This study demonstrated a framework to assess vulnerability of forests to climate change. We focused on how alterations of temperature and precipitation might affect forest type distributions and carbon-related functions. In particular, our framework considered three sectors of forest type distribution, net primary production, and soil carbon storage. Future projections were derived from mechanistic models for South Korean forests under the A1B scenarios of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Forest type distributions were simulated by the Hydrological and thermal analogy group model, while the MAPSS and CENTURY1 models estimated forest carbon flux/storage. We quantified normalized vulnerability indices for each sector. Our results indicate that the overall vulnerability of forest type distribution is greater in the west central regions and southeastern inlands. The vulnerabilities of carbon flux/storage show that net primary production of South Korean forests is relatively less susceptible to climate change, but a highly vulnerable area of soil carbon storage mainly spreads from the west central to the south east region. The spatio-temporal vulnerability map with a synoptic overview from this study might be useful for policy makers in preparing adaptive measures and identifying management priorities.

Temperature and freeze-thaw events are two key factors controlling litter decomposition in cold biomes. Predicted global warming and changes in freeze-thaw cycles therefore may directly or indirectly impact litter decomposition in those ecosystems. Here, we conducted a 2-year-long litter decomposition experiment along an elevational gradient from 3000 to 3600 m to determine the potential effects of litter quality, climate warming and freeze-thaw on the mass losses of three litter types [dragon spruce (Picea asperata Mast.), red birch (Betula albosinensis Burk.), and minjiang fir (Abies faxoniana Rehd. et Wild)]. Marked differences in mass loss were observed among the litter types and sampling dates. Decay constant (k) values of red birch were significantly higher than those of the needle litters. However, mass losses between elevations did not differ significantly for any litter type. During the winter, lost mass contributed 18.3–28.8 % of the net loss rates of the first year. Statistical analysis showed that the relationships between mass loss and litter chemistry or their ratios varied with decomposition periods. Our results indicated that short-term field incubations could overestimate the k value of litter decomposition. Considerable mass was lost from subalpine forest litters during the wintertime. Potential future warming may not affect the litter decomposition in the subalpine forest ecosystems of eastern Tibetan Plateau.

We evaluated the phenology and litterfall dynamics of the mangrove Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L.) Lamk along the Okukubi River, Okinawa Island, Japan. Over 3 years, this species showed the highest litterfall of leaves and stipules in summer and the lowest litterfall in winter. From Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, the monthly changes in leaf, stipule, and branch were strongly and significantly concordant among years. Leaf and stipule litterfall could be governed by monthly maximum wind speed, monthly day length, and monthly mean air temperature. Branch litterfall depended on monthly maximum wind speed and monthly rainfall, and increased exponentially with increasing monthly maximum wind speed. Mean total litterfall was 11.8 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, with the largest component being leaf litterfall (65.8 %). Annual leaf litterfall per plot was almost constant regardless of the tree density of the plot. Mean leaf longevity was 18 months. Flower and mature propagule litterfall might be influenced by monthly mean air temperature, monthly day length and monthly mean air temperature. The average development periods from flower buds to flowers and flower buds to mature propagules were 1 and 8 months, respectively. Except for leaf and branch, all vegetative and reproductive organ litterfall had clear annual cycles. B. gymnorrhiza showed a positive correlation between leaf production and reproductive organ production.

The productivity of Robinia pseudoacacia (R.p.) pure forest usually declines at the late growth stage, and reforming it into mixed forests could be a promising way to resolve this problem. When choosing a suitable tree species that can be mixed with R.p., the interspecific relationship is an important issue. Therefore, we gathered the autumn litter fall from R.p. and 10 other species from the Loess Plateau of China were mixed in dual species litterbags (R.p. + each other species) and buried them in soil for a 345 days lab decay incubation. We measured the litter mass loss and nutrient contents to determine whether the nutrient release was affected by mixed species litter decomposition. The impacts of mixed litter decomposition on macro-elements release were more obvious than on micro-elements. The litters with similar substrate quality might show variable impacts on nutrients release in mixed decomposition. The C loss and release of nutrient was improved by descending order when R.p. litter was mixed with Hippophae rhamnoides, Ulmus pumila, Populus simonii, Larix principis-rupprechtii and Quercus liaotungensis (Q.l.). But, except for Q.l., only the other species were recommended as suitable mix-plants for R.p. since promoting a high turnover of the nutrient in the litter compartment and a rapid availability for tree.

Partitioning soil respiration into three components is vital to identify CO₂ sink or source and can help us better understand soil carbon dynamics. However, knowledge about the influences of soil depth and the priming effect on soil respiration components under field has been limited. Three components of soil respiration (root respiration, rhizomicrobial respiration and basal respiration) in a plantation in the hilly area of the North China were separated by the ¹³C natural abundance method. The results showed that the average proportions of rhizomicrobial respiration, root respiration and basal respiration at the 25–65 cm depths were about 14, 23 and 63 %, respectively. Three components of soil respiration varied with soil depth, and root respiration was the main component of soil respiration in deeper soil. The priming effect was obvious for the deep soil respiration, especially at the 40–50 cm depth. Thus, depth and priming effect should be taken into account to increase the accuracy of estimations of soil carbon flux.

Continuous recording of precipitation and soil water content (SWC), especially during long periods of torrential rainfall, has proven challenging. Over a 16 h period spanning 21–22 July, 2012, Beijing experienced historic rainfall that totaled 164.4 mm. We used large lysimeter technology in four forested plots to record precipitation and variation in SWC at 10-min intervals to quantify the response of forestland SWC to heavy rainfall in a semi-arid area. Mean, maximum and minimum rainfall intensities were 23.4, 46.8 and 12.0 mm/h, respectively. Rainfall was concentrated in 2–6 mm bursts that accounted for 67.32 % of the total rainfall event. Soil moisture conditions in this region are strongly dependent on patterns of precipitation. Water infiltration into 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 160 cm soil layers required 1, 5, 20, 37, 46, 52 and 61 mm of precipitation, respectively, and to fully saturate these soil layers required 80, 120, 140, 150, 180, 200 and 220 mm of precipitation, respectively.

We selected four kinds of land use types from Caohai wetlands of Guizhou plateau (a total number of 32 soil profiles) to study the distribution characteristics of organic carbon content in soil. With different ways of land use, the organic carbon content of soil profiles and organic carbon density show the tendency of decreasing firstly and then increasing from top to bottom. With the increase of depth, the vertical difference becomes smaller first and then starts increasing. Land reclamation reduces the soil organic carbon content and density, changing its distribution structure in topsoil. The average content of organic carbon in Caohai wetlands are as follows: lake bed silt > marsh wetland > farmland > woodland, the average organic carbon content of lake bed silt, marsh wetland, farmland and woodland are 16.40, 2.94, 1.81 and 1.08 %, respectively. Land reclamation reduces the organic carbon content of soil, therefore the conversion of cultivated lands to wetlands and the increase of forest coverage will help to fix the organic carbon in soil and increase its reserves.

An evaluation of 30 naturally available candidate-plus trees (CPTs) of Pongamia pinnata was carried out to elucidate the genetic variability and relationship of pod and seed traits and progeny growth traits to select the best planting material with higher productivity. Significant variations were observed in pod and seed characteristics, oil content, and during the progeny trial studies. The highest values were found in 100-pod weight (410.4 gm) and 100-seed weight (195.92 gm) and the phenotypic and genotypic variance was found maximum in 100 pod weight (4364.71 and 4289.93) and 100 seed weight (813.8 and 768.93), respectively. Estimates of the phenotypic coefficient of variance were higher than the genotypic coefficient of variance for all the pod and seed traits and progeny growth traits, which depict the predominant role of the environment. Approximately 99 % of broad-sense heritability was revealed in oil content, followed by 100-pod weight (98.28 %), and canopy growth (96.93 %). Pod thickness shows the highest genetic advance of 56.61 %, followed by pod width (53.43 %) and canopy growth (49.3 %). Pod and seed traits have proven a positive correlation between each other and with progeny growth traits, except a few negative values. Hierarchical clustering by Ward’s minimum variance cluster analysis showed phylogeographical patterns of genetic diversity. K-means clustering revealed that trees from different geographical regions were grouped together in a cluster where as trees from the same geographical area are placed in a different cluster. Seven Pongamia ecotypes (GRP-8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 28, and 29) are found superior in traits, namely 100-pod weight, 100-seed weight, oil content, germination rate, plant height, canopy growth, and collar diameter. The traits 100-pod weight and 100-seed weight are highly correlated with the progeny growth traits and even have higher heritability and genetic advantages.

Nutritional characteristics determine tree stock quality to a considerable extent. Exponential fertilization can induce nutrient reserves within juvenile trees, but its validity on poplar is contingent on interaction with a scientific irrigation regime due to limited water resources under global warming. In the present study, we raised 3200 Populus × euramericana cv. ‘74/76’ cuttings under four irrigation regimes of 0 (I0), 60 % (I60), 80 % (I80), and 100 % (I100) of field capacity for soil moisture content with or without (control) the employment of nitrogen (N) addition delivered as exponential fertilization at the rate of 8 g N cutting⁻¹ (E8) in an open-air nursery in Beijing, China. Both height and diameter increased with the increment of soil moisture ratio or in response to exponential fertilization (EF) without any interactive effects. In general, concentrations of N, phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) declined with time in stem but foliar N concentration did not change. Under the I100 regime, EF increased foliar N concentration relative to the control but failed to affect N concentration in stem in September, when both N concentration and N content were increased by EF under the I80 regime. Stem-K content and concentration by EF under the I80 regime also increased in September, therefore EF-treated cuttings had a higher ratio of K content in stem to that in whole plant (%ANAR). Vector diagnosis for nutritional status indicated that EF resulted in dilution of K concentration but induced a steady-state P uptake in leaves under all irrigation regimes. Therefore, EF of N addition could promote N uptake to leaves of P. × euramericana cv. ‘74/76’ cuttings, but it had a null effect on N and P reserves in stem and impaired K reserves. In conclusion, the irrigation regime of 80 % field capacity of soil moisture content was suggested for the culture of juvenile P. × euramericana cv. ‘74/76’ cuttings. As the interactive meaning, EF was also suggested for its excellent promotion on both N and K uptakes.

The efficiency of sample-based indices proposed to quantify the spatial distribution of trees is influenced by the structure of tree stands, environmental heterogeneity and degree of aggregation. We evaluated 10 commonly used distance-based and 10 density-based indices using two structurally different stands of wild pistachio trees in the Zagros woodlands, Iran, to assess the reliability of each in revealing stand structure in woodlands. All trees were completely stem-mapped in a nearly pure (40 ha) and a mixed (45 ha) stand. First, the inhomogeneous pair correlation function [g(r)] and the Clark–Evans index (CEI) were used as references to reveal the true spatial arrangement of all trees in these stands. The sampled data were then evaluated using the 20 indices. Sampling was undertaken in a grid based on a square lattice using square plots (30 m × 30 m) and nearest neighbor distances at the sample points. The g(r) and CEI statistics showed that the wild pistachio trees were aggregated in both stands, although the degree of aggregation was markedly higher in the pure stand. Three distance- and six density-based indices statistically verified that the wild pistachio trees were aggregated in both stands. The distance-based Hines and Hines statistic (h _t) and the density-based standardised Morisita (I _p), patchiness (IP) and Cassie (C _A) indices revealed aggregation of the trees in the two structurally different stands in the Zagros woodlands and the higher clumping in the pure stand, whereas the other indices were not sensitive enough.

The objectives of this study were to apply statistical techniques to discriminate fertilization treatments of Eremanthus erythropappus (DC.) MacLeish. through autoregressive modeling, and to develop individual tree models for diameter and crown area (CA) projection to define management strategies for candeia plantations subjected to different fertilization treatments. This is an important tree species originating from the Brazilian Atlantic Rain forest and Savannah biomes, intensively used in the cosmetic industry. Nonetheless, to date, research has not addressed the management of natural stands or plantations of the species. Our experiment was located in Baependi, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and comprised of four randomized blocks and 13 treatments. The treatments consisted of 12 different regimes of fertilization plus a control. Each sample plot was composed of 50 plants plus two border plants in a planting spacing of 2.5 × 2.0 m and undergoing pruning at 5 and 6 years of age. Starting in the second year, total tree height (H) and circumference (at 1.30 m from the ground or breast height, CBH) were measured every 6 months. Starting in the fifth year CA was measured. Tree growth varied by fertilization strategy. Differences were detected by using an autoregressive approach, considering that standard statistical methods were not powerful enough to detect significant differences. Three growth groups were formed, and maximum growth was obtained for treatment 10 (NPK, 8-28-16). Management guidelines are provided based on individual tree models for different fertilization levels.

This study describes the tree community structure of three moist lowland Atlantic Forest fragments in Rio de Janeiro State, southeastern Brazil. Two fragments were disturbed and an undisturbed one was used as reference. Our hypothesis was that disturbed fragments show distinct structural patterns in comparison with undisturbed stands due to past disturbance practices and forest fragmentation. Four 100 × 5 m sampling plots were demarcated in each fragment and all live and dead trees with DBH ≥ 5 cm were located, measured and identified. The results supported our hypothesis, due to the high values found for standing dead trees, an increase of dominance of a few pioneer species, lower values of large trees and species richness in disturbed fragments in comparison with the undisturbed one. The advanced fragmentation process in the Southern Brazilian lowland areas and the high species richness in undisturbed areas highlight these forest fragments as priority areas for conservation and management.

In this study, we developed a comprehensive index system for forestry sustainability of Heilongjiang Province, which includes forest resources sustainability, sustainable economic development, sustainable social development and sustainable advancement in science and technology. Based on this system and the regional forest development, we further evaluated the sustainability of Heilongjiang Province for year 2008–2013. The results show that even though the regional forestry has been preliminarily on the track of sustainable development, it is fragile. Four indicators, e.g. soil and water retention rate, forest stand growth (per unit area), the proportion of national investment and the annual carbon sequestration have important impact on the sustainability, with a weight of 39.0 % in all the indicators. We also analyzed the factors hindering the sustainable development. It turns out that soil and water retention rate, forest stand growth (per unit area), the proportion of science and technology funds, per capita GDP and the proportion of the tertiary industry production are the main factors hindering regional sustainable development, which accounts for 50.94 % of the total obstacle degrees in the system. At last, we discussed how to promote the regional sustainable development from the perspectives of forest resources sustainability, economic development sustainability, society development sustainability and the sustainable advancement of science and technology.

Global change will lead to increases in regional precipitation and nitrogen (N) deposition in the semi-arid grasslands of northern China. We investigated the responses of vegetation carbon (C) pools to simulated precipitation and N deposition increases through field experiments in a typical steppe in Inner Mongolia. The treatments included NH₄NO₃ addition at concentrations of 0 (CK), 5 (LN, low nitrogen), 10 (middle nitrogen, MN), and 20 (HN, high nitrogen) (g m⁻² a⁻¹) with and without water. After three consecutive years of treatment, from 2010 to 2012, water addition did not significantly change the size of the total vegetation C pools, but it significantly decreased the ratio of root:shoot (R:S) (P = 0.05) relative to controls. By contrast, N addition significantly increased the total vegetation C pools. The C pools in the LN, MN and HN treatments increased by 22, 39 and 44 %, respectively. MN produced the largest effect among the N concentrations, although differences between N-added treatments were not significant (P > 0.05). N addition significantly reduced the ratio of root:shoot (R:S) (P = 0.03). However, there were no significant interactive effects of water and N addition on the vegetation C pools.

Leaf normal distribution is an important structural characteristic of the forest canopy. Although terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) have potential for estimating canopy structural parameters, distinguishing between leaves and nonphotosynthetic structures to retrieve the leaf normal has been challenging. We used here an approach to accurately retrieve the leaf normals of camphorwood (Cinnamomum camphora) using TLS point cloud data. First, nonphotosynthetic structures were filtered by using the curvature threshold of each point. Then, the point cloud data were segmented by a voxel method and clustered by a Gaussian mixture model in each voxel. Finally, the normal vector of each cluster was computed by principal component analysis to obtain the leaf normal distribution. We collected leaf inclination angles and estimated the distribution, which we compared with the retrieved leaf normal distribution. The correlation coefficient between measurements and obtained results was 0.96, indicating a good coincidence.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) defined as sequence repeat units between 1 and 6 bp occur abundantly in both coding and non-coding regions in eukaryotic genomes and these repeats can affect gene expression. In this study, ESTs (expressed sequence tags) of Betula pendula (silver birch) were analyzed for in silico mining of EST-SSRs, protein annotation, open reading frames (ORFs), designing primers, and identifying codon repetitions. In B. pendula, the frequency of ESTs containing SSRs was 7.8 % with an average of 1SSR/4. 78 kb of EST sequences. A total of 188 SSRs was identified by using MISA software and di-nucleotide SSR motifs (65.9 %) were found to be the most abundant type of repeat motif followed by tri- (27.1 %), tetra- (4.8 %), and penta- (2.2 %) motifs. Based on ORF analysis, 175 of 178 sequences were predicted as ORFs and the most frequent SSRs were detected in 5′ UTR (58.43 %), followed by in ORF (31.46 %) and in 3′ UTR (8.43 %). 102 of 178 ESTs were annotated as ribosomal protein, transport protein, membrane protein, carrier protein, binding protein, and transferase protein. For a total of 102 SSRs (57.3 %) with significant matches, a set of 102 primers (100 %) with forward and reverse strands was designed by using Primer3 software. Serine (Ser, 19.6 %) was predominant in putative encoded amino acids and most of amino acids showed nonpolar (35.3 %) nature. Our data provide resources for B. pendula and can be useful for in silico comparative analyses of Betulaceae species, including SSR mining.

This research was designed to assess the changes in anthocyanin content in grape skins of Vitis amurensis and to explore mRNA transcriptions of 11 structural genes (PAL, CHS3, CHI1, F3H2, F3′H, F3′5′H, DFR, LDOX, UFGT, OMT and GST) related to anthocyanin biosynthesis during grape berry development, by the use of HPLC-MS/MS and real-time Q-PCR analysis. Accumulation of anthocyanins began at veraison, continued throughout the later berry development and reached a peak at maturity. Veraison is the time when the berries turn from green to purple. Expression of PAL, CHI1, and LDOX were up-regulated from 2 to 4 weeks after flowering (WAF), down-regulated from 6 WAF to veraison, whereas DFR was up-regulated at 8 WAF, and then up-regulated from veraison to maturity. CHS3, F3′5′H, UFGT, GST, and OMT were down-regulated from 2 WAF to veraison, and then up-regulated from veraison to maturity. The transcriptional expressions of the 11 structural genes also showed positive correlations with the anthocyanin content from veraison to maturity. Positive correlations were also observed between OMT transcriptional level and the content of methoxyl-anthocyanins, and between F3′5′H transcriptional level and the content of delphinidin anthocyanins. F3H2 and F3′H expression was up-regulated at 2 WAF. F3H2 expression was down-regulated from 4 WAF to veraison and then up-regulated again from veraison to maturity. F3′H expression was down-regulated at 4 WAF and then up-regulated again from 6 WAF to maturity. F3′H transcriptional level was correlated positively with the cyanidin anthocyanin concentration from veraison to maturity. These results indicate that the onset of anthocyanin synthesis during berry development coincides with a coordinated increase in the expression of a number of genes in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway.

A provenance trial of Michelia chapensis Dandy in the south of China was carried out in three sites to assess yield and stability analyses. The trials were conducted as randomized, complete block designs with four replications at each site. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) and genotype main effect and genotype × environment interaction (GGE) were employed in the evaluation of provenances; AMMI analyses showed that significant genotype × environment interaction effects (P < 0.05) existed between provenances, capturing 15.11 % of the total sum of squares. The AMMI stability value revealed that provenance 2 was stable, but had low yield. GGE-biplot models showed that provenances 7, 8, 10, and 11 were more stable and high-yielding. The GGE results also confirmed that among the three sites, site JiuQuShui was the most ideal environment for representation and discrimination.

Estimating genetic parameters of parental lines through progeny testing and choosing good hybrid parents are important for genetically improving seed orchard trees. In this study, 24 tetraploid progeny seedlings were used as experimental materials, which came from test cross design: six tetraploid Betula platyphylla lines (Q33, Q13, Q103, Q19, Q83 and Q14) as female parents and four individual B. platyphylla diploid lines (F3, F4, F9 and F11) as male parents were crossed. Variance analysis of height, diameter, height-to-diameter ratio, and internodal distance showed that the differences between hybrid combinations reached highly significant levels. Using multi-objective decisionmaking, we performed a comprehensive assessment of the various hybrid combinations. Using a selection rate of 20 % of the standard, five hybrids were selected; their genetic gains in average height, diameter, height-to-diameter ratio, and internodal distance were 20.95, 6.07, 13.07 and 8.96 %, respectively. We also analyzed the combining ability and genetic parameter effect values of parents and hybrid combinations. The combined analysis revealed that Q13, Q103, Q33 and Q83 were superior females; F3, F4, and F9 were superior males; and F3 × Q13, F4 × Q83 and F9 × Q33 were superior hybrid combinations. The heights and diameters of these progenies were 22.49 and 11.48 % greater than average, respectively.

Sophora moorcroftiana is an endemic, drought-resistant shrub that grows in Tibet and has some degree of resistance to salt, cold, heat, and drought. In the present study, four dehydration responsive element-binding (DREB) genes (SmDREB1, SmDREB2, SmDREB and SmDREB1) were isolated from S. moorcroftiana for the first time and their expression and proline content under abiotic stress were analyzed. Proline accumulated in seedlings under drought, salt, cold, and heat stress treatments. The four genes were variously expressed in response to the four abiotic stresses. SmDREB1 was induced by drought, cold, and heat stresses; SmDREB2 and SmDREB4 were both induced by salt, cold, and heat stresses, whereas SmDREB3 was induced by drought and heat stresses. Thus, these four genes may participate in conferring tolerance to these four abiotic stresses and are candidate genes for genetic engineering in the future.

Although cultivation and utilization of Pistacia are fully exploited, the evolutionary history of the Pistacia genus and the relationships among the species and accessions is still not well understood. The aim of this study was to analyze random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) in a total of 50 accessions of wild pistachio species, which included five populations Pistacia vera, Pistacia khinjuk, Pistacia atlantica, Pistacia mutica, and Pistacia eurycarpa. High levels of genetic diversity were detected within wild pistachio accessions, as revealed by using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averaging and supported via analysis of molecular variance. The objectives of this investigation were to estimate marker indices, polymorphic information contents (PICs), and genetic similarities (GS) for RAPD markers; assess the genetic diversity of Pistacia species, using GS estimated from RAPD fingerprints and molecular characterization; and facilitate the use of markers in inter-specific introgression and cultivar improvement. Out of the 149 polymerase chain reaction fragments that were scored, 146 (97.98 %) were polymorphic. Genetic similarities ranged from 0.3 to 0.86 %, marker indices ranged from 2.98 to 17.74 %, and PICs ranged from 0.80 to 0.99 %. Our results provided great molecular identification of all assayed genotypes, which have shown that there is large quantity of genetic diversity among the pistachio accessions. This finding might render striking information in breeding management strategies for genetic conservation and cultivar development.

The in vitro adventitious shoot differentiation in leaflet explants of an adult tree differed from that of leaflet explants of seedlings of Albizia procera (Roxb.) Benth. reported previously elsewhere. The leaflet explants from an adult tree passed through an initial callus phase for 30 days on MS medium supplemented with 3 % sucrose, 2.5 µM 2,4-D followed by a subsequent adventitious shoot differentiation phase for another 30 days on half MS medium supplemented with 0.25 µM each of BA and IBA. The regeneration rate of in vitro adventitious shoots in explants from the adult tree, i.e.1.66 shoots/callus, was lower than that from seedlings, i.e. >10 shoots/callus, which was reported elsewhere. Correspondingly, the activities of nitrate reductase and peroxidase, and endogenous phenol content remained very low during in vitro adventitious shoot differentiation in leaflet explants of an adult tree possibly due to lower availability of competent stem (juvenile) cells for the process.

Thinning is an important activity employed in forest management. To date, studies have mainly focused on the effects of thinning on the growth of trees during the same thinning period. In this study, plantation Pinus massoniana Lamb. near maturity were thinned at varying intensities and an economically important species, Cinnamomum cassia Presl., was planted beneath the thinned canopy. The aim of the study was to explore the effects of the extent of thinning on the essential oil content and its components of C. cassia in different parts of the plant, as well as the economic feasibility of the P. massoniana–C. cassia management model. Thinning significantly reduced the oil yield in the bark and branches of C. cassia, but hardly impacted the oil yield from C. cassia leaves compared with pure C. cassia forest (CK). Among the different thinning treatments, both light (T.4) and extensive (T.1) thinning reduced the oil yield of C. cassia bark and new branches. The concentrations of the main aldehydes differed in different parts of the plant and were affected by the extent of thinning. The influence on cinnamaldehyde in the bark was minor, but was much greater in the branches and leaves. Both the oil yield and content of cinnamaldehyde showed that moderate (T.3) thinning was more favorable than other thinning models. These results not only provide a potentially promising model for the transformation of low–yield artificial pure forests of P. massoniana in the future, but also offer a reference for the management of artificial mixed stands.

We determined the calorific value of white poplar (Populus alba L.) woody biomass to use it as firewood. The value of 19.133 MJ kg⁻¹ obtained experimentally shows that the white poplar can be quite successfully used as firewood. Being of a lower quality in comparison with usual beech firewood, the white poplar has similar calorific value. The white poplar has a calorific density of 30.7 % lower than that of current firewood. That is why the price of this firewood from white poplar is lower accordingly. Also, the prognosis of calorific value on the basis of the main chemical elements, being very close to the experimental value (+2.6 %), indicates an appropriate value can be achieved to be used for investigation with the chemical element analysis.