Leading researcher: dr. Attila Borovics
The aim of research is to examine forest management practices whether they contribute to a decrease of genetic diversity and loss of adaptation potential.
Materials and methods:
Oak and beech stands are selected from an ERTI’s long-term experimental plots in order to study the effect of different type of thinning. In each stand one 0,25 ha experimental plot is established, where a specific thinning operation has been carried out and untreated plot of same size is delimited next to each treated plot as a reference. The different treatments comprise untreated, moderate and intensive thinning.
Results:
The first results obtained from pairs of thinned and untreated (reference) experimental plots make clear that the genetic structure in the stands have changed after silvicultural treatment.
The intensity of thinning appeared to affect the level of reduction in genetic diversity. The number of allele as well as the other genetic diversity parameters decreased after thinning.
Both in the moderately and intensively thinned experimental plots heterozygosity was slightly lower than the respective reference plots. This results might be interpreted in a way vital trees, which show a higher degree of heterozygosity, are promoted by anthropogenic operations like selective thinning. However, when the intensity of thinning is strongly raised, the number of removed vital individuals may increase, which further leads to the reduction of the degree of heterozygosity.
