Actual and Balanced Stand Structure: Examples from Beech-Fir-Spruce Old-Growth Forests in the Area of the Dinarides in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Zoran Govedar, Milun Krstić, Srđan Keren, Violeta Babić, Brane Zlokapa and Branko Kanjevac
Additional contact information
Zoran Govedar: Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska
Milun Krstić: Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
Srđan Keren: Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 31-425 Krakow, Poland
Violeta Babić: Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
Brane Zlokapa: Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska
Branko Kanjevac: Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Old-growth forests are spontaneously developed forest ecosystems without direct human influence in which only natural processes take place. In this study we analyzed the structural sustainability of beech-fir-spruce old-growth forests on dolomite and limestone in the Bosnian Dinaric Mountains. The field work was carried out on permanent experimental plots of 1.0 hectare in size. Thereby, the diameters (d 1.30 ) and the height (h) of all trees within the plots were measured. Based on the available literature, we hypothesized that the structure of old-growth forests provides sustainability through tree-size demographic equilibrium. Thus, the data collected were used to test possible differences between the actual and the theoretically balanced structure in the studied old-growth forests. Statistically significant difference in the actual structure between the two old-growth forests on limestone and dolomite was determined. However, both of them exhibited sustainable diameter distributions. These results point to the importance of preserving old-growth forests for future research as they exemplify the tree-size demographic sustainability and can thus serve as an appropriate reference to managed forests. Concretely, certain structural attributes from old-growth forests could be embedded into the management objectives for increased resilience of managed forests.

Keywords: mixed stands; balanced structure; old-growth forests; forest ecosystem sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/2/540/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/2/540/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:540-:d:132332

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().