In their daily work, foresters discover living tree stumps in the forests. Until now, no one in
Slovenia has carried out a detailed analysis of this phenomenon. In the diploma thesis, four
living stumps of silver fir (Abies alba mill.) and three living stumps of norway spruce (Picea
abies (l.) karst.) from two different areas were studied. Macroscopic, histological and
cytological measurements were performed in the wood of living stumps. For this purpose,
histological permanent cross-section of different parts of wood of each stump were made
before and after cutting down the trees. In addition, series of permanent macerates were
made from one fir and one spruce stump. We found that stumps first began to form a callus
in attempt to rapidly close the wound. The wood structure near the wound is changed (so
called wound-wound). It was shown that the structure of the injured wood, which developed
after the tree was felled, differed between the two tree species in terms of the frequency of
formation of traumatic resin canals. In spruce, which also has normal resin canals, they were
significantly more frequent compared to fir, which does form resin canals under normal
conditions. Furthermore, it was found that the structure of the wood normalises over time. It
has also been confirmed that stumps can live for many years after tree harvesting. One of
the spruce stumps continued to grow 29 years after felling, which was probably due to the
root grafting with neighbouring trees.
|
