Moga Cosmin Ioan, Samoilă Ciprian, Öllerer Kinga, Băncilă Raluca I, Réti Kinga-Olga, Craioveanu Cristina, Poszet Szilárd, Rákosy László, Hartel Tibor
Ecotransilvania Association, Sighisoara, Romania.
Faculty of Natural Sciences, University Ovidius Constanţa, Constanţa, Romania.
Ambio. 2016 May;45(4):480-9. doi: 10.1007/s13280-015-0758-1. Epub 2016 Jan 4.
Large, old trees are keystone ecological structures, their decline having disproportional ecological consequences. There is virtually no information available regarding the status and occurrence of old trees in traditional cultural landscapes from Eastern Europe. In this study, we explore the environmental determinants of the old oaks found in wood-pastures from a changing traditional rural landscape from Central Romania. Both the old oaks and the wood-pastures harboring them have exceptional cultural, historical, and ecological values, yet are vulnerable to land-use change. We surveyed 41 wood-pastures from Southern Transylvania and counted the old oaks in them. We then related the number of old oaks from these wood-pastures to a set of local and landscape level variables related to wood-pastures. We found 490 old oaks in 25 wood-pastures. The number of old oaks was positively related to the size of the wood-pasture and the amount of pasture and forest around it (500 m buffer), and negatively related to the proximity of the village. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between the effects of sheepfolds in the wood-pasture and the size of the wood-pasture on the number of old trees, indicating a negative influence of sheepfolds on the number of old trees in smaller sized wood-pastures. There is an increasing risk for losing old trees in the traditional cultural landscapes due to the lack of formal recognition of these trees. Therefore, while presenting the positive example of local initiatives and citizen science, we argue for an urgent development and implementation of conservation policies along with education strategies targeting the old trees and rural communities from the changing traditional cultural landscapes of Eastern Europe.
大型古树是关键的生态结构，它们的衰退会产生不成比例的生态后果。关于东欧传统文化景观中古树的现状和分布，几乎没有可用信息。在本研究中，我们探讨了罗马尼亚中部一个不断变化的传统乡村景观中，林间牧场里古老橡树的环境决定因素。古老橡树及其所在的林间牧场都具有特殊的文化、历史和生态价值，但易受土地利用变化的影响。我们调查了特兰西瓦尼亚南部的41个林间牧场，并统计了其中的古老橡树数量。然后，我们将这些林间牧场中古老橡树的数量与一系列与林间牧场相关的局部和景观层面变量联系起来。我们在25个林间牧场中发现了490棵古老橡树。古老橡树的数量与林间牧场的面积及其周围（500米缓冲区内）牧场和森林的面积呈正相关，与村庄的距离呈负相关。此外，我们发现林间牧场中羊圈的影响与林间牧场面积对古树数量的影响之间存在显著交互作用，这表明羊圈对较小面积林间牧场中的古树数量有负面影响。由于这些树木缺乏正式认可，东欧传统文化景观中古树消失的风险在增加。因此，在展示地方倡议和公民科学的积极范例的同时，我们主张迫切制定和实施保护政策，并制定针对东欧不断变化的传统文化景观中的古树和农村社区的教育战略。
