Tomislav Dubravac

Pine reforestation of degraded sites on the island of Rab, Croatia

Abstract Degradation of forest sites on the island of Rab goes back several hundred years. The causes include in the first place negative anthropogenic impacts, followed by climatic conditions that are hostile to natural regeneration of climatozonal vegetation. In a part of the island, devastation has led to the disappearance of forests or the preservation of only degraded forms of the basic autochthonous forest vegetation, the forest of holm oak and manna ash (Fraxino orni‐Quercetum ilicis H‐ic/1956/1958). The beginning of the twentieth century saw intensive reforestation activities aimed at halting site degradation processes. The main task of the pines was to create site conditions for the return of climatozonal vegetation. The paper examines the correlation between pine cultures and the return of autochthonous vegetation. Differences were found among forest cultures of maritime (Pinus pinaster Aiton), black (Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold) and Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis L.). Moreover, the results confirm the justifiability of reforesting degraded sites with pines, but they also reveal the absence of more pronounced effects on the sites. Today, there are about 1000 hectares of pine cultures on the island of Rab, yet climatozonal vegetation has been re‐established in only a small part of these forest cultures.

Natural Regeneration of Beech Forests in the Strict Protected Area of the Plitvice Lakes National Park

Background and Purpose: The study presents the results of an investigation of regeneration processes, growth, development and survival of young growth by field measurement and three-dimensional visualization of horizontal and vertical structure. The results are based on the ten-year investigation (1998-2009) on a permanent experimental plot in a mountain beech forest with dead nettle tree (Lamio orvale Fagetum sylvaticae Ht. 1938) in conditions of passive protection.