Belova, O. 2011. Game under Spotlight: Scientific and Practical Knowledge in Game and Wildlife Management in 2011. Baltic Forestry 17(2): 237-239 (Chronicle)
Game animals have assumed a very significant component of forest ecosystems in ecological, economic, scientific cognitive, recreational, aesthetic and other aspects. Since prehistoric times peoples are known to have hunted wildlife striving to survive, providing food, tools, clothing for themselves, protecting their shelters and later also crops. Some game species have gone extinct (e.g. aurochs, wild horse, wild cat, flying squirrel, wolverine, brown bear, European mink in Lithuania) meanwhile most because of their sensitivity to changes in habitats, less fertility, small distribution area, strict stenotopicity and less because of hunting or other direct elimination. The vitality and sustainability of the living system including forest ecosystems depend on their diversity as the system becomes more vulnerable if species diversity is decreasing. The long-term expansion of humans into nature has caused the deep and often irreversible environmental changes. These changes affect animals and their response to usual natural events, habitats, food, migration, relationship between species etc. To prevent the depletion of game species, their usage and habitats has to be managed. To understand the role of game in ecosystems, to determine, use game resources sustainably and protect them and their habitats, the knowledge and its dissemination is significant including animal ecology, their relationship with environment, mitigation of hunam-game conflicts etc. This problem is solving not only at national but also at European and international levels.
Nikolaeva, M. and Kärki, T. 2011. A Review of Fire Retardant Processes and Chemistry, with Discussion of the Case of Wood-plastic Composites. Baltic Forestry 17(2): 314-326 (Review Paper)
Wood-plastic composites (WPC) are a relatively new group of materials covering a wide range of applications. Strict safety and quality standards in many industries impose a significant number of technical requirements on wood-plastic composites. One of the main factors limiting the use of WPC in some industrial fields is flammability. This paper presents the main features of the fire retardancy of wood-plastic composites and current approaches to decreasing the combustibility of such composite materials.
Keywords: wood-plastic composites, fire resistance, flammability, fire retardancy, retardants
Skyrienė, G., Ulevičius, A. and Samas, A. 2011. Levels of Helminth Infection of Small Rodents in Two Interspersed Habitats – the Forest and Beaver Sites. Baltic Forestry 17(2): 299-307
Helminth infection in small rodents (Apodemus flavicollisand Myodes glareolus) was studied in forest and in beaver sites that were tightly spatially interspersed. Beaver sites were regarded as disturbed habitats inhabited by these two typical forests dwelling small rodent species. We tested the hypothesis that beaver sites, as disturbed habitats, can influence the abundance of infections with helminths, typical of forest rodent species. The composition of helminth species overlapped fully in the two tested habitats for M. glareolus (8 species of parasites) and nearly completely also for A. flavicollis (7 species in beaver sites and 6 species in the forest). M. glareoluswere more heavily infected with Syphacia petrusewiczi in beaver sitesthan in the forest in autumn and winter. The mean abundance of all helminths in M. glareolus was significantly higher in beaver sites only in the winter, with no significant differences in any other season. For A. flavicollis, we did not find statistically significant differences in mean abundance of helminths between the habitats neither for any particular helminth species nor for all helminth species taken together. We found some changes in the helminth community structure (as reflected in dominance hierarchies of helminths species) between the two studied habitats. S. petrusewiczi dominating markedly over the other helminth species in M. glareolus in the beaver sites, whereas dominance with this helminth was much weaker in the forest. For A. flavicollis, we found different dominant helminth species in each of the two habitats: Syphacia montana was strong dominant in beaver sites, but it was not found in mice dwelling in the forest, where Syphacia stroma dominated at the beaver sites. The patterns of taxonomic diversity of helminths and the distribution of parasites among host individuals did not reveal any significant differences between the tested habitats which were variable among host species and seasons. Our study has revealed habitat differences only in some aspects of the helminth infections of the two typical forest dwelling rodent species, whereas other tested parameters were highly variable and did not showed significant inequalities between habitats. These findings suggest a rather weak impact of the beaver sites on the epidemiology of helminth infections in typical forest dwelling small rodent species.
Key words: Apodemus flavicollis, Myodes glareolus, helminths, helminthinfection levels, forest, beaver sites, habitat disturbance
Liepiņš, K., Lazdiņa, D. and Lazdiņš, A. 2011. Productivity and Cost-effectiveness of the M-Planter Tree Planting Machine in Latvian Conditions. Baltic Forestry 17(2): 308-313 (Brief Report)
Although the first efforts to develop efficient forest planting machines were made already in the mid-20th century, the level of mechanization in reforestation is still very low. The aim of the given study is to assess the productivity and cost-effectiveness in Latvian conditions of the M-Planter tree planting machine, recently launched in Finland.
The productivity (E0) of the M-Planter achieved in field tests was 260 seedlings per hour. Considering the current economic situation in Latvia the conventional technologies with mechanized site preparation and manual planting prove to be a viable alternative in forest regeneration.
A number of factors affecting the performance of the said planting machine and prerequisites for introducing fully mechanized forest regeneration technologies in practical forestry in Latvia are discussed.
Key words: mechanical forest planting, productivity, cost-effectiveness, M-planter
Ovaskainen, H., Palander, T., Tikkanen, L., Hirvonen, H. and Ronkainen, P. 2011. Productivity of different working techniques in thinning and clear cutting in a harvester simulator. Baltic Forestry 17(2): 288-298
The objective of this study was to compare the productivity of three working techniques in thinning and three working techniques in clear cutting using a single-grip harvester work. Typically, forest conditions are so heterogeneous that a reliable comparison between working techniques is not possible. For this reason, the experiments were performed using a harvester simulator environment, which enables very homogeneous experiment conditions for operators and therefore good comparability for the results: the same stand can be reloaded and cut with different working techniques using the same technical settings as many times as necessary. The studied working techniques in thinning were: right-angle piling, oblique piling and under the boom piling, and in clear cutting: one-sided piling, two-sided piling and forward felling. In thinning the difference in productivity of the least productive, right-angle piling, and the most productive, under the boom piling, was about 7%, which was mainly caused by the faster felling. In clear cutting, the productivity of forward felling and two-sided piling were similar (difference only about 1%). Their productivity was about 11% higher than one-sided piling. This difference was caused by faster (about 5 seconds) catching and felling. The results are useful from the perspective of the education and training of operator candidates.
Keywords: cut-to-length, productivity, simulator, single-grip harvester, working technique