. 2012. Recovery of soil bulk density, porosity and rutting from ground skidding over a 20-year period after timber harvesting in Iran. Silva Fennica 46(4): 521-538.Ground-based skidding can have detrimental effects on soil properties trough soil profile disturbance and compaction that can persist for decades. We investigated the recovery of physical properties of disturbed brown soils on four abandoned downhill skid trails in a deciduous mountain forest in northern Iran. The most recent skidding operations had taken place 1-5 yrs, 6-10 yrs, 11-15 yrs, and 16-20 yrs ago, providing a 20-year chronosequence with four 5-year recovery periods. For each recovery period, mean values for soil bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), macroporosity (MP), soil moisture content (SM), and rut depth (RD) were assessed for three levels of traffic intensity (Primary (PS), Secondary (SS) and Tertiary (TS) skid trails) and two levels of slope gradients (Gentle (G) and Steep (S)) and compared to those in undisturbed (control) areas. Over the 20-year recovery period, PS trails on gentle slopes exhibited mean values that were 35-42% (BD), 3-7% (SM), and 13-19 cm (RD) greater and 18-24% (TP) and 19-28% (MP) lower compared to undisturbed areas; on steep PS trails, values were 40-46% (BD), 2-13% (SM), and 13-21 cm (RD) greater and 23-27% (TP) and 28-35% (MP) lower, respectively. While RD and SM recovered, 20 years was not long enough for the other physical soil properties, particularly on steep slopes. To minimize soil disturbance, skidding should be confined to areas with gentle slopes and alternative harvesting methods such as cable yarding should be used where slope gradients exceed 20%.

The effects of application of superphosphate and grazing on production and botanical composition of native grasslands were investigated at 3 locations in the high rainfall zone of south-east Australia. These studies were conducted as part of the Sustainable Grazing Systems Key Program, which investigated various aspects of grassland productivity and sustainability between 1996 and 2001. Grasslands in this study either had high contents of Themeda australis or Austrodanthonia spp., or were based on a degraded Austrodanthonia spp. grassland with a high content of annual and weedy species. All sites used increasing levels of superphosphate application (nil, low, medium and high) as treatments, with clover being added in some treatments at 1 site, and herbicide in 1 treatment at another site. Grazing (sheep) was continuous at 1 site (with stocking rates matched to pasture productivity) and intermittent at other sites, with grazing being dictated by available herbage between defined trigger points. Climate was monitored and changes in soil P, herbage mass, botanical composition, ground cover and sheep production recorded. Changes in composition resulting from the treatments varied between sites. At the continuously grazed Austrodanthonia spp. site, there was a decline in native perennial grasses throughout the experiment and an increase in exotic annual grasses in spring where superphosphate was applied. The grassland at the T. australis site remained relatively stable, which may have been due to the limited amount of grazing applied. The degraded Austrodanthonia�spp. grassland showed wide seasonal fluctuations in annual species. There were no clear effects of treatments at the latter 2 sites. Sheep production increased with increased superphosphate application at the continuously grazed Austrodanthonia spp. site, but there was little effect at the other 2 sites. Recommendations are made for sustainable management of native grasslands depending on their current botanical state.

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Abstract. Among 257 Bangladesh fish ponds investigated, 46% were affected by epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) either fully or partially. Thai silver barb, Puntius gonionotus (Bleeker), culture ponds were worst affected (64%) by EUS, while all Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), monoculture ponds remained unaffected. Stocking of silver barb for culture, use of piscicides as means of moving predators or unwanted species prior to stocking of cultured species, and culture of fish in previously derelict ponds are factors which significantly affected the probability of occurrence of EUS. Choice of species other than silver barb and use of lime during the post‐stocking period significantly affected the probability of pond stocks being less adversely affected by EUS.

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