Stefan Mirtchev¹, Nikolay Zafirov², and Rasheed Rasheed³

¹Faculty of Ecology and Landscape Architecture, University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ochridski Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: stemir_bg@yahoo.com
²Executive Environment Agency, 136 Tzar Boris III Blvd., 1618 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: niki_zafirov@yahoo.com
³Denkstatt Bulgaria Ltd, Dragalevtzi, 6th Str., 19, 1415 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: pokworld@gmail.com

The forest cover of Bulgaria is characterized by great diversity. Both conifers and broadleaves show reduced vitality. Among all tree species, Pines, Silver fir and deciduous Oaks are the most damaged. Our research was based on the hypothesis that forest decline is caused by multiple stresses affecting the ecosystem. With such stress-caused diseases, a distinction was done between predisposing, inciting and accompanying stress factors. Dendrochronology was used for extracting ecological information from dated tree rings. No single factor has been clearly identified as the cause of the forest decline. Among the important predisposing factors was the drought. However, other factors such as fungal diseases, insect damages and mistletoes played part in the forest decline. Studies into these aspects show­ed that air pollution also plays a part in the deterioration of forest health.
 

Petar Zhelev¹ and Veselin Angelov²

¹University of Forestry. 10 Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: zhelev@ltu.bg
²State Forest Service – Ardino, 7 Republikanska str., Ardino 6750, Bulgaria.

Phenotypic and allozyme variation of Silver Birch (Betula pendula Roth) was studied in three sub-populations in the locality near Ardino, which is one of the largest in Bulgaria. The 14 leaf traits studied were highly variable with coefficients of variation ranging from 14 to 33 %. Genetic variation, studied at 11 polymorphic allozyme loci, was well within the range reported for species with similar life-history characteristics; however, at the lower tail. Mean number of alleles per locus ranged from 1.8 to 2.2, and effective allele number - from 1.11 to 1.47. Expected and observed heterozygosities had similar values (0.137 and 0.135, respectively) and the inbreeding coefficient was not significantly different from zero. The overall differentiation was low (F_ST = 0.022). The results could be used for designing of management and gene conservation strategies.

Evangelos Manolas^1*, Michael Littledyke², and Stilianos Tampakis¹

¹Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Ath. Pantazidou 193, 68200 Orestiada, Greece. ^*E-mail: emanolas@fmenr.duth.gr; stampaki@fmenr.duth.gr
²School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia. E-mail: mlittled@une.edu.au

An individual’s profession is much more than simply earning money and indeed of paramount importance for his or her sense of identity and consequently to his or her self-esteem. The aim of this paper is to discover how the students of the Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources of the Democritus University of Thrace, see the profession of the forester, which values they expect to satisfy through their profession in the future and in which job position they wish to work. The paper also attempts to connect values with job positions. The methodology used in this paper, including the questionnaire, may be used to investigate the expectations and problems of students in other disciplines, in other university departments.

Vasil Kolev

Department of Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ochridski Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: vassilie@abv.bg

The Wild trout density and biomass in Bunayska River, Aegean catchment area, was estimated on the basis of electrofishing. The mean population size in the Bunayska River was 630 individuals per hectare and the trout biomass 21.73 kg·ha^-1 was well below the established average values for the other rivers in Bulgaria. The number of individuals allowed for fishing according to the Law for Fisheries and Aquaculture is very low too. We recommend a restocking of 6000 young fish per year (with weight 3-5 g per individuals). The fish used for restocking should be bred from trout inhabiting the river in the area.

Pencho Dermendzhiev and Miroslava Velinova^*

Regional Forest Department, 57 St. Peterburg blvd., Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
^*E-mail: miroslavavelinova@iag.bg

The purpose of this work was to present the necessity of definition and categorization of State Forest Enterprises (SFE) and State Hunting Enterprises (SHE) in Bulgaria as separate economic units, based on some major groups of features. Feature classification was based on the natural territorial characteristics, quantitative and qualitative indices, production restrictions according to the active regulations, as well as the public functions performed by the forestry. Forestry categorization makes possible to determine the economic elements that form the incomes from wood production taking into account objective factors. This work applies to three forest enterprises within the territorial range of the Regional Forest Directorate of Plovdiv. The methods used to determine groups and different features were applied in the forestry science for qualitative and quantitative assessment, as well as for definition of the priority and share of each feature in the group. The outcomes of present work could make possible the differential determination of expense rates of wood production, the more objective definition of income share, including fees of the State Forest Fund, according to the legislately determined forestry category.