Determining the Anti-Erosion Efficiency of Forest Stands Installed on Degraded Land

Mircea Moldovan, Ioan Tăut (), Florin Alexandru Rebrean (), Bartha Szilard, Iulia Diana Arion and Marcel Dîrja
Additional contact information
Mircea Moldovan: National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry (INCDS) “Marin Drăcea”, Cluj Branch, Street Horea, no. 65, 400202 Cluj Napoca, Romania
Ioan Tăut: National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry (INCDS) “Marin Drăcea”, Cluj Branch, Street Horea, no. 65, 400202 Cluj Napoca, Romania
Florin Alexandru Rebrean: Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Street Calea Mănăștur, no. 3-5, 400372 Cluj Napoca, Romania
Bartha Szilard: Department of Forestry and Forest Engineering, University of Oradea, Gen. Magheru Street, no. 26, 410048 Oradea, Romania
Iulia Diana Arion: Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Street Calea Mănăștur, no. 3-5, 400372 Cluj Napoca, Romania
Marcel Dîrja: Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Street Calea Mănăștur, no. 3-5, 400372 Cluj Napoca, Romania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: Erosion caused by human activities is one of the reasons for forest soil degradation worldwide, with a direct impact on forest stands development, including reduced forest productivity. Therefore, in order to establish sustainable stand management practices, it is essential to assess soil losses in various forestry activities. Moreover, this phenomenon is studied little in stands, especially those established on degraded land. In Romanian geographical conditions, where sloping land is up to 67% of the territory and is influenced by natural factors as well as intense human activities, the soil and vegetation suffer serious ecological imbalances. In order to achieve the proposed objectives regarding the evaluation of stands in terms of anti-erosion effectiveness, we analyzed the consistency and the number of trees on the surface, the weight of the seedlings, and the surface runoff from the perspectives of rainfall and soil retention. In the two stands included in this study, the influence of rain intensity was 39% in compartment 49 and 38% in compartment 73, directly influencing surface runoff. The ground retention’s influence on surface runoff was 28% in both compartments. The indirect surface runoff was influenced by the consistency of the stands and by the degree of proximity of the crowns, which directly influenced the intensity of rain. In addition to analyzing these two parameters (rain intensity and ground retention), it was also observed that the degree of proximity to the crowns directly influenced the intensity of the rainfall within the forest, which, in turn, indirectly affected the runoff.

Keywords: rain intensity; runoff; runoff plots; stands consistency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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