Occurrence of the silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) butt rot in protected areas

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyse butt rot incidences in silver fir stands of selected nature reserves and national parks. The study included 11 stands in Carpathian forests and for comparison 4 stands outside the Carpathians. To identify butt rot in fir trees, we used the non-invasive method of acoustic tomography. We tested 30 randomly selected fir trees in each of the 15 stands using Picus Sonic tomography to determine butt rot occurrence and to assess the proportion (%) of healthy wood in cross-sections of the tree trunk. The results indicate significant differences in the frequency of butt rot in silver fir at the individual level as well as the population level. This variability in frequency was not dependent on geographical location of the investigated stands.