Effect of land preparation methods on restoration success of degraded oak forest ecosystems

Abstract

Estimation of the success of ecosystem restoration through different methods is essential of planning restoration projects, especially nowadays when the world community has declared the target for an effective restoration of 25% of degraded ecosystems in the next years. In the present study, we intro­duce the results of the application of two land preparation methods – soil ripping and land terracing - on ecosystem restoration success twenty years after restoration actions. The study concerns two reforested areas with the species Quercus pubescens, a deciduous oak species. In both reforested areas an estimation of the ecological conditions was carried out as well as stand growth and volume data, based on the following field measurements: soil fertility data, vegetation analysis, tree morphological characteristics, and tree vol­umetric characteristics. The analysis of the results showed that the land preparation method “soil ripping”, greatly improved all the studied ecosystem parameters as well as oak stand characteristics, comparing to the “terracing” method. More specifically, it improved the physical and chemical properties of the soils, the coverage and the composition of flora species, and enhanced the existence of more woody species. It privi­leged the growth of Quercus pubescens trees contributing to a higher stand volume.