1. Private forest owner typology based on post-disturbance behaviour in SloveniaDarja Stare, Zala Uhan, Matevž Triplat, Špela Ščap, Nike Krajnc, Špela Pezdevšek Malovrh, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: In recent years, Europe has experienced an unexpectedly high frequency of natural disturbances. Private forest owners (PFOs), who manage a significant proportion of European forests and have diverse objectives and approaches to forest management, play a crucial role in salvage logging. The aim of this study was to (i) categorise PFOs based on their forest management objectives, experience with regular forest management, and responses to natural disturbances, and (ii) propose policy implications for particular PFO groups to improve salvage logging operations and meet legal requirements. A survey was conducted among a random sample of PFOs whose forests were affected by natural disturbances (n = 547). The survey data were analysed using K-means cluster analysis, and three groups of PFOs were identified. The outsourcing-oriented managers (32%) responded most strongly to natural disturbances, with 96.0% carrying out salvage logging. This highly co-operative group often relies on forest contractors and demonstrates the highest commitment to performing forest management activities among the three groups. The self-reliant managers (42%) also responded strongly (92.6% carried out salvage logging) and are characterised by a strong preference for performing the work themselves. The group of less active managers (26%) included the highest proportion of PFOs who did not conduct salvage logging (19.0%) and those with no previous forest management experience (12.0%). Despite these differences, common policy instruments based on smart regulation principles are proposed to promote efficient salvage logging. The results may contribute to the holistic transformation of forest policy and management in response to the current challenges posed by large-scale natural disturbances.
Ključne besede: natural disturbances, salvage logging, private forest owners’ behaviour responses, smart regulation principles, forest policy recommendations
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 09.06.2025; Ogledov: 745; Prenosov: 443
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2. Factors influencing private forest owners decision-making rationalities to implement salvage logging after large-scale natural disturbances in SloveniaDarja Stare, Špela Ščap, Špela Pezdevšek Malovrh, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: This study examines the factors that influence the decision-making rationality of private forest owners (PFOs) when implementing salvage logging after large-scale natural disturbances. The literature suggests two main responses to large large-scale natural disturbances: performing salvage logging and no salvage at all. When salvage logging is carried out, two different strategies can be applied: clearing, i.e. all trees are removed, including damaged trees and standing survivors; and salvaging, i.e. damaged trees are removed but the surviving trees are left and some dead trees are left standing. In an online survey conducted in Slovenia in March and April 2022, responses were collected from 1515 forest-owning households. A logistic regression model was created to analyse the data and understand how socio-demographic characteristics, characteristics of forest property, forest management activities and the market influence their decisions. The results show that previous management activities and cooperation with service providers significantly influence PFOs' decision-making rationality to implement salvage logging. The study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the complex decision-making processes in forestry. Future research opportunities lie in investigating specific aspects of past management activities and understanding the dynamics in cooperation between different actors to develop customised policies for effective forest management after large-scale natural disturbances.
Ključne besede: forestry, environmental disturbances, private forest owners, decision making process, post-damage management, logistic regression analysis
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 26.11.2024; Ogledov: 813; Prenosov: 313
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3. Three decades of understorey vegetation change in Quercus-dominated forests as a result of increasing canopy mortality and global change symptomsJanez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, 2024, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Questions The long-term response of understorey vegetation to increasing tree mortality has rarely been addressed in resurvey studies. For two Quercus-dominated forest types, we asked: (a) How did overstorey alterations, induced by canopy mortality, affect understorey diversity and composition? (b) Is there a signal of global change effects on understorey communities? (c) Are these assemblages experiencing a homogenization process? Location Five sites in Quercus robur (QR) and four sites in Q. petraea (QP) forests, Slovenia. Methods We studied changes in vascular plants in the understorey layer from 1992/1993 to 2023 across 45 permanent 20 m × 20 m plots in QR and QP forests, respectively. Vegetation surveys were carried out following the standard Braun-Blanquet method. We compared original surveys with recent resurveys using multivariate analysis, ecological indicator values (EIV), plant traits and methods that quantify changes in individual species. Results Since the early 1990s, tree layer cover decreased from 95% to an average of 55% in QR, whereas it remained relatively high (77%) in QP plots. This resulted in denser understorey vegetation and a significant increase in plot-level species richness in QR forests, but a slight decrease in QP forests. The extensive loss of canopy cover and disturbance effects in QR forests caused significant changes in species composition. Species turnover in QR was driven by colonization of new disturbance-tolerant taxa characterized by ruderal traits, whereas the compositional shift in QP was to a greater extent due to species losses. We detected a process of vegetation thermophilization (increase in EIV-temperature), suggesting an effect of rapid climatic warming. Understorey communities are now more similar to each other than 30 years ago, indicating a decrease in beta-diversity (floristic homogenization). Conclusions Despite some common trends, vegetation responses were forest type-specific. Our study presents evidence of understorey vegetation changes triggered by increased canopy mortality (a strong local driver particularly in QR plots) and also points to the signal of global change symptoms (thermophilization, homogenization), which acted rather independently from the observed decline in tree layer cover.
Ključne besede: floristic homogenization, forest disturbances, permanent vegetation plots, Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, resurvey study, Slovenia, thermophilization, tree layer cover
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 11.11.2024; Ogledov: 879; Prenosov: 687
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4. Mixed signals of environmental change and a trend towards ecological homogenization in ground vegetation across different forest typesJanez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, 2024, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Forest ground vegetation may serve as an early warning system for monitoring anthropogenic global-change impacts on temperate forests. Climate warming may induce a decline of cool-adapted species to the benefit of more thermophilous plants. Nitrogen deposition has been documented to potentially result in soil eutrophication or acidification, which can increase the proportion of species with higher nutrient requirements and species impoverishment caused by competitive exclusion. Abiotic forest disturbances are changing the light conditions in the forest understorey environment. In this resurvey study, we tested the magnitude and direction of change in alpha (species richness) and beta (within-site dissimilarity) diversity and composition of forest ground vegetation in forests of different types in Slovenia over fifteen years. Using plant-derived characteristics (Ellenberg-type indicator values) and by testing a priori predictions concerning expected effects of environmental drivers, we show that the magnitude and direction of forest ground vegetation diversity and floristic changes varies greatly between forest sites. Divergent responses at different sites resulted in low net change of alpha and beta diversity and a weak overall environmental signal. The largest decrease in species number was observed in lowland oak-hornbeam forests, which were also among the sites with the greatest compositional shifts. Changes in beta diversity did not show any consistent trend, and anticipated floristic convergence was not confirmed when all sites were considered. Thermophilization was mainly detected in montane beech sites and alpine spruce forests whereas eutrophication signal was most significant on nutrient-poor sites. Vegetation responses were strongly dependent on initial site conditions. Shrinkage of ecological gradients (process of ecological homogenization) suggests that sites positioned at the ends of the gradients are losing their original ecological character and are becoming more similar to mid-gradient sites that generally exhibit smaller changes. Our results point to the importance of local stand dynamics and overstorey disturbances in explaining the temporal trends in forest ground vegetation. Ground vegetation in Slovenian forests is changing in directions also dictated by multiple regional and global change drivers.
Ključne besede: vegetation resurvey, thermophilization, eutrophication, forest disturbances, alpha and beta diversity, initial site conditions, ICP-Forests network
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 09.04.2024; Ogledov: 1495; Prenosov: 788
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7. Infiltration processes in karst aquifers affected by large-scale forest disturbancesUrša Vilhar, Mitja Ferlan, Janez Kermavnar, Erika Kozamernik, Aleksander Marinšek, Metka Petrič, Tanja Pipan, Daniel Žlindra, Nataša Ravbar, 2021, objavljeni povzetek znanstvenega prispevka na konferenci Ključne besede: karst hydrogeology, global environmental changes, large-scale forest disturbances, aquifer recharge, water monitoring
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 03.12.2021; Ogledov: 2937; Prenosov: 1561
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