Pinus Halepensis

The vegetation cover of the northern mountains of Jordan was investigated and surveyed. Line transects sampling method as well as walking through methods have been applied in this study. A total area of 15x80 km was studied and divided into grid system, and thus the selected grids have been used for the line transect sampling. The study showed that the natural forest of Aleppo pine, evergreen oak forest, deciduous oak forest, degraded forest and manmade Aleppo pine forest areas are suffering from man interference and continuous encroachment for the uses of agriculture, urbanization, grazing, fire and querying. The available plant species under forest were collected and herbarium specimens are prepared and deposited. Analysis parameters such as density (D), relative density (RD), frequency (F), relative frequency (RF), abundance (A), relative abundance (RA) and the importance value (IV) are studied. The values of the parameters are recorded for all species, but since the number of co...

The vegetation cover of the northern mountains of Jordan was investigated and surveyed. Line transects sampling method as well as walking through methods have been applied in this study. A total area of 15x80 km was studied and divided into grid system, and thus the selected grids have been used for the line transect sampling. The study showed that the natural forest of Aleppo pine, evergreen oak forest, deciduous oak forest, degraded forest and manmade Aleppo pine forest areas are suffering from man interference and continuous encroachment for the uses of agriculture, urbanization, grazing, fire and querying. The available plant species under forest were collected and herbarium specimens are prepared and deposited. Analysis parameters such as density (D), relative density (RD), frequency (F), relative frequency (RF), abundance (A), relative abundance (RA) and the importance value (IV) are studied. The values of the parameters are recorded for all species, but since the number of collected species is more than 500, then these parameters are listed for the highest 20 species to show clear image about the most dominant and the most abundant and other parameters. From the quantitative ecological analysis using various parameters, the species recoded as having the highest values such as Quercus coccifera, Sarcopoterium spinosum, Asphodelus aestivus, Eryngium creticum, Ononis natrix and others confirm that the study area falls within a Mediterranean biogeographic zone in Jordan. Based on the obtained results, it is highly recommended thus to exert maximum efforts to conserve such limited forest cover, since Jordan, is classified as a country with dry to semidry ecosystem. In addition some of the rare and endemic recorded species occur only under forest cover, particularly the orchid species. This articles originally published at: http://www.innspub.net/volume-6-number-5-may-2015-jbes/

Context: Quercus ilex and Pinus halepensis are largely used in Algerian folk medicine as a remedy for different health problems.

Aims: To determine the phytochemical composition as well as to evaluate the antioxidant, anti-hemolytic and genoprotective effects of Quercus ilex root bark extract (QIE) and Pinus halepensis young ovulate cones extract (PHE).

Methods: Methanolic extracts were prepared by maceration. Phenolic compounds and flavonoids were quantified spectrophotometrically and identified by HPLC analysis. In vitro antioxidant activity of the extracts was assessed by determining the DPPH and ABTS radicals scavenging activities and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP). Protective effect of the extracts against AAPH-induced erythrocyte hemolysis was assessed. pBluescript M13 (+) plasmid DNA was used as oxidation target to evaluate DNA protective effect of the extracts.

Results: Considerable phenolic compounds and flavonoids contents were found in the studied extracts. Catechin and phenolic acids (4-hydoxybenzoic, caffeic, coumaric, ferulic and gentisic acids) were identified in QIE, while catechin and cinnamic acid were identified in PHE. Both extracts scavenge DPPH radical with IC50 values of 5.67 µg/mL and 18.87 µg/mL, respectively. Antioxidant capacity against ABTS radical was 4.13 and 1.15 mM Trolox equivalent/mg extract. The two extracts also showed a considerable ferric reducing ability with 1.98 and 8.55 mM FeSO4/mg extract, respectively. On the other hand, both extracts exerted a significant protective effect against AAPH-induced erythrocyte hemolysis and DNA protective activities were noticed.

Conclusions: Quercus ilex and Pinus halepensis extracts are important sources of bioactive compounds possessing important antioxidants, antihemolytic and genoprotective effects.

Motivated by persistent predictions of warming and drying in the entire Mediterranean and other regions, we have examined the interactions of intrinsic water-use efficiency (W i) with environmental conditions in Pinus halepensis. We used 30-year (1974–2003) tree-ring records of basal area increment (BAI) and cellulose 13C and 18O composition, complemented by short-term physiological measurements, from three sites across a precipitation

This study was carried out to investigate the response of Pinus halepensis Mill. seedlings to six biofertilizers treatments. Uniform seedlings with 25cm height and 0.4cm stem diameter were planted in 35cm plastic pots, filled with a sandy loam soil. The seedlings were inoculated twice with the following biofertilizer suspensions: Azotobacter chroococcum and Azospirillum brasilense as a nitrogen fixing bacteria (NFB), Bacillus megaterium var. Phosphaticum as a phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB), Bacillus cereus as a potassium solubilizing bacteria, (KSB) and Pseudomonas fluorescens as growth stimulator bacteria (GSB), which were added as soil drench at 10 ml/pot, as well as arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) inoculation was added as a thin layer of the mycorrhizal inoculum material at a 20g/pot. The second application was done after 6 months later. The resultes obtained showed that the inoculation with (NFB) significantly increased plant height and number of branches in both seasons. The application of (AMF) resulted the longest branches and leaves (needles), the heaviest stem fresh and dry weights compared to non-inoculated seedlings. The treatment of (PSB) significantly produced the thickest of stems and main roots as well as the longest roots and increased the fresh and dry weights of leaves and roots. The contents of photosynthetic pigments, N, P, K and total carbohydrates increased with all biofertilizer treatments, (GSB) and (PSB) treatments were the most effective in case of pigments. The content of total carbohydrates in all plant organs increased markedly with the treatment of (NFB).

Dado el interés que posee el atributo Potencial de Crecimiento Radical de la planta de vivero como predictor de la respuesta postrasplante, este trabajo analiza el efecto de varios tratamientos de fertilización en vivero (5g/L de Os-mocote 15-8-11; 3, 5, 7 g/L de Osmocote 9-13-18, ...

This paper deals with the post-fire regeneration of Pinus halepensis Mill. ecosystems in the Sithonia peninsula in northern Greece. The pre-burning stands consisted of two storeys; the overstorey of the dominant tree species P. halepensis and the understorey of evergreen sclerophyllous shrubs. The wildfire took place in June 1994. Three months after the fire two experimental plots of 0.75 ha each were established on a northeastern and a southwestern facing slope. In each experimental plot different restoration treatments were applied by using P. halepensis reproductive material. The treatments were the following: (i) planting of paper- pot seedlings, (ii) planting of bare-root seedlings, (iii) seeding in patches, (iv) seeding in strips, (v) seeding in strips and lines. The results of these treatments were compared to the control (no treatment applied). The results showed that all applied restoration works accelerated the rate of regeneration, while the best results were obtained by the method of planting paper-pot seedlings.

Understanding the influence of the current climate on the distribution, composition, and carbon storage capacity of Mediterranean tree species is key to determining future pathways under a warmer and drier climate scenario. Here, we evaluated the influence of biotic and environmental factors on earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) growth in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.). Our investigation was based on a dense dendrochronological network (71 sites), which covered the entire distribution area of the species in the Iberian Peninsula (around 119.652 km2), and a high-resolution climate dataset of the Western Mediterranean area. We used generalized linear-mixed models to determine the spatial and temporal variations of EW and LW across the species distribution. Our results showed an intense but differentiated climatic influence on both EW and LW growth components. The climatic influence explained significant variations across the environmental gradients in the study area, which suggest...

Soil organic carbon (C) is a complex set of pools, and to understand its dynamics it is necessary to know which of these pools are active at a given moment, and which act as passive, due to either physical protection or biochemical recalcitrance, or both. This matter has been studied mainly in agricultural soils. For forest soils, especially in Mediterranean areas, there is a data gap that needs to be filled. Therefore, we studied three profiles in Catalonia (NE Spain) over marl and under Pinus halepensis stands. Soil horizons were incubated under optimal conditions for 45 days. The respiration rate on day 45 was taken as basal respiration rate (BRR). The following fractions were quantified: (1) soluble C, (2) microbial C, both corrected (MCC) and uncorrected (MCUC) (i.e., applying or not a correction factor to account for the non-extractable microbial carbon), (3) C in size fractions, isolated by ultrasonic dispersion and sieving plus sedimentation, and (4) labile and recalcitrant C, quantified by acid hydrolysis, applied to both the whole soil horizons and the size fractions. The basal respiration rate (BRR) correlated best with the sum soluble + MCUC, which altogether seem the best estimator of the active C pool. The correlation between BRR and MCC was worse, thus suggesting that not all microbial C should be included in the active pool. The correlation of BRR with the C associated to coarse fractions (>50 µm) was positive, whereas that\with C associated to fine fractions (<20 µm) was negative. The correlations were lower than those obtained with the soluble + MCUC, thus suggesting that the coarse organic fractions are probably the main source of active C, but not active C itself. Alone, the pools obtained by acid hydrolysis (labile and recalcitrant) correlated poorly with BRR, but the combination of size fractionation with acid hydrolysis resulted in some of the best predictors of microbial activity. Hydrolyzable polyphenolic compounds inhibited microbial activity. Unhydrolyzable C associated to fine fractions (<20 µm) seemed the most stable of all the C pools studied. By contrast the unhydrolyzable part was apparently as unstable as the hydrolyzable part in the coarse organic debris. Overall, our results point to a hierarchy of constraints: both the physical protection and the biochemical quality affect microbial activity, but the physical protection goes first. In the profiles studied, C did not appear to be more stable in deep horizons than in surface horizons.

Evidence is presented of how Pinus halepensis Miller from dry habitats at <300 m elevation of four Greek island regions have responded to climatic conditions of the last two centuries. We compared historical periods of low growth due to low precipitation with the recent period of significant precipitation decline. In all cases trees’ growth patterns across the twentieth century were consistent with trends in annual (rather than seasonal) precipitation, with lowest values in both precipitation and radial growth during the last two decades of the twentieth century, the worst conditions for tree growth in more than 200 years. The data are compared with trends across different vegetation belts of the northern Mediterranean basin. Drought related tree mortality in Greece in 2000 and 2007 coincided with the most severe fire outbreaks on record. IPCC WG I (2007) climate scenarios for the Mediterranean suggest a further decline in precipitation, particularly in the eastern regions. Should this occur, growth reduction in trees, tree mortality and damage from forest fires are likely to become more severe.