Investigation and comparison of physical and chemical soil properties and quantitative characteristics of trees in less-damaged and damaged area of Zagross forests (Case study: Poldokhtar, Lorestan province)

Long term sustainability of forest ecosystems is dependent on preserving soil quality. Therefore, knowing the forest soil conditions and studying the different action effects on status of soils are very important and it can be effective in forest management. This study investigated the effect of cutting and delimbing of trees, as one of the most important damaging factors, on soil properties in Zagross forest. For this purpose, twoselected forest stands including highly-damaged (as a usual damaging area) and less-damaged area (because of its low accessibility) were selected. The most important physical and chemical soil properties and quantitative characteristic of trees including canopy percentage, density, basal area and height were analyzed. The results showed that soil factors were affected by trees and damaging factors. All of physicaland chemical soil properties and quantitative characteristics of trees showed significant differences between two areas. The results of correlation analyses between physical and chemical soil factors and quantitative characteristics of trees in less-damaged area showed that there is a positive correlation between percentage of canopy, basal area and height of trees with C, P and N. On the other hand, these tree characteristics showed negative correlation with C/N and bulk density. Existence of trees and lack of delimbing in less-damaged area have created suitable conditions for forest soil.