Coarse dead wood volume of managed Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) stands in Turkey

Abstract

As a result of " clean management " systems in forests, many species are lost or reduced to the point of being endangered. This is a broad term which refers to the pursuit of a tidy, system of intensively productive forest in which dead and dying wood, standing and fallen, is rigorously removed or cleansed from the system. This is because foresters believed that such wood harboured diseases and pests. The consequence of such policies applied over decades or in some cases centuries has been a massive depletion of the resource and serious declines of removal of biodiversity. This study assesses the amount of coarse dead wood in oriental beech forests in Turkey. The total volume of dead wood was revealed as 22.87 +/- 4.34 cubic m/ha; made up of 3.37 +/- 1.41 cubic m/ha (15%) as snag1 (standing dead wood with dried tips and intact top), 9.87 +/- 2.2 cubic m/ha (43%) as snag2 (standing dead wood with bark loosened and broken top), 4.13 +/- 1.9 cubic m/ha (18%) as log1 (newly fallen dead wood), and 5.51 +/- 1.99 cubic m/ha (24%) as log2 (rotted fallen dead wood). From this research the managed oriental beech stands in Turkey can be described as relatively dead wood-rich. The proportion of the total dead wood volume (%) of oriental beech stands investigated 4.81 +/- 4.72 percent of the total living wood volume. There were significant differences (F sub(14;65)= 4.109***, and SNK -Student-Newman-Keuls- = 3.99) in dead wood volume between the main study areas (min.: 4.46 cubic m/ha; max.: 46.11 cubic m/ha). This was due to the topography and particularly the steep slopes, and the road network infrastructure which influences the situation through local timber production. It is hoped that this study of oriental beech forests, may guide managers in considering dead wood and processes of decomposition in managing forests in Turkey, Southeastern Europe, the Northern Caucasus, Northern Iran and Syria.