Slovenian Forestry Institute is developing a system for Forest Genetic Monitoring (FGM) for two species – Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba within the LIFE+ project LIFEGENMON. In this Thesis we test a hypothesis whether the protocols established at the beginning of the project meet the demands for efficient monitoring of genetic diversity from a demographic and phenological point of view. We present the methods used and results of the first three years of work on the research plots in Slovenia. After the plots were established, we sampled and marked 250 adult trees and 200 seedlings from natural regeneration on each of the plots. We assessed general stand properties, fructification and history of forest management. On 40 trees per plot and in the natural regeneration, phenological stages of bud bursting, male/female flowering and in beech also leaf senescence were assessed. The data was stored in a customly designed database. The results suggest difficulties in implementing an unified FGM system due to the different biology of species. We observed small differences between the start of different phenological stages between years. We propose some modifications of current protocols for their optimisation.
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