Effects of Degradation Intensities on the Structural Diversity of Caucasian Oak-Hornbeam Stands in the Arasbaran Forests

Due to rapid population growth and increasing demand for forest resources, large areas of forest have been subjected to different degrees of degradation, and this degradation is increasing at an alarming rate. Large areas of forest have been varied by various degrees of degradation, and this degradation is increasing with an alarming rate due to rapid population growth and increasing demand for forest resources. Only 15 percent of the world's forests are undegraded, 20 percent have been destroyed and 28 percent have been deforested. Forest degradation is a global phenomenon that destroy10.6 million hectares of the world's forests each year. Therefore, studies focus on the effects of forest degradation impacts on the structure and composition of forests around the world. The goal of this study was to compare the structure of oak-hornbeam stands in different degradation intensities in Arasbaran forest.

The distance method was used to calculate the structural diversity index in Arasbaran forests, using three indicators, including uniform angle, tree diameter differentiation, and mingling indices. Within the study area with the different intensity of human interventions, three one-hectare sampling areas were selected. In order to select the study points in the regular systematic way 25 *25 m grid was laid out and the nearest tree to the intersection point of gird as reference tree was selected and measured with the four nearest neighbor trees. the diameter at the breast height (DBH), distance, and angle between trees in structural groups were measured.

The results of calculating the uniform angle index showed a change in the distribution pattern of stands due to the increase in the intensity of destruction from random to clump and uniform distribution. The diameter diffrentation index of trees showed that the value of this index was the lowest (0.12) in the moderate and was the highest (0.38) in the severe degradation intensity. The results of the study of the mingling species index showed that the highest value of this index was in the low degradation intensity (0.61) and the lowest value was in the moderate degradation intensity (0.08). Statistical analysis showed a significant difference (p≤ 0.05) between these indices in all stands. Calculation of the structural diversity index also showed that the highest structural diversity was in the stands with low degradation intensity (0.5) and the stands under medium degradation intensity had the lowest amount of structural diversity index (0.14).

Planning to reduce the human interference should be prioritized considering the effects of human degradation on the structure of the Arasbaran forest.