Earticle

Fast-grown wood generally contains a high proportion of juvenile wood that results in inferior dimensional stability and durability against biological deteriorations. In the present research, the Acacia mangium wood from plantation forests in Vietnam was treated with high temperature in air. The effects of heat treatment on physical properties of Acacia mangium wood, including mass loss (ML), water absorption (WA), water-repellent effectiveness (WRE) and anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) were examined. The results showed that the dimensional stability and the water-repellent effectiveness are increased by about 15-46% and 8-18%, respectively. However, the mass and dimension of wood are decreased. The results also indicated that both treatment temperature and treatment duration significantly affect the wood properties of Acacia mangium. It is thus concluded that heat treatment demonstrates an interesting potential to improve the wood quality of Acacia mangium for solid timber products. This technology provides an environmentally safe method of protecting sustainable common woods to give a new generation of value-added biomaterials with increased stability without the use of toxic chemicals.

Differences in rates and patterns of nitrogen cycling have been correlated with nitrogen stable isotope measurements in forest ecosystems of tropical and temperate regions, but limited similar work has been conducted in sub-tropical forests. This study investigated patterns in stable N isotopic composition in a subtropical forest in Taiwan by sampling three soil profiles and overstory and understory foliage. Soil δ15N in the forest floor ranged from - 1.8 to 1.8‰. Mineral soils had higher δ15N (4.1 to 6.0‰). Foliage δ15N in overstory trees ranged from -6.6 to -2.0‰, and understory foliage δ15N ranged from -5.0 to -1.2‰. There was a weak correlation between foliar % N and δ15N (r2=0.214). Compared to results from similar surveys in tropical and temperate forests, foliar δ15N values were generally lower. These results help highlight the need for improved knowledge regarding the relationships between patterns in N stable isotopes and processes affecting rates of N cycling, especially as related to wider scale patterns in forest ecosystems within the east-Asia region.

An attempt was made on pulp production from the fast growing plant, Acacia hybrid to determine the total yield, screened yield, Kappa number, and fibre morphology of organosolv Acacia hybrid pulp. Uniform- sized chips were taken to undergo pulping in a digester with five different concentrations of ethanol, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% (v/v) with 1 M of sodium hydroxide as catalyst. All chips were digested in a temperature-controlled digester with constant amount of water added and temperature of 185oC with the duration of three hours cooking time and correspond pressure 1.1-1.2 MPa. It was observed that increasing of ethanol concentration has led to pulp yield increment and decreased in the degree of delignification at the same time. This study was aimed to focus on the effect of the varied concentration of organic solvent towards the pulp yield and its relationship with Kappa number and pulp yield.

This study attempts to classify forest species using hyperspectral data for supporting resources management. The primary dataset used was AISA sensor. The sensor was mounted onboard the NOMAD GAF-27 aircraft at 2,000 m altitude creating a 2 m spatial resolution on the ground. Pre-processing was carried out with CALIGEO software, which automatically corrects for both geometric and radiometric distortions of the raw image data. The radiance data set was then converted to at-sensor reflectance derived from the FODIS sensor. Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) technique was used for image classification. The spectra libraries for tree species were established after confirming the appropriate match between field spectra and pixel spectra. Results showed that the highest spectral signature in NIR range were Kembang Semangkok (Scaphium macropodum), followed by Meranti Sarang Punai (Shorea parvifolia) and Chengal (Neobalanocarpus hemii). Meanwhile, the lowest spectral response were Kasai (Pometia pinnata), Kelat (Eugenia spp.) and Merawan (Hopea beccariana), respectively. The overall accuracy obtained was 79%. Although the accuracy of SAM techniques is below the expectation level, SAM classifier was able to classify tropical tree species. In future it is believe that the most effective way of ground data collection is to use the ground object that has the strongest response to sensor for more significant tree signatures.

The typical natural landscapes and temporal- spatial regulation of Land use change and their ecological effects at Hailun County were conducted and analyzed, based on the translated data from remote sensing images in 1986, 1996 and 2000 using GIS and landscape ecological theory. The results indicated the area of arable land, paddy field and city land increased 7,786.39 hm2, 3391.18 hm2 and 120.84 hm2 while the area of forestry, grassland and marsh decreased 3,184.88 hm2, 1,625.8 hm2 and 3,994.85 hm2 respectively during 14 years. Dry land is a main landscape in this area. These changes made the environmental quality worse gradually, such as land degradation, soil erosion and water and soil losses, and temperature getting warmer. This study is very important for the local ecological environment protect and agricultural sustainability and land resources sustainable using.

Multiple use forestry is capable of generating income for forest based communities through Non- Timber forest products (NTFPs) which provide food, medicine, materials for domestic use and cash income for communities adjoining forest areas in developing countries. This study evaluates the economics of producing ginger rhizomes under teak canopy in a multiple land use system during 2007 and 2008 in even aged teak plantations in Ibadan and Ife, Nigeria. Twelve 6 m2 sample plots were randomly selected in Completely Randomized Block Design within and outside the plantation. Average ginger rhizome of (50-60 g) were planted on the slightly tilled soil. NPK 15:15:15 was applied at 180 kg/ha on a split unit dose. ANOVA, Profitability, Benefit-Cost (B/C) ratio were used to analyze data. Results showed no significant differences between sites in ginger rhizome yield, (0.089 and 0.718, ρ≤0.05) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Average yield were higher outside teak canopy in both sites and treatments, (Ibadan -40.05 g＞32.9 g, Ife -67.6 g＞25.2 g and Ibadan -41.3 g＞31.5 g, Ife -66.8 g＞25.0 g) with and without NPK respectively. NPK had no effect on yields within teak plantation, (Ibadan -31.5＜32.9 g, Ife -25 g＜25.2 g). Ginger rhizome production was viable financially without inorganic fertilizer during second cropping season within and outside plantation (B/C=1.02, 1.09) respectively. Ginger could be raised profitably under teak canopy, however, studies on insolation requirement of ginger under teak canopy and other tree plantations are recommended.

The campus of Chittagong University in Bangladesh is rich in forest ecosystem. The campus has large area with vast tract of land planted with valuable timber tree species. The present study identifies and discovers the potential growing stock of the plantations in the campus area. This Growing stock was measured in three parameters viz. volume, biomass and organic carbon stock. Study identified thirty three economically valuable forest tree species in the plantations of Chittagong University. Out of three growing stock parameters, volume of timber was found to be low in indigenous tree species in the plantation sites other than exotic species. This might be due to their slow growth rate and low density in the plantation sites. However, biomass and organic carbon stock of trees per hactre area showed that indigenous species gather and sequester more timber and carbon respectively than introduced species. Plantations of Chittagong University campus can acquire 25.51 m3/ha volume of economically important tree species, where biomass and organic carbon stock is 222.33 tonne/ha and 107.48 tonne/ha respectively. This result shows a positive impression on the plantation site to be considered as good forest reserve.

The habitats characteristics of Rhododendron micranthum Turcz. were investigated to compile basic data for conservation and restoration. Natural habitats were located at altitudes of 100-500 m with inclinations of 10-35o. Rhododendron micranthum population was classified into Pinus densiflora dominant population. In the study sites, soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphate, exchangeable potassium, exchangeable sodium, exchangeable calcium, exchangeable magnesium, cation exchange capacity and soil pH were 4.10-8.64%, 0.18-0.46%, 8.69-26.70 mgkg-1, 0.10-0.23 cmol+kg-1, 0.06-0.10 cmol+kg-1, 0.85-4.10 cmol+kg-1, 0.24-0.64 cmol+kg-1, 12.76-20.90 cmol+kg-1, 4.34-5.15. Rooting rate is too low, cutting propagation, breeding methods are not good. Also, this study was investigated seed germination of R. micranthum depends on soaking treatment. R. micranthum was soaked with tap water for four days, the average values of germination day were represented of 70%/1 week.

Berries of Korean mistletoe (Viscum album var. coloratum [Kom.] Ohwi) contained one seed, which have, in general, one or two embryos but very rarely three embryos. Mucilaginous substances in berries may help them adhere to the branches of host trees. It was observed that seeds need more than one and half years to develop into normal and healthy seedlings from the time of inoculation. Many factors such as adhesion of berry, thickness of host branch, orientation of haustorial root, etc. influenced the successful development of mistletoe plants. Through the application of six-year observation results on the germination of seeds and growth of seedlings, about 80% of germination rate for mistletoe seeds and 61% of survival ratio for germinated seeds, which is more than 23 times higher in natural conditions, were obtained after inoculation of seeds on the one-year-old branches of Malus pumila var. dulcissima and Quercus mongolica trees. The technological aspects of the success can be applied to other host plants and provide a critical clue to an artificial propagation system, for this medicinally valuable genus. This is the first successful report on artificial inoculation and plant development of Korean mistletoe.