engleski

Damage from small rodents in Croatian floodplain forests

During the outbreak years small rodents (subfam. Murinae and Arvicolinae) impede natural regeneration of Croatian floodplain forests. Over the last 33 years damage was reported on ca. 4000 ha/outbreak year. Reported damage is caused on seeds, stem and roots of young plants, mainly pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) and narrow-leafed ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.). Nevertheless, the mere observation of damage and rodent presence is the most common method of evaluating rodent abundance in Croatian forestry while systematic monitoring of the two is generally missing. Monitoring of rodent populations along with the quantitive and qualitive analysis of rodent damage made to root system of pedunculate oak saplings collected from the Sava river basin in Central Croatia, showed that even during the years of low rodent abundance, nearly a quarter of analysed plants suffered from the reduction of root volume (max. 77%), root length (max. 97%) and number of root tips (max. 96%) depending on the plant age and height. Research also pointed out the importance of continuous rodent monitoring for better understanding of annual and seasonal damage and prediction of young tree damage in floodplain forests.

rodents; damage; roots; floodplain forests

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