Dendrochronological dating of large woody debris on the example of Morávka River and Černá Opava River
2010
Michal Rybníček | T. Kolář | E. Koňasová
Woody debris is an inseparable part of natural river channels. In a river ecosystem it affects the hydraulic, hydrological and morphological properties of the channel, and it is also of a biological significance. However, besides the positive effects, the woody debris can also have a negative impact, e.g. the reduction of the flow profile capacity or the destruction of waterside buildings. With the development of log floating and timber trade, the woody debris started to be removed from the channels. Currently, within the process of stream revitalization, woody debris is being artificially placed into rivers. This paper deals with the possible dendrochronological dating of large woody debris (LWD) and wood jams in the river channel and the riparian zone. Two sites have been chosen for the research, the Morávka River and the Černá Opava River. These sites have been chosen because of two different types of riparian stands. The banks of the Morávka River are a soft wood floodplain forest (350 m ASL); the Černá Opava River has stands with nearly a hundred percent proportion of spruce (600 m ASL). The results of the research show that the species with diffuse-porous wood structure are very hard to date on the basis of Pressler borer cores. On the other hand, the sites with softwood species are easily datable, especially if the trunks contain more than 40 tree-rings. At these sites it is possible to use the dendrochronological dating for the establishment of the temporal dynamics of the woody debris input in the river ecosystem.
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