Forest inventory assessment of plus trees of hornbeam-oak and pine forests within the Malopolissia district

Vasyl Blystiv, Oleh Danchuk, Andrii Ivaniuk, Petro Khomiuk, Oksana Tkachuk
Download article Read article

Abstract

Improvement of the selection criteria and further testing of plus trees of Scots pine requires systematic updating of measurement data, their detailed analysis, and constant monitoring of the created sites. A significant task is to create new experimental plots to investigate the hereditary characteristics of trees, especially in the context of forestry adaptation to climate change. A forest inventory assessment of plus trees of hornbeam-oak and pine forests within the Malopolissia district was conducted to establish the relationship between the height-diameter ratio at 1.3 m and the age of trees in different forest types based on the results of their selection. Standard statistical methods were employed to establish reliable results of analytical and comparative conclusions. Two indices were calculated for the analysis: I1 – an indicator of age-related changes in the A/H/DbH ratio, and I2 – an indicator of changes in the H/DbH/A ratio depending on age. These indices were calculated for plus trees, considering their age (A), height (H), and trunk diameter at a height of 1.3 m (DbH). The dependencies of changes in the height and diameter of plus trees with age were studied, the speific features of these dependencies for the two most widespread forest types were determined, two types of indices of these dependencies were analysed, and the conclusions about their statistically reliable suitability for modelling the parameters of plus tree selection within the study area were summarised. The parametric dependencies of the plus trees of the Malopolissia district of pine forests of this region of origin established in the study can be used as additional criteria for selecting trees for productivity with a sufficient level of their biotic stability. The study summarised the possibility of establishing the regions of origin of forest reproductive material based on parametric assessment of stands and plus trees within the Malopolissia district based on their belonging to autochthonous forest stands by origin. The relevance of the study was enhanced by the introduction of approaches to regionalisation of forest reproductive material, which involves determining the boundaries of the regions of origin and the boundaries of the corresponding distribution of forest reproductive material from them. The proposed approach to regionalisation is a prerequisite for obtaining and putting into circulation forest reproductive material based on the implementation of Directive 1999/105/EC of 22 December 1999 on the marketing of forest reproductive material in the regulatory framework of forest seed production and nursery stock

Keywords

plus trees; forest reproductive material; regionalisation of forest reproductive material; regions of origin and distribution; taxonomic indicators; forest types; geobotanical zoning

  1. Bilous, A.M., Kashpor, S.M., Myroniuk, V.V., Svinchuk, V., & Lesnik, O. (2022). Stem volume by height classes of immature, mature and overmature stands of the main forest-forming species of Ukraine. Ukrainian Journal of Forest and Wood Science, 13(3), 7-12. doi: 10.31548/forest.13(3).2022.7-12.
  2. Blystiv, V., Maliuha, V., Minder, V., & Syrota, O.P. (2021b). Practical approaches to establishing the dynamics of stand stability of breeding facilities. Ukrainian Journal of Forest and Wood Science, 12(4), 6-16. doi: 10.31548/forest2021.04.001.
  3. Blystiv, V.I., Yurkiv, Z.M., Neiko, I.S., & Matusiak, M.V. (2021a). Practical aspects of improving forest seed zoning. Agriculture and Forestry, 2(21), 140-157. doi: 10.37128/2707-5826-2021-2-12.
  4. Borges da Silva, É.D., Xavier, A., & Faria, M.V. (2021). Joint modeling of genetics and field variation in plant breeding trials using relationship and different spatial methods: A simulation study of accuracy and bias. Agronomy, 11(7), article number 1397. doi: 10.3390/agronomy11071397.
  5. Brichta, J., Bílek, L., Linda, R., & Vítámvás, J., (2023). Importance and potential of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in 21st century. Central European Forerstry Journal, 69(1), 3-20. doi: 10.2478/forj-2022-0020.
  6. Danchuk, O., Blystiv, V., Yurkiv, Z., & Vovchanskyi, V. (2024). Forestry features of regionalization of forest reproductive material. Proceedings of the Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 26, 89-101. doi: 10.15421/412406.
  7. Davydenko, K., Vasaitis, R., Elfstrand, M., Baturkin, D., Meshkova, V., & Menkis, A. (2021). Fungal communities vectored by Ips sexdentatus in declining Pinus sylvestris in Ukraine: Focus on occurrence and pathogenicity of ophiostomatoid species. Insects, 12(12), article number 1119. doi: 10.3390/insects12121119.
  8. Debryniuk, Yu.M., Yavorskyi, M.V., & Myakush, I.I. (2021). Selection inventory of objects of the permanent forest seed base of the State Enterprise “Buske Forestry” and ways of reproducing genetic resources of the main forest-forming species: Practical recommendations. Lviv: Manuscript.
  9. Krynytskyy, H., Korol, M., Lavnyy, V., Kovaleva, V., Kramarets, V., Krynytska, O., & Mahuran, V. (2023). Forestry and ecological features of distribution and improvement of biotic stability of pine forests in the conditions of Lviv region. Proceedings of the Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 25, 87-97. doi: 10.15421/412306.
  10. Krynytskyy, H., Skolsky, I., Krynytska, O., Lutsiv, N., & Yakhnytsky, V. (2021). Biotic stability of Scots pine growing in stands on fairly fertile soil types of the Lviv Roztochya. Proceedings of the Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 23, 50-57. doi: 10.15421/412126.
  11. Lakyda, P., Sytnyk, S., Lovynska, V., Lakyda, I., & Gritsan, Yu. (2020). Crown biomass of scots pine and black locust in Northern Steppe of Ukraine. Forestry Ideas, 26(2), 471-484.
  12. Li, Ch., Li, B., Zhao, W., Jiang, J., & Tang, J. (2025). Forest tree breeding under the global environmental change: Challenges and opportunities. Trees, Forests and People, 20, article number 100867. doi: 10.1016/j.tfp.2025.100867.
  13. Los, S.A., Tereshchenko, L.I., Hayda, Yu.I., Shlonchak, G.A., Mitrochenko, V.V., Shlonchak, G.V., & Danchuk, O.T. (2017). Guidelines for forest seed production. Kharkiv: State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine.
  14. Lovynska, V., Terentiev, A., Lakyda, P., Sytnyk, S., Bala, O., & Gritzan, Yu. (2021). Comparison of Scots pine growth dynamic within Polissia and Northern Steppe zone of Ukraine. Journal of Forest Science, 67(11), 533-543. doi: 10.17221/93/2021-JFS.
  15. Lstiburek, M., Rosario García‐Gil, M., & Stefenrem, A. (2023). Rolling front landscape breeding. Annals of Forest Science, 80, article number 36. doi: 10.1186/s13595-023-01203-w.
  16. Matisons, R., Schneck, V., Jansone, D., Bāders, E., Dubra, S., Zeltiņš, P., & Jansons, Ā. (2021). South-Eastern baltic provenances of scots pine show heritable weather-growth relationships. Forests, 12(8), article number 1101. doi: 10.3390/f12081101.
  17. Neyko, I., Kolchanova, O., Monarkh, V., & Poznyakova, S. (2020). Seed productivity and variability of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) clones of Finnish origin in seed orchard in the central part of Ukraine. Folia Forestalia Polonica, 62(1), 1-12. doi: 10.2478/ffp-2020-0001.
  18. Przybylski, P., Mohytych, V., Rutkowski, P., Tereba, A., Tyburski, Ł., & Fyalkowska, K. (2021). Relationships between some biodiversity indicators and crown damage of Pinus sylvestris L. in natural old growth pine forests. Sustainability, 13(3), article number 1239. doi: 10.3390/su13031239.
  19. Przybylski, P., Tyburski, Ł., & Mohytych, V. (2020). The relationship between height and diameter trees of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and the extent of crown defoliation in the Kampinos National Park. Folia Forestalia Polonica. Series A. – Forestry, 62(1), 22-30. doi: 10.2478/ffp-2020-0003.
  20. Quegwer, J., Merbitz, L., Tröber, U., & Meyer, M. (2024). Challenges for a seed orchard programme towards seed availability for future forest composition in Saxony, Germany. In Proceedings of the seed orchard conference “Seed orchards – the key stage in forest tree breeding and sustainable forest management” (p. 6). Romania: Public Enterprise Sachsenforst (SBS).
  21. Sağlam, F., & Sakici, O.E. (2024). Ecoregional height-diameter models for Scots pine in Türkiye. Journal of Forestry Research, 35, article number 103. doi: 10.1007/s11676-024-01757-z.
  22. State Organization “Ukrainian Forest Breeding Center”. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://ucfb.info/.
  23. Ukrainian State Forest Management Project and Production Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lisproekt.gov.ua/objednannja.
  24. Voitiuk, V., Andreieva, V., Kychyliuk, O., Hetmanchuk, A., Klisz, M., & Mohytych, V. (2020). Application of growth traits and qualitative indices for selection of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) elite trees. A case study from Volyn region, Western Ukraine. Folia Forestalia Polonica, 62(3), 199-209. doi: 10.2478/ffp-2020-0019.
  25. Wang, J., Wang, Y., Zhang, Z., Wang, W., & Jiang, L. (2023). Enhanced awareness of height-diameter allometry in response to climate, soil, and competition in secondary forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 548, article number 121386. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121386.
Blystiv, V., Danchuk, O., Ivaniuk, A., Khomiuk, P., & Tkachuk, O. (2025). Forest inventory assessment of plus trees of hornbeam-oak and pine forests within the Malopolissia district. Scientific Horizons, 28(8), 118-136. https://doi.org/10.48077/scihor8.2025.118