Krasimira Petkova

Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: kpet@abv.bg

The aim of the study is to establish the height growth response of Douglas-fir provenances
in different climatic conditions in provenance test in Bulgaria. The provenance test is located on
the lower part of the northern slopes of the Western Balkan Range (North-Western Bulgaria) and
includes 54 provenances originating from North America. The provenances were separated into
three groups – coastal, continental and Western Cascade Mountains. Regression models between
the average height at the age of 24 and some climatic indicators were developed to reveal
the correlation between climatic variables and height growth. The transfer distance was calculated
as a difference between the respective climatic indicator of planting site (provenance test)
and seed sources (provenances). For continental provenances, the transfer is to more humid
and warmer climate, but its height growth is poorer. The coastal and West Cascade Mountains
provenances were moved to more continental and drier climate but have a good height growth.

Vikaspal Singh (1)*, Sunil Prasad (2), and Dhanpal Singh Chauhan (3)

1. Dolphin PG Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences, Department of Forestry, Manduwala,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. *E-mail: vikaspals@gmail.com
2. Ecology and Biodiversity Services, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
E-mail: bhat.sunil.for@gmail.com
3. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, HNBGU, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India.
E-mail: dschauhan2008@gmail.com

A plant quantitative investigation was carried out at six oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A.
Camus) dominated stands in different locations of Gahrwal Himalaya. A total of 28 tree species
with 17 families, 41 shrub species with 21 families and 50 herb species with 22 families were
observed in all studied oak stands. In tree layer maximum 15 genera were recorded in Chaurangikhal
oak stand and minimum number of genera (11) was found in Chadrabadani, Diwalikhal
and Ghuttu oak stand. For shrub layer highest number of genera (25) was observed in Ghuttu
oak stand and lowest (18) – for Chadrabadani, Chaurangikhal and Makku oak stands. Herb layer
showed maximum 32 genera, found at Ghuttu oak stand and minimum genera (15) – at Chandrabadani
oak stand. Comparatively Quercus leucotrichophora have greater values of density,
basal area and Important Value Index (IVI) among all studied oak stands to the rest of associated
dominant tree species. Highest density (823.6 plant∙ha-1) and IVI (170.8) for Quercus leucotrichophora
was observed at Diwalikhal oak stand, while, lowest density (176.7 plants∙ha-1) and IVI
(126.3) was found at Makku and Chaurangikhal oak stands, respectively.

Toma Tonchev, Radka Koleva*, and Youlin Tepeliev

University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria.
*E-mails: rad_koleva@abv.bg, rad.koleva@gmail.com

Two forest sub-regions at the western border of the country were selected as a study area
because a lot of coniferous forest stands were damaged by biotic and abiotic factors in the last
several years. Using the methodology, software and images of the CORINE Land Cover 2018
Project, a computer-assisted interpretation of the multitemporal satellite and aerial digital images
was performed. False color compositions were used, including NIR and SWIR spectral bands. All
coniferous forests in the study area (larger than 5 ha) damaged in the period 2012 – 2018 were
detected and mapped. The obtained results were compared with terrestrial data from the annual
reports of Forest Protection Station Sofia (FPS 2018), which are by years, by the affected areas
and by the factors for the damages. The comparison proved the appropriateness of the approach
and its advantages became obvious, compared to traditional ground observations, including in
terms of accuracy, time and money.

Nadiia Oleksiichenko (1) and Nadiia Gatalska (2)*

1. National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Department of Landscape
Architecture and Park-Garden Construction, 19 Heneral Rodimtsev Str., Kiev, Ukraine.
E-mail: noolex@ukr.net
2. National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Department of Landscape
Architecture and Park-Garden Construction, 19 Heneral Rodimtsev Str., Kiev, Ukraine.
*E-mail: gatalska@ukr.net

The paper presents the spectrum of the research of aesthetic assessment of the landscape
with the involvement of respondents (23 people), which was carried out during the summer-autumn
period directly in the park environment and with the use of photographs. When using different
methodological approaches and according to a comparative analysis of peculiarities of perception
of the scenery park environment, the interconnections between aesthetic assessment of
park landscape and features that affect its formation were revealed. It was discovered that while
evaluating the park environment directly in the place, the estimation is reduced in comparison
with the pictures, although at the same time the positive features of the landscapes noted by the
respondents are similar, and the negative ones have significant differences in the summer and
autumn periods, which are also present when using different methods of the research. Thus, the
relationship between the assessment of the aesthetic qualities of the landscape and the frequency
of references by respondents, both positive and negative features of the park environment are
determined primarily rather by the season, than by the method of conducting research. Despite
the significant difference in the frequency of references of the features of the park landscapes
under the different conditions and methods of conducting the research, it has been discovered
that the force of influence of a particular feature on the assessment of aesthetic quality of park
landscape does not determine its factor weight in the assessment, but it is related to it. At the
same time, the features (subliminal and compositional) are revealed and their influence on the
aesthetic evaluation is significant, which can be taken into account during green space planning.
It is revealed that conducting the research of park landscapes directly in the park is reasonable,
first of all, if it is necessary, to determine the positive features of the park environment, which influence
the formation of a subjective ‘general-landscape’ emotional reaction to a certain landscape,
which is revealed in the definition of subliminal features by the respondents.

Оlga Е. Cherepanova*, Irina V. Petrova, and Nelly S. Sannikova

Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 202а, 8 Marta Str.
Ekaterinburg, 620144, Russia. *E-mail: botgarden.olga@gmail.com

Calluna vulgaris is an ornamental bush widespread from the Kola Peninsula in the north to
the Georgian ridges (Batumi) in the south. Today it is in considerable use for pharmacopoeial
purposes as it has a lot of bioactive substances in different parts (leaves, roots, shoots, flowers,
etc.). Having a wide habitat, the heather demonstrates minor range of morpho-anatomic feature
variability that is represented by its systematical characteristics. Heather is a monotype of Calluna.
This article presents brief results from morphological and anatomical analysis of four Calluna
vulgaris populations growing on the submeridional transect Murmansk – Batumi. The main aim
of the study was to investigate and clarify the mechanism of adaptive variation to the contrast
environment conditions. The discriminant analysis was performed using the complex of 22 morpho-
anatomic leaf characters. As a result it was found out that Calluna vulgaris populations growing
at the habitat boundary had some common features that led to growth of plant xeromorphism
(decrease of stomata number, trichome number increase, cuticle height rise). Calluna vulgaris
populations growing in the central part of the habitat on the Russian Plain, despite their sharp
isolation, also had one important similar feature – significantly smaller size of chlorenchyma cells
which is probably connected with growing of plants beyond the canopy.