Lucian Dinca

• PhD
• Head of Department at National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry "Marin Drăcea"

Mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in providing ecosystem services, with some of the most important being carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, land protection, and water source preservation. Additionally, timber harvesting in these regions presents significant environmental, economic, and social challenges. This study provides a co...

Drylands cover a vast area, and biodiversity conservation in these regions represents a major challenge. A bibliometric study of published research highlighted several key aspects, including publication types, research fields, years of publication, contributing countries, institutions, languages, journals, publishers, authors, and frequently used k...

Plant indicators are important in studies related to the environment, and mountain forests are rich in such plants. We conducted this study using the Web of Science Core Collection tools and the VOSviewer program combined with a classic review, based on the specialty literature. The topic of indicator plants in mountain forests has been (the first...

The climate has changed significantly over the past few decades around the globe. To make meaningful comparisons between changes occurring over time in the tree world, comprehensive databases on the most important species and their evolution must be created. It is essential to consider latitude, longitude, altitude and local relief when analyzing d...

The present research was carried out in stands of Scots pine and black pine, pure or mixed with deciduous trees, installed on degraded lands from the Curvature Subcarpathian area, Romania, in a representative network of permanent research plots and followed the analysis of the structural diversity and stability indicators of these stands at differe...

Spent mushroom substrate (SMS), often disregarded as waste despite its abundance in organic matter and mineral micronutrients, has emerged as a valuable resource for diverse applications. While Europe and Asia have witnessed extensive research in this field over the past decade, Ukraine’s exploration remains limited. This study conducts a thorough...

In this paper, uneven-aged stands from two important Romanian mountain areas—the Southern Carpathians and Banat Mountains—are compared with the purpose of studying the stationary conditions of uneven-aged forest stands in order to determine which management strategies are best suited to these forests and other Romanian forests with a similar struct...

Introduction This paper presents comparative studies on the content and structure of organic matter (OM) and the activity of microbiological cellulose destruction in three types of Ukrainian soils intensively used in agricultural production. Methods The highest content of humus in the arable layer (4.9%), OM (410 t ha⁻¹), and total carbon (30.9 mg...

This paper investigates the biodiversity of adult arthropods in two grapevine plantations influenced by two adjacent groves over a three-year period (2020–2022) in the viticultural center of Stefănești Argeș, located in southern Romania. The study holds significant implications for introducing parasitoid/predatory insect species into vineyards to c...

Introduction Mapping tree species is an important activity that provides the information necessary for sustainable forest management. Remote sensing is a effective tool that offers data at different spatial and spectral resolutions over large areas. Free and open acces Sentinel satellite imagery and Google Earth Engine, which is a powerful cloud co...

Forest ecosystems contribute to human wellbeing and the economy through the complex ecosystem services they provide [...]

The importance of forest strips along communication routes has to be put into the context of stand stability, resilience to disturbances and biodiversity while satisfying societal needs. In order to address such important issues, through the data provided by the forest management plans, an analysis of the forest stands structure and composition of...

Process-based models and empirical modelling techniques are frequently used to (i) explore the sensitivity of tree growth to environmental variables, and (ii) predict the future growth of trees and forest stands under climate change scenarios. However, modelling approaches substantially influence predictions of the sensitivity of trees to environme...

The quality and vitality of cities largely depend on the design, management, and maintenance of green areas, including urban protected areas (UPAs), since they provide multiple benefits for the city. Due to urbanization and higher anthropogenic pressure, green areas are decreasing which directly affects natural habitats and biodiversity. This study...

The forest-based sector plays a significant role in supporting Europe on its pathway towards a more integrated and bio-based circular economy. Beyond the supply of timber, forest ecosystems offer a wide range of products and services beneficial to human wellbeing. Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) play an integral role in provisioning forest ecosyst...

Welcome to know more from the webpage link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/land/special_issues/11GC2GM204

The present study analysed how growth of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) is influenced by site conditions throughout the Eastern and Southern Romanian Carpathians. In order to achieve the aim and the objectives stated in the present study, the volume of spruce stands was taken into account and grouped into six transects, both in the n...

Forest ecosystems from mountain regions (FEMR) provide a wide range of ecosystem services and are a hub of biodiversity. Information about their condition under the action of diverse actors is essential in facing current global and climatic challenges. As ecosystems in mountain regions are vulnerable to changing environmental conditions and other f...

This paper presents a study of the microbial abundance in post-bauxite-mining land soil from Zece Hotare, Bihor county, Romania. The soil samples were collected from 12 soil variants, in the year 2020, after 15 years of long-term restoration. Some chemical parameters and bacterial numbers of six groups of microorganisms were determined in the resto...

In Romania, the sessile oak is the widest spread species of all native oak species, forming a lower story of vegetation. The European beech and Norway spruce cover 50% of the Romanian forest area. The purpose of this study was to analyze the variability of the leaf nutrients, as well as of the soil nutrients, for sessile oak, Norway spruce and Euro...

This paper presents a literature review of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and the knowledge accumulated by Romanian foresters and researchers, covering species propagation, stand management, and vulnerability issues. As highlighted by numerous authors, black locust manifests dual features, both as an exogenous species and one that is alread...

Forest soils belong to the major carbon sinks on Earth because of their high organic matter content. Forest soils from Europe store approximately 1.5 times more carbon than trees (EC/UN-ECE 2003). As dystric cambisol (2,292,385 ha) and eutric cambisol (869,909 ha) are the most widespread forest soils in Romania, we studied 5958 dystric cambisol ped...

Non-timber forest products have a lot of other terms which are more or less synonyms like „natural products, wild products”. Non-timber forest products (NTFP) represent a category of products which are provide of wild plants and animals from the forest or from any other natural vegetation types. Around the world humans harvested NTFP from the oldes...

The genus Festuca L. is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae, being one of the largest in Gramineae with ±450 species in temperate and alpine regions of both hemispheres with a cosmopolitan distribution occurring on every continent except Antarctica. They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a heigh...

Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is one of the most valuable and productive tree species across European mountains, that accomplish multiple economic, protective and ecologic functions. Alongside spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), silver fir is a characteristic species for the Romanian Carpathians. Although silver fir tree...

Cities are affected by the impact of rapid urbanization on changes to soil properties. The aim of this study was to assess the physical and chemical properties of the soil of urban and peri-urban forests and to define which soil property is more significant for these two types of forests. The research took place in urban and peri-urban forests in t...

Decision-makers need tailored information regarding future climate, land use, forest management and societal scenarios for sustainable watershed management. Such information can be attained by integrating the water-energy-land nexus approach with climate services. To support decision-makers from Brașov metropolitan area (Romania), we co-developed l...

The work was intended to identify the most valuable grapevine varieties for Drăgășani vineyard by means of an analytical hierarchical process (AHP). Eight grapevine varieties zoned for this grapevine growing area were included in the AHP exercise: Negru de Drăgășani, Pinot Noir (for red wines), Crâmpoșie selecționată, Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, Feteasc...

Urban forests, which means all trees, shrubs, lawns, and other vegetation from cities are very important spaces that are protected in order to protect and conserve biodiversity and the region’s structure. These forests have economic, social, and ecological functions. The research was realized in urban forests from Brasov city. The favorability of c...

Protected areas pose a major interest in the current context in which natural habitats are very fragmented as a result of economic development. The ROSCI0076 Dealul Mare-Hîrlău site represents the largest protected area from Moldova’s Plateau where forest habitats occupy a majority surface. A total number of 10 Natura 2000 forest habitats were iden...

This study analyses the influence of a planting scheme on physical properties of Norway spruce wood. The research material consisted of 326 Norway spruce trees (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) selected from an experimental plot with four planting variants (2500, 3330, 5000, and 7510 trees·ha⁻¹). The research aspects were: (1) wood density (measured by v...

The present study analyses the damage of remaining trees after timber harvesting from 24 logging sites from southwest Romania. The purpose was to establish tolerability thresholds within which damaged trees recover in a short amount of time, reducing the possibility of further rot apparition and tree health deterioration. Observations were resumed...

The present paper reviews the most recent advances regarding the effects of chemical and organic fertilizers on soil microbial communities. Based on the results from the articles considered, some details are presented on how the use of various types of fertilizers affects the composition and activity of soil microbial communities. Soil microbes hav...

Favoured by its geographic position and pedoclimatic conditions, Romania has one of the most varied and characteristic flora from the European continent. As such, this flora contains over 3600 superior plant species (phanerogams), that are spontaneous or from culture, 10- 12% are used in the scientific and traditional Romanian medicine (Constantine...

The inventory and evaluation of growth rates for afforested surfaces is extremely important in estimating production levels and in determining the wood quantities that can be harvested. The present research was realized in southeast Romania, on a surface that contains 375h of afforested fields. The monitored surfaces are situated in Hanu-Conachi In...

Birch ssp. in the sub-Carpathians curvature can be found in composition with beech and other resinous species, unevenly distributed from the mountain peaks at around 1200 m down to 500-600, mainly from high hills to depressions at 600m, rarely seen on plain sites, crossing different geomorphological structures and overall accounting for 3857.1 ha....

A climatic modelling program was used in order to see the extent of changes in future climatic conditions. This can realize prognosis for certain climatic factors that cause extreme climatic phenomena concerning forest ecosystems. The program was applied for forest ecosystems comprised of Scots pine, installed and inventoried on sample surfaces fro...

The study aims to identify Norway spruce populations with narrow crown form, within each provenance regions across the Romanian Carpathians, and to evaluate the stability of the narrow-crowned spruce compared with the classical crown form under different environmental conditions. Narrow crowned Norway spruce ideotype may presents superior resistanc...

Forests in Europe are currently not endangered by soil erosion. However, this can change with climate change or with intensified forest management practices. Using a newly established network of plots in beech forests across Europe, the aims of this study were to (i) distinguish soil properties and erodibility indices in relation to bedrock, (ii) d...

The purpose of this study, which contains historical data recorded over a period of 40 years, was to identify the main factors that influence and control the level of wood mass production. The main reason was to optimize the management of forest areas and was driven by the necessity to identify factors that can influence most of the volume produced...

The geomorphology of a vast territory can be analyzed based on data from forest management plans as these characterize the part of a territory occupied by forests. In addition, these plans are extremely detailed for small surfaces, on only a few hectares. Based on these aspects, the present article studies the geomorphology of the Curvature Sub-Car...

Climatic modelling software was used in order to measure future changes in climatic conditions. The software HYPE can realize prognosis for certain climatic factors responsible for causing extreme climatic phenomena in forest ecosystems. It was applied to study sessile oak forest ecosystems from Transylvania. Sample surfaces were installed, invento...

Forest fields temporary occupied by different industrial activities are restored to the silvicultural circuit after the industrial activity has ended. These fields should be apt for reforestation and should have admissible values regarding their content of dangerous substances. The present article describes and interprets the characteristics of soi...

The present paper intends to synthesize stand characteristics from karst areas located in Banatului Mountains, based on data from forest management plans realized during 1995-2007. As such, 1220 stand elements were analysed from this area where forests occupy a total surface of 2.904 ha. Common beech is the most widespread species from this area. T...

From the oldest times, the forest has been the main food, shelter and energy source, playing an essential role in the development of human societies. Old stands are characterized by their long life, large heights and diameters and by their help in conserving biodiversity. The surfaces occupied by old stands have decreased lately because of their wo...

The present paper reunites in an objective synthesis data from forest management plans realized in the West Plain during 1995-2008. The study focused on stands situated around cities and in their construction perimeter in order to emphasise their contribution to the area’s long lasting development. The paper’s importance derives from the fact that...

The paper aims to present the plants collected from the former county of Turda and their characteristics, that are found in one of the most important herbariums in Romania - the ‘Alexandru Beldie’ herbarium of the ‘Marin Drăcea’ National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry. The article presents the studied material, the number of vou...

Soils are a natural capital which support life on Earth and are responsible for many ecosystem services that are the foundation for human wellbeing. However, soils have been intensively used and subject to degradation, particularly in urban areas. The main objective of this study is: i) to give an overview of soil conditions in urban protected area...

The present paper has taken into account data from forest management plans realised during 1995-2007 for forests located in Forest Districts from the West Plain. The purpose of this paper was to analyse stands from their qualitative (age), structural (consistency, composition) and stational characateristics (altitude, slope, soil type). The black w...

Developing “climate smart forestry” (CSF) indicators in mountain forest regions requires collection and evaluation of local data and their attributes. Genetic resources are listed among the core indicators for forest biological diversity. This study is a report on the evaluation of the standing genetic diversity within and across 12 pure beech stan...

Romanian forest ecosystems prove their true value through the complex diversity they offer. Varied relief forms, site conditions, temperate climate and the stand composition and structure elements sustain the apparition of vegetation layers and their population with diverse forest species that accentuate biodiversity. The economy from Romania’s for...

Fagus sylvatica L. is widely distributed across Europe thanks to its high adaptability in a wide variety of soils and climate. Microbial communities are essential for maintaining forest soil quality and are responsible for forest ecosystem functioning; the ability of soil microorganisms to respond to abiotic stressors (e.g., organic carbon losses,...

Recent studies show that several tree species are spreading to higher latitudes and elevations due to climate change. European beech, presently dominating from the colline to the subalpine vegetation belt, is already present in upper montane subalpine forests and has a high potential to further advance to higher elevations in European mountain fore...

This study reflects the possibility of using the GIS technology for the management and resolution of conflicts between stakeholders in the management of protected natural areas that cover large surfaces, such as Natura 2000 sites. The research is accomplished in Frumoasa site from Cindrel Mountains, where a conflict of a legal nature was analysed,...

Even from the middle of the 19th century desertification was considered a controlled artificial process with anthropic factors as the main cause. Forest treatments applied in tropical forests in an incorrect manner have led to soil degradations and a destabilization of climatic and hydrologic regimes. In these conditions, desertification and its in...

Acer genus comprises approx. 120 species, mostly trees and rarely shrubs. There are several species of this genus in Romania (8), both forest and ornamental. Acer campestre is a tree of the third size and a species of understory. The present study was conducted on field maple stands from the Moldavian Plain, Romania. A series of characteristics wer...

The present study analysed the stand of the main forest formations from West Plain based on their composition, age classes, diameters, heights, and the spatial distribution. The stands’ analysis did not limit to the study of the distribution of forest species, but also covers aspects regarding the flora, climate and soil. In short, the study presen...

Dobrudjea Plateau, located in south-east Romania, is characterized by low altitudes, old rocks, a temperate-continental climate and a silvosteppe and steppe vegetation. Pubescent oak is one of the tree species characteristic for this area. With average dimensions, this tree fulfils numerous ecosystem functions. The concept of “Climate-Smart Forestr...

The effects of different climatic conditions on growth and chemical composition of Betula pendula in geographically different European regions, Lithuania and Romania, were compared. Birch species in the entire area have a wide natural distribution, but B. pendula is commercially more important in Lithuania than in Romania. Here we evaluated tree ri...

Hornbeam is a forest tree species widespread in our country’s plain and hill areas. Hornbeam forests can also be found in the West Plain and can be classified as smart forests. This concept, used during the last decade in worldwide silviculture, involves the existence of forests with an exceptional ecologic purpose. The present article intends to e...

This paper analyses the chemical transformations of soils from certain copper waste heaps from Moldova Nouă in the context of their afforestation. The analysis is based on a comparison between chemical properties of soils from different areas of the waste heaps, such as the planted and unplanted plateaus and slopes. The soil samples were gathered f...

Plants gathered from the Balkan area has an important place in the alexandru Beldie herbarium of the "marin drăcea" national institute for research and development in Forestry (incds) in Bucharest. this fact is proven by their scientific and historical value, both through the high variety of species contained, as well as through the large area from...

Viticulture is one of the oldest occupations in Romania that had to rationally use all production means in order to prosper, as well as protect its surrounding environment. Taking into consideration the fact that grapevine is a multiannual plant that requires certain ecological particularities, the maintenance works must be continuously improved by...

The Southern Carpathians are situated in the central part of Romania, between Prahova Valley and the Danube, being the highest and most massive mountains from the Romanian Carpahtians. The relief and vegetation are similar to the Alps. These mountains conserve the most representative glaciar relief from Romania, with cuaternar glaciar tracks. Some...

The present article describes the plants collected from Jepi Mountains area (Bucegi) and present in one of the most important Romanian herbarium - “Alexandru Beldie” Herbarium from “Marin Drăcea” National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry. The article presents the studied material, the number of vouchers with species harvested from...

Within the Carpathians, the Southern Carpathians are located in the South part and contains the largest number of peaks situated at over 2500 meters altitude. Aspen (Populus tremula L.) is a pioneer species with a rapid growth, usually found in the temperate and boreal areas from Eurasia. In our country, the species is present in hill and mountain...

Forest vegetation across Southern Carpathians is distributed in altitudinal layers. The aim of this study was to highlight the productivity differences between the Southern and Northern slopes of the Southern Carpathians for Norway spruce, silver fir, birch and black alder. Data from 45 forest management plans (46.329 stands from the Southern slope...

The present study was realized in Banatului Mountains (Romanian Carpathians) within Nera, Caransebeș and Băile Herculane Forest Districts, based on forest management plans from 1991-2008 and has led to the identification of 394 stand elements older than 200 years. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the trees’ main qualitative characteristics...

Non-woody forest products (NWFPs) represent an important forest resource which can be exploited, becoming in this way, an important economic role in human societies. In addition, NWFPs are used both in households and as commercial products for human well-being. Due to the fact that Romania has a wide variety of relief forms, numerous NWFPs can be f...

This paper provides a quantitative and general description of the main representatives of the genus Asperula L. present in the ‘Alexandru Beldie’ Herbarium. Currently, Asperula genus comprises 25 different taxa (18 with a status of species and 7 as intraspecific units), harvested mainly from the Romanian forests. The majority of plants are kept in...

The role of the urban common (i.e. shared space and resources) in sustainable provisioning of goods and services to city dwellers is discussed in this paper. Focusing on tree-based green infrastructure, the study scope includes three categories of provisioning (woody biomass, food/fibre, and non-timber forest products, i.e. NTFPs), alongside three...

Non-wood forest products are essential for numerous industrial branches, as well as for the creation of culinary and artisanal products. From this point of view, Romania has numerous such products. The present article succinctly describes ten products resulted from the local usage of some non-wood forest products: porcini soup in Bucovina (Porcinis...

State forests are analyzed periodically, once every 10 years. This includes an analysis of forest soils. The present paperdescribes and interprets the chemical properties of forest soils from Bacau County focusing on the period 1983-2015. As such, 823 soil profiles and 2435 pedogenetic horizons were analysed taking into consideration the soil type,...

Smart forests can be identified based on forest management plans if 15 stand, landscape or stational characteristics are taken into account. A total number of 34 smart stands were identified after these characteristics were graded based on the studied area and the manna ash’s ecological requests. These stands are located in Dognecei, Aninei and Loc...

This paper aims to describe and interpret the chemical properties of forest soils in the Dobrogea Plateau. Data on soil analyzes are obtained in the laboratories of National Institute of Research and Development in Silviculture `Marin Dracea` after a recognized and accredited national and international methodology. There were analyzed soil reaction...

The present study evaluates the applicability performance of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in small forested watersheds (less than 1000 km²). This open-source software is widely used in investigations focused on water availability and quality. Overall, SWAT model performance ranges between satisfactory to good. Normally, underestimates...

The study begins with a complete analysis of the entire Norway spruce stands (36.183) from the Southern Carpathians. The main characteristics of these stands were analyzed, followed by a classification of their characteristics on favorability classes (from 1 to 5, from the lowest to the highest) based on their framing within the smart forest catego...

According to specialty literature, Campanula Genus comprises approximately 400-600 species. A number of 130 species were found within the herbariums studied for this present paper (Al. Beldie Herbarium from Romania, The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's herbarium, WU Herbarium from Wien and Harvard University Herbaria from the U.S.A.). The studied C...

The present paper investigates the manner in which the slime deposit in Brasov has been treated with a brown algae solution to depollute it from the heavy metals it had previously contained. The bioremediation process was achieved in 2014, having been preceded by a set of soil and slime analyses resumed in 2018. In order to determine soil and slime...

The role of dead wood in forests encompasses the preservation of biodiversity, productivity, and the storage of carbon. In this study we aimed to investigate the variation of the dead wood volume in a subalpine Norway spruce forest. Using a regular grid, we recorded the size of the wood ordered in a five-class scale for snags and logs and a six-cla...