Victor Busov

School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, Michigan Technological University,
1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA. Email: vbusov@mtu.edu

This review aims at providing a short synopsis of the history, advances and future of genomics
sciences in various fields of research with focus on areas pertaining to forest tree species
and ecosystems. It also provides a broader outlook of the place of genomics and other 'omics'
approaches like transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics in future biology research at various
levels of organization, particularly on system level knowledge at organismal and ecosystem
scales. Specifically, emphasis is placed on new sequencing technologies that open the gate for
thorough exploration of the DNA and RNA world from a single cell and individual to population
and ecosystem scales. These and other technological innovations are holding great promise for
advanced breeding, deeper knowledge of developmental and physiological mechanisms and better
understanding of the processes occurring at ecosystem levels.

Vasil Kolev

Department of Hunting and Game Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of Forestry,
10 Kliment Ochridski blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: vassilie@abv.bg

Study of fish fauna of the rivers Topolnitsa, Luda Yana, Stryama, Chepinska and Vucha all tributaries
of the Maritza River was carried out. The research was conducted in the autumn of 2006
and 2007. The material was collected by electrofishing using unpuled direct current (DC). In the
studied rivers the 11 sampling areas were marked and explored. During the investigation in these
rivers 17 fish species belonging to 5 families were found. The family Cyprinidae was the most
representative in the sample. The fish fauna composition was predominated by two reofilic species
- Barbus cyclolepis and Squalius orpheus. Among the species found in this study there was
three alien fishes for the local fish fauna composition were found - Oncorhycus mykiss, Lepomis
gibbosus and Pseudorazbora parva. The present study identified four species endemic to Aegean
watershed - Gobio bulgaricus, Chondrostoma vardarense, Squalius orpheus and Vimba melanops.
The author was found also two species endemic to Balkan Peninsula - Cobitis strumicae
and Sabanejewia balcanica and one species endemic to Maritza River basin - B. cyclolepis.
The estimated composition of the fish fauna in this study was composed of species characteristic
mainly for the middle zone of the rivers. The present study showed some changes in the
species composition of fish fauna have occurred in recent years. The species like G. bulgaricus
which were prevalent before today are found in much smaller quantities. At the same time in the
fish fauna composition the number of the species such as Lepomis gibbosus, Pseudorazbora
parva, Carassius gibelio and Perca fluviatilis have increased. The author found some rarer species
like Rhodeus amarus while the species that was common before as Carassius carassius was
not established.

Alireza Ghomi Motazeh¹*, Ehsan Farahi Ashtiani¹, Roghaye Baniasadi 2, and Fereidun Masoumpoor Choobar 3

1Department of Natural Resource, Faculty of natural resource, Gilan University, Sowmesara, Iran. *E-mail: alireza.ghomi@yahoo.com
²Department of Agriculture, Birjand University, Iran.
³Department of Natural Resource, Faculty of natural resource, Sari University, Mazandaran, Sari, Iran.

Fire can be a destructive ecological factor, but a good plan can provide appropriate tools for
ecosystem management. In this connection fire prevention must be paid special attention. For locating
fire susceptible zones as a first step in this research, effective factors for forest fires were
determined by studying different sources, and then we used weighed criteria to take advantage of
experts' views. Maps of slope gradient, exposure, forest type, hydrography, topography, distance
from roads and distance from settlements were studied. Results from the survey show that vegetation
coverage allocates the greatest weight to itself. From the results it can be seen that, 11.7 %
of the area is too adverse; it means that fire hazard is too high in these areas, 40.68 % is adverse,
14.48 % is average, 8.37 % is quite favorable, 18.72 % is favorable, and 6.05 % is very good. In
general, we can say half of the local area is susceptible to forest fire, and we should plan the access
to different areas for controlling probable fires, regarding the existing facility conditions and roads.

Vasil Kolev

Department of Hunting and Game Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of Forestry,
10 Kliment Ochridski blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: vassilie@abv.bg

From the middle stretch of Maritza catchment area 229 sexually mature individuals Barbus
cyclolepis Heckel, 1837 were examined. The height of anal fin in the two sexes was different. The
anal fin of the female fishes was higher than that of males. In the ratio (percentage) between the
height of the anal fin and standard length of the body there was a strong statistically significant
difference between females and males. This ratio had also much higher value in females as
compared to males.

Clinton T. Patterson* and Luben D. Dimov

Forestry, Ecology, and Wildlife Program, PO Box 1927, Alabama A&M University,
Normal, Alabama 35762 USA. *E-mail: patterct@gmail.com
 

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once a dominant overstory species of eastern
North American forests before it was decimated by chestnut blight. Blight resistant hybrid chestnuts
share most morphological characteristics with C. dentata, so studying its establishment
and early growth will help develop effective methods for establishing blight resistant hybrids.
Supplementation with nutrients that are not sufficient in the soil likely will increase early C. dentata
performance, but optimal amounts and combination of nutrients have not been determined. We
examined the effect of three shade levels and a novel leaf spray fertilizer supplement on pure C.
dentata seedlings. Shade levels were 0 %, 50 %, and 34 % overstory of sweetgum (Liquidambar
styraciflua). After one growing season, fertilizer had a significant effect only on relative root collar
diameter growth. However, due to interaction with shade, the growth was not different among
the three fertilizer levels. Root collar diameter growth was about 53 % greater in the open than in
stands with 50 % residual overstory. The effects were non-significant for relative height growth.
By the end of the first growing season, seedling mortality was 57 %, 9 %, and 17 % in the open,
light shade, and heavy shade, respectively. Planting of chestnuts in light shade had the most acceptable
combination of survival and growth.