Seed Yield and Morphological Variations of Beechnuts in Four European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Populations in Croatia

Gavranović, Anđelina; Bogdan, Saša; Lanšćak, Miran; Čehulić, Ivica; Ivanković, Mladen

doi:10.15177/seefor.18-06

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This natural structure of beech forests in southeastern Europe is mostly preserved until today (Ivanković et al 2011). However, while beech forests in Croatia have been naturally regenerated, nowadays the absence of regular mast crop is one of the biggest problems for assisted natural regeneration (Gavranović et al 2018). A recent study showed that both, beech and silver fir, benefit from admixture in radial growth (Schwarz and Bauhus 2019).…”

Section: Electronic Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foliar P nutrition of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) depends on the season but remains unaffected by co-cultivation with silver fir (Abies alba Mill.)

et al. 2020

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Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and silver fir (Abies alba) are often cultivated in mixed stands and, hence, compete for water and nutrients. Besides nitrogen (N), also phosphorus (P) is an important nutrient for growth and development. Beech trees in Central Europe grow on both P-poor and P-rich soils, thereby showing similar growth and low variation in foliar P. The central aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that variations in foliar P contents of beech are driven by seasonal changes rather than by the competition with silver fir. It was further hypothesized that P contents in silver fir needles depend on needle age and forest site. To test these hypotheses, P contents and P fractions, i.e. organic-bound P (Porg) and inorganic phosphate P (Pi), were measured in the foliage of beech trees from pure beech and mixed beech/silver fir plots as well as in needles of silver fir of the mixed plots. The forest sites investigated are located in Central Europe in the Black Forest, Germany, and in Croatia near the south-eastern distribution limit of beech and are all poor in plant-available soil P. The analyses showed that the main driver of P contents and P fractions in beech leaves at all forest sites is the season and that competition with silver fir had no effect. Hence, the present results demonstrate the high plasticity of beech trees to adapt to both poor plant-available soil P and competition with silver fir. Total P contents of silver fir needles were higher at the Croatian site compared to the Black Forest sites and originated from higher foliar Pi contents. One third of the P present in current-year needles in late summer was remobilized and exported until the needles reached the age of 1 year. The difference in P contents between current-year and 1-year-old needles can be seen as the amount of P resorbed from 1-year-old needles in summer during the generation of new needles to support the P demand of current-year needles for growth and development.

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Section: Electronic Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foliar P nutrition of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) depends on the season but remains unaffected by co-cultivation with silver fir (Abies alba Mill.)

et al. 2020

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“…Such behavior led us to hypothesize that the lack of consumption of a natural food item commonly found in the bears' diet must be related to its lower availability in the wild during this year. Even though we did not find data on beechnut yield for 2017, there are records documenting that 2016 and 2018 were good mast years (Gavranović et al 2018, Skrbinšeket al 2019. Beechnuts have an inherent biennial masting pattern (Hilton and Packham 2003) and this pattern, together with our observations in the field, led us to assume a low availability of beechnuts during the study period (i.e., 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Brown bear feeding habits in a poor mast year where supplemental feeding occurs

Pereira

Viličić

Rosalino

et al. 2021

Ursus

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The diet of free-ranging bears is an important dimension regarding their ecology, affecting their behavior, population structure, and relation with humans. In Croatia, there has been no recent study on the natural food habits of brown bears (Ursus arctos) or the influence of artificial feeding sites on their diet. During 2017, we collected 53 brown bear stomachs from bears in 2 regions of Croatia-Gorski Kotar and Lika-to assess their diet. Plants-Allium ursinum, the Poaceae family, Cornus mas, berries (i.e., Prunus avium, Rubus plicatus), beechnuts (Fagus spp.)-and various plant parts (i.e., dry leaves, buds, conifer needles, and twigs), as well as mushrooms, made up 80% of the percentage of the volume (%V) of all consumed items. Corn (Zea mays) from the feeding sites made up 37% of the bears' diet (%V), whereas 20% (%V) was meat and 14% (%V) was pome fruits. Scavenged or preyed animal species, such as wild boar (Sus scrofa), horse (Equus caballus), domestic pig (S. scrofa domesticus), cattle (Bos taurus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and small mammals comprised >66% of %FO (frequency of occurrence), but only 20% of %V. Our results showed that food resources (i.e., livestock such as horses, cattle, and pigs, and corn) found at supplemental feeding sites were more frequently chosen by bears than natural food in 2017, a year characterized by almost no beechnut crop. The results showed that subadult bears obtained most food from feeding sites. These 2 patterns suggested that bears may focus on artificial feeding sites to find food in years when natural food sources are depleted, although this should be tested using diet and food availability data collected from several years.

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“… b Masting index from 1 (no beech mast crop) to 5 (rich beech mast crop; Ascoli et al ., 2017); for years 2016 and 2017, an indication was retrieved from literature (Gavranović et al ., 2018; Skrbinšek et al, 2018). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To provide an approximation of annual beechnuts availability, we referred to the national masting index presented by Ascoli et al (2017); this index, based on kilograms of beech seeds produced over 1736 ha of beech stands in Croatia , is expressed in classes from 1 (very poor beechnut year) to 5 (beechnut mast year). For years later than 2015, we retrieved information on the occurrence of mast years from the literature (Gavranović et al, 2018;Skrbinšek et al, 2018).…”

Section: Analysis Of Spatial Patterns and Migratory Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental and anthropogenic correlates of seasonal migrations in the Dinaric‐Pindos brown bear population

et al. 2021

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Seasonal migrations (i.e. seasonal round-trips between disjunct areas) have been rarely documented for large carnivores. The Dinaric-Pindos brown bear (Ursus arctos) population is the third largest in Europe, but little information is currently available on individual movement patterns. We studied movement patterns by 12 GPS-collared adult and subadult bears in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina during 2004-2017, including migratory movements by some instrumented bears. To investigate environmental correlates of migrations, we first used the canonical Outlying Mean Index analysis, identifying habitat descriptors of summer and fall ranges, and then applied mixed-effects logistic regression to quantify variation in habitat use between them. Thirty-seven per cent 37% of the bears (7 bear-years) migrated during hyperphagia (i.e. partial migration), and seasonal migration was also facultative, as it occurred only during mast (i.e. beechnut) poor years. Migrating bears entered migration during early fall (median = 25 Sept) and returned to their pre-migratory ranges after about 7 weeks (median = 18 Nov). Net distances between pre-migratory (summer) and post-migratory (fall) averaged (AESD) 26.5 AE 9.7 km, with a maximum distance of 38.8 km, corresponding to actual distances travelled of 61.1 AE 21.5 km. Summer ranges from which bears migrated were best described by proximity to supplemental feeding sites and mixed forests, whereas fall ranges reached by migrants were differentiated by lower elevations, and a higher share of deciduous forest, grasslands, forest edges and shrublands. Relative to pre-migratory ranges, bears in post-migratory ones increased their distance to anthropogenic features and showed higher use of cover types expectedly richer in berries and other fleshy fruits. Although we lack any causative evidence, we speculate migration in this bear population is triggered during poor beechnut years by increased social despotic interference at supplemental feeding sites that elicits redistribution of subordinate bears.

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Seed Yield and Morphological Variations of Beechnuts in Four European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Populations in Croatia

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

Foliar P nutrition of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) depends on the season but remains unaffected by co-cultivation with silver fir (Abies alba Mill.)

Foliar P nutrition of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) depends on the season but remains unaffected by co-cultivation with silver fir (Abies alba Mill.)

Brown bear feeding habits in a poor mast year where supplemental feeding occurs

Environmental and anthropogenic correlates of seasonal migrations in the Dinaric‐Pindos brown bear population

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