC, and from 33% to 24% in the SC of the soil.
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Modeling non-spatial forest stand structure is important for prescribing silvicultural treatments and harvesting regimes. It requires identification of a suitable distribution model to provide reliable estimates. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the performance of various distribution models in describing the structure of the Gmelina arborea stands in the Oluwa Forest Reserve, Nigeria. Data were collected from twenty-five sample plots of 0.04 ha in five stands (aged 19, 24, 29, 34, and 39 years). Five distributions, including Weibull, Generalized Weibull, Johnson SB, Logit-logistic (LL), and generalized beta were fitted to diameter data from the individual stands. Model assessment was based on negative log-likelihood, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Cramer-von Mises, Anderson-Darling, and Bayesian Information Criterion. The results showed that Johnson SB had the smallest rank sum of the fit indices. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling values ranged from 0.0333 to 0.0441, and 0.0217 to 0.0522, respectively. As such, the Johnson SB distribution was identified as the most suitable model for the G. arborea stands. Generalized beta, LL, Weibull, and generalized Weibull distributions performed equally well. The application of the Johnson SB model with a fitted Näslund height-diameter model provided information on class volume per hectare. This information is important for making decisions on product specification and overall management of the G. arborea.
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Pinus sibirica Du Tour is one of the primary forest species in Russia. This work aimed to determine the variation in growth and elementary structure of shoots in latitudinal and longitudinal ecotypes using a common garden experiment, with emphasis on the ratio between shoot metamere types. The study was conducted in the southern taiga ecoregion in the south-east of the West Siberian Plain in Russia. We investigated 23-year-old grafts from eight Pinus sibirica ecotypes grown under uniform conditions. Ten-year-old branches were selected from the crowns of the grafted trees, and a retrospective analysis of shoot structure was conducted. The length and metameric composition of the branches varied significantly between different latitudinal and longitudinal ecotypes. Growth rates in the southern and eastern ecotypes were higher than those in the northern and western ecotypes. However, the proportions of auxiblasts did not differ between ecotypes. The southern ecotype showed the largest shoot sterile zone and the longest internodes and needles. The eastern ecotype showed the largest number of brachyblasts and relatively long internodes. Thus, the proportions of metameres involved in shoot elongation and internode length depend on the geographic origin of ecotypes when growing their vegetative progeny ex situ
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Urbanization is one of the strongest negative effects on vegetational change within and around a city. In this study, it is aimed to determine the flora and vegetational changes within and around the city based on the identification and mapping of the biotopes which show differences in terms of ecologic factors met in Gurun district center and its vicinity and which are suitable for Corine biotope classification. First, 13 main biotope types are classified. In the biotopes, total 666 plant taxa were identified, 84 of which were endemic. Vegetation of the biotopes was determined, and then similarity levels of main biotopes are calculated according to the similarity coefficient method of Sorensen. Accordingly, while the similar areas are health facilities and agricultural areas the most different ones are parks and sports areas and drainage areas. The results emphasize the similarity levels of vegetation in biotopes and the negative effect of human intervention in the study area. As a result, with its rich natural structure, vegetation covers and endemism rate, the district of Gurun has significant natural biotopes and it is suggested that biotope classification should be considered in determining vegetation change and urban planning.
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The aim of this study was to determine the species used in road planting in Trabzon, Turkey, and to reveal the opinion of the city population on this subject. The research method was designed in two stages. During the first stage, the three most important routes in the city of Trabzon were examined, and the plant species used in roadside spaces and traffic islands were determined. In the second stage, a survey was conducted with the users to reveal their opinions about roadside landscapes. A total of 109 plant taxa/76 genera in the first route, 83 plant taxa/64 genera in the second route, and 73 plant taxa/56 genera in the third route were identified. Consequently, a total of 118 plant taxa/81 genera were determined in all three areas. In the survey, a total of 18 questions were asked, and the degree of their implementation in these areas was investigated. In conclusion, the analysis of the required benefits for the three routes demonstrated that there were no significant differences between them. It can be said that the focus of the study was to determine whether there were significant differences between the identified three routes based on the planting design benefits they offer.
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Land degradation has a long history and a significant effect on land management. Long-term changes in land use are among the important mechanisms of the land degradation process. According to the land use evolution, the main goal of this study is to determine the level of land degradation within the land use types by using the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Index, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in the Gulf of Edremit. The methods presented in this study can easily be applied to identify forces driving the land degradation from a small basin to regional scale for mitigation of desertification in sub-humid Mediterranean environmental conditions. The ESAs are calculated according to land use types within the context of soil, climate, vegetation, and management, through their special characteristics, and their interactions with each other. The main results, assessed with the proposed land degradation, showed that approximately 30% of the total study area is critically sensitive to degradation, and 50% of the study area is fragile. The ratio of critical areas in settlement areas and agricultural areas was found to be quite high, especially in coastal areas. The most striking result is that one-half of the forests were found to be fragile. The spatial variability of land degradation should be an important component of land use management to ensure environmental sustainability, especially in the Aegean coastal area.
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This study was carried out to construct a site chronology of oriental beech in Topaktas site of the Amanos
Mountains, one of the most southerly populations of oriental beech, and to investigate the relationships
between tree-ring width and some climate variables such as the monthly maximum, minimum and mean
temperature and monthly total precipitation. The study area was located in Topaktaş Plateau, Dörtyol, Hatay,
where isolated natural populations, known as the most southerly populations of the species, exist. The
average slope was 35%, the aspect was north-west, and the altitude ranged from 1300 to 1500 meter (m).
33 samples are collected by using increment borers and taken from 17 oriental beech trees in the study site,
and 53-year-long treering chronology were built for the period of 1961-2013. Pearson correlation coefficients
were used to investigate relationships between radial growth and climate. The radial growth of oriental beech
in the site was found to be sensitive to climate with mean sensitivity value of 0.20. The results showed that
high precipitation in June leads to produce wider rings (r=0.39, p<0.01), while maximum temperature in the
same month has a negative significant effect on radial growth (r=-0.32, p<0.05). On the other hand, high
precipitation in February and March decrease ring width of oriental beach (r=-0.30, p<0.05).
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The endangered agarwood-producing Aquilaria beccariana is reportedly secluded in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula (MPen) and more dispersed in the northern and central regions of the Borneo Island (Bor). The two are geographically separated by the South China Sea. Fresh leaf samples from 47 individuals were collected from six natural populations, including Mersing (MERS) of MPen; Upper Baram (BARA1), Marudi (BARA2), and Lawas (LAWA) of Sarawak; Tongod (TONG) of Sabah, and Kalimantan (KALI) of Indonesia, to study their phylogenetic relationship. Seven non-coding chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) regions and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were amplified and sequenced using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Several closely related Aquilaria species were included to demonstrate the molecular position of A. beccariana. Phylogenetic analysis, median-joining (MJ) network, and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) assembled the six populations into two major clusters, MPen and Bor, when using the combined cpDNA dataset, whereas the Bor populations were further clustered into northern and central populations. DNA barcoding analysis using the combined trnL–trnF+ITS2 loci of 12 Aquilaria species revealed that species discrimination is possible for A. beccariana at both species and population levels. In conclusion, this work provides useful genetic information that may help in the management and conservation of agarwood resources.
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