Journal of Forest and Wood Products
Year:2017 | Volume:70 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:22

Rural and nomads communities are among the main users of forest products and services. This research was done for understanding the different type of woody uses and their quantification in forest of Khorramabad city, Lorestan province. In this research, the human community consisted of all people of Cheshmeh-Ali village and nomads living in the customary land area of the village. Local livelihoods are dependent on traditional livestock husbandry, agriculture, gardening, as well as forest products. The methodology of the research was ethnography, which is done with semi-structured and non-structured interviews, participatory observation, meter and diameter tape tools. The result of woody uses was classified into five categories: furniture and handicraft, construction, agriculture, energy, and livestock uses. The results showed that each rural household uses 24.4 cubic meters of wood annually. Usage of wood as a source of energy included 99% of annual consumption of the rural household. In addition, each nomad household in six month accommodation in the area consumed 11.04 cubic meters of wood. Use of wood as a source of energy included 95% of it. This research demonstrates that the large volume of wood uses as fuel and source of energy. Therefore, natural gas distribution in the area and promoting renewable energy sources such as solar power reduce the use of forest wood fuel.

Taxol is an effective anticancer drug which is used widely for the treatment of a variety of cancers. Tissue culture of taxol represents a potential altrnative source of taxol and related taxane. Callogensis in plant regeneration, one method of producing metabolites a secondary in vitro. This study was performed to investigate the basic culture medium and hormonal concentrations for callogenesis of two yew species (Taxus baccata and Taxus berevifolia). The research was conducted as factorial experiment in a completely randomized design. For callus optimization, growth conditions and stem explants were studied in three medium types (WPM, MS and B5) and under the effect of 2, 4-D growth regulator at concentrations of 1, 2 and 4 mg l-1 in combination with kinetin at concentrations of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg l-1. The results showed that the highest percentage of stem callogenesis (57.3%) was observed in WPM medium enriched with 2 mg l-1 2, 4-D and 2.0 mg l-1 kinetin. The lowest percentage of callogenesis (22.3%) occurred on MS medium and B5 medium had average callogenesis. Application of lower concentrations of growth regulators than higher concentrations had also more effect on callogenesis variable in stem explants in two studied Taxus species.

Physiological response of different species to drought stress can help to recognize the effective mechanisms in drought stress and choose the best species for planting in dry lands of Iran. This study investigated the physiological mechanisms of Robinia pseudo acacia L. seedlings in draught conditions. An experiment was carried out in a completely randomized block with one treatment (irrigation) at five levels (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 -day intervals) with five replicates in one-year-old seedlings of Robinia pseudo acacia L. The effects of drought stress, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fv/Fm, Fm & F0), pigments concentrate (total chlorophyle, chlorophyle ‘a’ and ‘b’), and proline content of leaves were measured with sampling from leaves of mentioned treatments. Drought stress caused a significant reduction in maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), maximum fluorescence (Fm) and minimum fluorescence (F0) (p<0.05). The chlorophyll content was not significantly affected by drought between watering regimes. With increasing the intensity of drought, proline accumulation in leaves was increased from 9.82 in 1day treatment to 77.40 (mmol/gfw) in the 9-day irrigation treatment. Measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and proline content would be useful as a degree of drought tolerance indicator for selecting the adapted species to arid and semiarid regions.

  Black locust (Robinia pseudo acacia L.) and Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum L.) are two suitable species for seedling production in nurseries and green space development in arid lands. The current research aimed to study the response of potted-seedlings of these species to salinity based on survival and some growth characteristics. Experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with 4 replicates. In an open place, under a shelter, seedlings were irrigated by NaCl solution for 90 days at four salinity levels including 0, 5, 10 and 20 ds.m-1. The most growth parameters in black locust showed better response to salinity up to 10 dS.m-1 compared to Judas tree. At 20 dS.m-1 salinity, the survival of black locust seedlings was greater than those of Judas tree (respectively, 45% and 30%). In both species, survival was greater than 50% in 10 dS.m-1, while in 5 dS.m-1 it was not decreased and still was 100%. Considering that the most growth characteristics were decreased in some levels of salinity, threshold of salinity tolerance of both species can be cited 5 ds.m-1. Therefore, these species can be produced in saline soils (up to 5 ds.m-1) of nurseries of arid lands. Similar investigations at next growth stages would reveal the better tolerance of these species to salinity in order to develop the green spaces and rehabilitation of arid lands with saline soils.

The Hyrcanian forests are one of the most important global terrestrial ecosystems influenced by environmental factors. They have significant impacts on sustainable development of human communities. The forest monitoring based on phenological trends is essential for understanding the response of forest ecosystems to climate variability. The objective was thus to analyze long-term trends of vegetation activity using Mann Kendall test pixel by pixel on 756 biweekly NOAA NDVI time series in the forest areas of northern Iran during 1981-2012. Trends of temperature and precipitation and their regression relationships with NDVI were considered. The greening and browning trends appeared in 75.35% and 7.41% of these forests areas, respectively. The precipitation trend analysis exhibited no obvious significant trend in most pixels of the study area, however, trend analysis of temperature time series showed significant increasing trends (a=0.01) in the whole region. Results of regression relationship between time series NDVI and temperature and precipitation demonstrated a weak relationship with changes in vegetation activities and climatological parameters during 1981-2012. The results of this research demonstrated that greening phenomenon in the Hyrcanian forests cannot be solely related to the climatological factors.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of physiographic effects (slope, aspect and altitude) on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Fraxinus excelsior plantation in Dooleychal in Masouleh, Guilan province. For this purpose, 100 0.2 ha circular sample plots were established as systematic random in an area about 400 ha. Within each sample plots, the physiographic factors (slope, aspect and altitude m a.s.l), quantitative characteristics (collar diameter and total height) and qualitative characteristics (vitality and multi-branching) were measured and recorded. The results of analysis of variance showed that there is a significant difference between the mean diameter of the collar and the total height of ash tree in different directions. Also, the results showed that there was no significant difference between the diameter of the collar in different slopes, while there was a significant difference between the height of the ash tree in different slopes. The results of t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the collar diameter at different altitudes, while there was no significant difference between the height of the ash tree at different altitudes. The study of the effect of aspect on the qualitative characteristics showed that highest level of vitality and multi-branching were observed on the north- and south-facing slopes, respectively. The study of slope effect on qualitative characteristics showed that highest level of vitality and multi-branching were in the range of 0-20%. Investigation of the effect of altitude m a.s.l on qualitative characteristics showed that the highest level of vitality and multi-branching were at 1700-1.900 meters.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of fire on flora and life forms of herbaceous species in the Strait of Bzazkhaneh forest zone in the North East of Kermanshah. After determining the sample area using minimal area method, 40 sampling plots were laid out in each area: burned and unburned (control area). Plant species within each sample plot were collected and identified and their life form was recorded based on Raunkiaer system. The results of this study showed that the burned area had 48 plant species belonging to 37 genera and 14 families and the unburned area had 50 plant species belonging to 36 genera and 13 families. Among the identified families, Malvaceae, Guttiferae, Iridaceae, and Caryophyllaceae occurred only in burned area and Papaveraceae and Brassicaceae were observed in control area leading to differences in plant species composition between the two areas. Investigating the life forms of the species in the study areas showed that therophytes had the highest coverage percentage in two areas so that the percentage of these species in burned area was higher than the control area one. In general, after nine years of fire occurrence, the presence, absence and or restoration of some species have been affected by fire factor.

Forest site productivity is an important criterion for forest managers. In this study, the predictability of statistical models was studied by applying various methods of variable selection for beech dominant height as an indicator of forest site quality in relation to edaphic and physiographic factors. For this purpose, 127 0.1 ha circular sample plots were established in the forests of Tarbiat Modares University and within each plot, the dominant height of beech trees was calculated. The performance of five variable selection methods was evaluated in multiple linear regression, and regression trees. In order to compare the performance of the above methods, Cross-validation, involving repeated splits of the dataset into training and validation subsets (2500 times) was used to obtain honest estimates of predictive ability. The results showed that there is little differences in the predictive ability of five methods based on multiple linear regression. Stepwise methods performed similarly to exhaustive algorithms for subset selection, and the choice of criterion for comparing models (Akaike’s information criterion, Schwarz’s Bayesian information criterion or F statistics) had little effect on predictive ability. In this study method based on regression trees yielded with substantially lower predictive ability. It is concluded that there is no best method of variable selection and that any of the regression-based approaches discussed here is capable of yielding useful predictive models.

In order to identify and sustainable management of afforested tree stands, the effects ofAlnus subcordata, Acer insigne, Sequoia sempervirens and Acer insigne - Sequoia sempervirens stands on quality of litter and soil were investigated in Salmanshahr areas of Mazandaran Province. Samplings were done from the litter and 0-10cm depth of topsoil using randomly systematic method with 15 replicates for each stand. Organic carbon (C) and total nitrogen (N) content of litter, soil water content, pH, organic C, total N, nitrate and ammonium concentration, microbial respiration, microbial biomass of C and N were measured. Results showed that the highest values of soil water content, litter and soil N, nitrate and ammonium concentration, microbial respiration, microbial biomass of C and N belonged to Alnus subcordata compared with Acer insigne>Acer insigne - Sequoia sempervirens>Sequoia sempervirens pure and mixed stands. Whereas greater amounts of C/N of litter and soil organic C were found under Sequoia sempervirens stand. Generally, Acer insigne - Sequoia sempervirens mixed stand presented intermediate mode viewpoint of litter quality and soil fertility. According to our data, afforestation with broad-leaved species, especially N-fixing trees of Alnus subcordata, improved the litter and soil quality, whereas the Sequoia sempervirens species created the inappropriate condition.

orm factor is one of the most important factors for determining the tree volume. Numerical value of the form factor depends on factors such as tree species, habitat, stand density, age, and some environmental factors and is calculated using various formulas. This study was performed to determine the most appropriate form factor formula in the plantation stands of Turkish pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) located in the northern city of Khorramabad. Totally 30 trees were selected and cut. The actual volume of each tree was determined by using the volume of cylinder, Smalian and cone formulas. For each tree, the form factors: Actual (¦r), Natural (¦0.1), Artificial (¦1.3) and Hohenadel (h f) and Slenderness coefficient was calculated. Three coefficients natural, artificial and Hohenadel, using pair-wise comparison test were compared with the actual form factor. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the actual form factor and the three other coefficients (natural, artificial, and Hohenadel) at the 95% probability level, and therefore none of them can replace the actual form factor. The stand slenderness coefficient (H/DBH) is 55.1 and therefore it was stable at this stage. Comparing the geometric shape of the 120 pieces measured with geometric volumes showed that 50.8% of the parts were in the form of neloeid, 44.2 % in the form of paraboloid and 5% in the form of cones.

Quantitative and qualitative information of forest structure is the most important for forest management in Zagros forests. This study was done in order to investigate of effect forest stratification approach on the precision estimation of the quantitative features of trees in N- tree sampling methods (one, two, four, six and eight trees) in Dorood forest, Lorestan province. For this purpose, 141 2500 m2 (50 ´ 50 m) sample plots were selected in an area ca.42 hectares and full-calipering inventory was done. Within each plot, the number of trees, diameter at breast height and canopy of each tree (largest/smallest crown diameter) were recorded for all trees with DBH ³ 7.5 cm. The N-trees sampling methods were then designed in GIS software and according to the scale of the map were implemented in the forest. The forest was then stratified into three types (<125, 125-250 and>250 trees per hectare) by using the density (number per hectare). The statistical parameters for the number of trees per hectare, basal area per hectare and canopy cover percentage per hectare were calculated before and after the stratification. Results showed that with the implementation of the stratification in the N-tree sampling method, the estimated mean of the characteristics was closer to the real mean. It also eliminates the heterogeneity in the study area and reduces the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation. As well as stratification improved the heterogeneity in the study area and standard deviation and coefficient of variation were reduced. This increases the precision of the N-tree sampling method (one, two, four, six and eight trees) in Dorood forest. Therefore implementation of stratification in N-tree sampling method was positively assessed.

Quantifying the forest biophysical variables such as biomass in local, zonal, and regional scales is necessary for evaluation, monitoring, and management of carbon sequestration conditions. Polarized SAR images in L band (like Alos-Palsar) have been used for estimating AGB due to its ability in penetration into canopy and extracting the trunk information. The capability of Alos-Palsar data for above-ground biomass estimation of trees was studied in some part of mixed hardwood forest of Dr. Bahramnia forestry plan. The aboveground biomass of trees was computed in 308 0.1 circular sample plots using local allometric equations. In this study, we used radiometric and geometric processed radar data and according that, normalized backscatter coefficients in HH and HV polarization, ratio and difference of them, alpha and entropy components from Cloud-Pottiers target decomposition approach and GLCM texture features were extracted from Alos-Palsar images on sample plots. Biomass modeling and estimation were done using 70 percent of sample plots by KNN, SVR and Random Forest nonparametric algorithms as well as multiple linear regression algorithms. The validity assessment was done by using the remaining 30 percent samples. According to the results, KNN algorithm had better performance than the other algorithms in estimation of aboveground biomass of trees. RMSE (57.189%) and adjusted R2 (0.032) showed the weak performance of this approach in aboveground biomass estimation of trees.

Using modern machinery for logging will entail considerable pressure to the soil and cause serious damage to the soil and reduce the carbon sequestration. Many studies show the long-term recovery of soil physical and chemical properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of skidding slope, traffic, and place of the wheel on the carbon stocks and estimate the economic value of these reserves to obtain the information needed for comprehensive decision-making about the management of forest resources. The treatments included two slope classes (>10% and £10%), each class includes three traffic levels (low, medium and high), and in each group, on the wheels route, middle route, and control area, four samples were taken in three replicates. The economic valuation of the carbon sequestration function was determined using the shadow value method. The results showed that with increasing the slope path, the number of traffic and on the wheel route, the amount of carbon sequestration decreased significantly. The value of each hectare of the study area in terms of soil carbon sequestration and organic layer up to a depth of 10 cm was estimated about 1798.8 $ per hectare. On the other hand, reducing carbon sequestration in skid trails costs an average of 5, 166 $ per hectare annually. Awareness of these costs will help the policymakers in the conservation and allocation of financial resources, especially in the context of budget constraints.

This research aimed at modeling the landslide susceptibility using the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in Kojour watershed and then planning the forest road based on the resulted map in Aghoozchal and Moor districts in the northern Iran. After recording the coordinates of 95 occurred landslides, six factors of terrain slope, aspect, curvature, distance to river, distance to fault, and geology formation were assumed as the effective factors in landslide occurrence. The digital layers of input variables were prepared in Geographic Information System. After data extraction, various back propagation multi-layer perceptron ANNs with various setting parameters were developed and their performances were evaluated. Results showed that the best root mean square error (RMSE) and determination coefficient (R2) as model performance criteria for the most robust model were 0.1945 and 0.8676, respectively, in which 2 and 8 neurons have been obtained in the first and second hidden layers. Among the proposed variants, the variant No.3 was selected as the most appropriate one with the least passing from very susceptible landslide classes and it was then implemented in the field.

It was planned to study the surface properties of the oak wood coated with stearic acid and post-heated in press and oven to compare it with a coated surface with typical resin Killer-Sealler polyester to indicate any effects of the stearic acid on wood surface. The properties; as contact angle as well as color changes of the oak wood were studied and determined in the current research work. Those properties were determined before and after ten days of leaching tests to reveal resistance of the stearic acid on wood. FTIR spectroscopy was carried out on wood surface to detect any reaction with wood surface. The results revealed that wood surface became hydrophobic due to coating with stearic acid and post-heating with hot press as well as oven in comparison with the typical resin. The use of the stearic acid caused increase of the water contact angle in beech wood. Any assessment of the hydrophobicity resistance of treated samples indicated no reduction of the contact angle and protection of the wood surface against water even after leaching test. It was also revealed that color changes due to coating with stearic was less than that of other coating agents after coating and also after leaching tests.

Oak fruit is naturally produced as a huge amount of biopolymer in Iranian forests, annually. In this study, the fruit starch was isolated by the alkaline method (known as A3S) and modified with 3-chloro-2-hydoxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride (QUAB188) and then, applied as a cationic additive in cellulosic fiber suspension.. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Kjeldahl analyses of both cationic and raw biopolymer approved the nitrogen content (0.359%) with a degree of substitution (DS) of quaternary ammonium (0.045) on anhydroglucose units of cationic starch. The results showed that the raw starch has significantly superior effects on properties of both cellulosic fiber suspension as well as fiber network compared to the cationic biopolymer. Indeed, several properties of cellulosic fiber suspension such as drainage time, retention and water retention value improved while for the fiber network an enhancement in apparent density and strength indices of tensile, burst, and tear was observed. For example, the raw biopolymer revealed up to 43% higher tensile index of the prepared network and>2% retention of the suspension compared to the cationic starch, the more uniform paper sheet formation obtained from Oak raw starch compared to the cationic starch can be attributed the high DS of cationic starch, higher module of elasticity, and decreasing molecular weight of polymer during cat ionization process. In addition, the other properties were considerably improved by the employment of both local biopolymers, except drainage time; which can be due to the improvement of flocculation, retention, ingredients bonding, and density.

In recent years, the use of nano fibrillated cellulose (NFC) have been received a great attention. In this study, NFC cationized at three levels of 10, 20 and 30 wt% using 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl tri-methyl ammonium chloride (CHPTAC) and the cationic modification verified by Kjeldahl test. Then, the effects of the cationic nano fibrillated cellulose (CNFC) which were added to the bagasse pulp at four levels (0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2% based on OD pulp) on retention, drainage, and also the laboratory hand sheet properties were assessed and compared with complex mechanism containing NFC (at the same addition levels of CNFC) /cationic starch (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% based on OD pulp). The results showed that the type and amount of the additives have significant effects on all the optical and strength properties of paper. Using NFC, whether as unmodified together with cationic starch or as solely modified, made an increment in freeness and retention of the bagasse pulp and also, air permeance of the hand sheet, and led to superior mechanical performance of CNFC in comparison with NFC/cationic starch. CNFC poses ionic bonding ability in addition to its hydrogen bonding, which in turn resulted in its more evenly distribution across the paper network and better performance as promoter biopolymer of paper. Furthermore, utilization of CNFC caused increment and NFC/cationic starch caused decline in brightness of paper, produced from bagasse pulp.

The use of natural polymers in comparison with synthetic ones within coating structure would contribute to preserve recyclability and biodegradability characteristics of paper products. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of biopolymer barrier coatings on packaging paper properties. Therefore, the composite coatings consist of soy protein /cellulose nano fiber (SPI/CNF) with five levels of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt% CNF was applied at 5, 10 and 15 g/m2 coat weights on the liner base paper. In order to evaluate coatings effects, tensile strength, strain at break, burst strength, color difference, oil resistance, and water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) were considered. The results showed that the tensile index, strain at break and burst strength index of coated paper enhanced with increasing the CNF content and coat weights. Moreover, the color measurements demonstrated that coating of papers with SPI/CNF caused to more color difference in coated papers and it was darker in comparison with uncoated ones as the coat weights increased. The oil resistance and WVTR of coated papers were improved drastically and they were 86.87% and 76.61% respectively at highest CNF level and coat weight. In general, incorporation of CNF into SPI matrix led to an improvement in barrier and mechanical properties of coated paper.