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Forest conversions may lead to an accumulation of carbon in vegetation, but little is known about changes in soil C storage with establishment of plantation forests. Understanding these effects is important to addressing issues relevant to ecosystem function and productivity, and to global balance of carbon. The study investigated the effects of the created coniferous plantations on former beech and pasture sites on the soil organic carbon storage. The major forest-related land-uses in the high mountainous regions of central Stara Planina Mountain were investigated: mountainous pasture, coniferous plantations (planted on previous pasture and beech forests between four and five decades ago) and natural beech forests. The experimental data of soil properties, conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2007, were used in determining the variations in organic carbon storage in forest litter and in mineral soil under different land-use patterns. At each site five representative soil profiles were opened and described giving a total 75 soil samples from the soil layers respectively at 0-10, 10-30 and 30-50 cm depth. A total of 55 samples from forest floor layers (Aol, Aof, Aoh and greensward) were collected with 25:25 cm plastic frame. The main soil properties were determined in accordance with the standardized methods in the Laboratory of soil science at the Forest Research Institute - BAS. The IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry was used to estimate the soil organic carbon stock in soil and litter. The results obtained showed that the SOC stock was quite similar among forest land-uses. The conversion of natural beech forests to coniferous plantations in studied region is related with slightly expressed decrease in soil carbon storage. The values of SOC stocks in 0-50 cm soil layer in these sites were 8.5 (±2.1) tones/ha for pine and 11.0 (±1.4) tones/ha for spruce, while under the natural beech forest it was 14.8 (±1.0) tones/ha. The SOC stock in mountainous pasture was 20.7 (± 6.5) tones/ha, while in spruce plantation created on previous pasture it was 13.5 (±2.7) tones/ha. Our finding showed that forest conversions effect in central Stara Planina Mountain is expressed by decrease in SOC stock related with losses of carbon from the upper mineral soil decades after creation of coniferous plantations. Nevertheless the relatively large organic carbon storage in forest litter in the spruce plantations compensated C lost from mineral soil after the land-use change. The overall carbon stock both in forest litter and soil under plantations ranged from 56 tones/ha (pine) to 77 tones/ha (spruce), while under natural beech forest and pasture the values were 70 and 81 tones/ha respectively. But in terms of stability C sequestrated in mineral soil is more desirable than C sequestrated in forest floor which are more vulnerable to decomposition following disturbances. The application of silvicultural activities in coniferous plantations created by conversion of forest lands or grasslands in the region of centr...

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The evaluation of bruise color imaging is a very important task in forensic medicine. However, there is no standardized methodology in carrying out this task. In this paper, an attempt was made to review the different papers published in the literature on the visual assessment of bruise age determination, and derive color charts of daily bruise aging. Based on the color charts derived, the following observations can be made: (i) the bruise is red for day 1, (ii) there is no dominant color for day 2, whereas for day 3, blue is becoming slightly dominant, (iii) green is becoming dominant for days 4-6, with yellow color emerging, (iv) for day 7, there is coexistence of green and yellow, (v) yellow is highly dominant for days 7 to 14, with brown emerging. These charts can serve as guidelines for the qualitative evaluation of bruise imaging by visual analysis. Clearly, the need exists for the quantitative analysis of bruise color imaging.

The paper presents tne results of palynostratigraphyc studies of Carboniferous rocks from Novachene Borehole. The age determination is based on miospore ranges from the Upper Tournaisian to the lower-middle part of the Visean. The identified microflora includes the following taxa: Retispora lepidophyta, Verrucosisporites nitidus, Schopfites claviger, Raistrickia clavata, Crassispora trichera, Diatomozonotriletes saetosus and Lycospora pussila. The sediments from Novachene contain spores attributable to the part of Biozones PL, PC, CM, PU (Westeuropean subdivision).