It is widely accepted that the Mediterranean Basin is a prominent hotspot of biodiversity hosting a significant richness of plant lineages and fauna. Projected trends in the context of global change suggest this area will cope with strong increases in temperature and decreases in precipitation with consequent effects on forests and ecosystem services. Upward shifts of species range and/or mass extinction are expected to occur on a broad scale, especially in the Mediterranean. Here, mountain ecosystems would undergo the most severe reduction and fragmentation events. Further human based impacts aggravate the effects of global warming. Among them, wars and civil disorders seriously affect mountain landscapes, marking them over time. Presently, many threats of war are occurring in the Mediterranean and mostly in mountain areas at a high level of biodiversity. Furthermore, these same scenarios are overlapped with global warming, thus exposing many species to an actual risk of extinction.

The aim of this study was to find a solution to the disturbances created in the forest ecosystem by the consequences of war of an identified area in the Mediterranean basin. 

The concern for environmental protection has existed since the time of first human civilization. As society develops, the chain of changes during the natural flow of processes in ecosystems has been supplemented by a new link – pollutants. They have an effect on all other members of the ecosystem (changes may be visible immediately or harder to spot), which leads to an extremely complex relationship with nature. The values of some parameters of pollutants reached an alarmingly high level. The tendency to reduce the risk of air, soil, water, plant, and animal pollution to a tolerable limit, which would salvage the environment and most importantly human health, became a global problem. Heavy metals as pollutants have been an interest of researchers for their conduct, especially in forest ecosystems, which has been expressed in the previous year's more than ever. With its numerous toxic effects, heavy metals are endangering the existence of plant species that live in already contaminated environments. This is all an argument regarding the fight of modern society that the emission of polluted materials gets reduced in order to avoid multiple negative effects, which can endanger the existence of living organisms in general, as an argument for the continuation of numerous researches that are conducted in this area. The monitoring of heavy metals is of significant importance because their toxicity and accumulations are vital for the ecosystem. Polluted soils can be reduced and they can restore their function using physical, chemical, and biological techniques. Physical and chemical methods are very expensive and cause mainly irreversible changes, thus destroying biological variety. The biological recovery of contaminated soil represents an efficient method of reducing health risks for both mankind and the ecosystem.  For this purpose, biological indicators are used. Numerous researches have led to improvements of the initial idea about using plants as a remediation of the environment and the removal of different contaminants from contaminated medias into promising technologies of environmental protection under the title “Phytoremediation”. This technology consists of the reduction of concentrations of polluted materials in polluted soils, water, or air. Plants have the ability to store, degrade, or eliminate metals, pesticides, solutions, explosives, and crude oils. Its derivatives and various other contaminants form mediums that contain them. This paper especially considers methods of the possibility of the usage and application of plants in restoring soil contaminated by heavy metals as well as other pollutants.  

Field trials were conducted in 2010 and 2011 to evaluate floristic composition of  weeds and the efficacy of pre herbicides in black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) nurseries. The weed population in both years was consisted mainly of annual spring and summer weeds, and some perennial weeds. The weediness in both years was relatively high. Weed density in the untreated control plots was 106.5 plants per m2 in 2010 and 87.4 plants per m2 in 2011. The most dominant weeds were Chenopodium album, Polygonum aviculare and Amaranthus retroflexus in 2010 and Polygonum aviculare, Tribolus terestris and Cynodon dactilon in 2011. By taxonomic aspect, the weed flora was distributed in 11 families. 15 weed species were dicotyledons and 2 weed species were monocotyledons. Terophytes were the dominant life form weed category in black locust nurseries. Efficacy of herbicides 28 days after treatment (DAT) ranged from 91.0% (pendimethalin) to 95.3% (linuron) in 2010, and 74.5% (linuron) to 88.0% (pendimethalin) in 2011, respectively. Efficacy of herbicides 56 DAT ranged from 93.6% (pendimethalin) to 98.3% (linuron) in 2010, and from 74.8% (linuron) to 83.1% (pendimethalin) in 2011, respectively. Prevailing weed control by herbicides was not consistent over the years. However, efficacy of herbicides in control of prevailing weeds 28 and 56 DAT ranged from 88% to 100% in 2010 and 7% to 86% in 2011, respectively. Lower herbicide efficacy in 2011 was most likely due to high precipitation occurred immediately after herbicide application and domination of perennial weeds, particularly Cynodon dactilon. 

Over the past five decades, researchers in the southern United States have been working with nursery managers to develop ways to reduce the cost of producing seedlings. In this regard, the Southern Forest Nursery Management Cooperative (at Auburn University in Alabama) has helped reduce hand-weeding costs and losses due to nematodes and disease. As a result, nursery managers are able to legally use a variety of registered herbicides and fungicides for use in pine and hardwood seedbeds. Other changes over the last three decades include a reduction in the number of nurseries growing seedlings, a reduction in the number of seedlings outplanted per ha, an increase in the number of container nurseries, an increase in the average production per nursery, an increase in production by the private sector, growing two or more crops after fumigation, the development of synthetic soil stabilizers, applying polyacrylamide gels to roots and the use of seedling bags and boxes for shipping seedlings.

Meeting forest restoration challenges relies on successful establishment of plant materials (e.g., seeds, cuttings, rooted cuttings, or seedlings, etc.; hereafter simply “seedlings”). The Target Plant Concept (TPC) provides a flexible framework that nursery managers and their clients can use to improve the survival and growth of these seedlings. The key tenets of the TPC are that (1) more emphasis is placed on how seedlings perform on the outplanting site rather than on nursery performance, (2) a partnership exists between the nursery manager and the client to determine the target plant based on site characteristics, and (3) that information gleaned from post-planting monitoring is used to improve subsequent plant materials. Through the nursery manager–client partnership, answers to a matrix of interrelated questions define a target plant to meet the reforestation or forest restoration objectives. These questions focus on project objectives; site characteristics, limiting factors, and possible mitigation efforts; species and genetic criteria; stocktype; outplanting tools and techniques; and outplanting window. We provide examples from the southeastern United States, Hawai‛i, and Lebanon on how the TPC process has improved performance of seedlings deployed for reforestation and forest restoration. 

In forestlands on steep slopes, where the shallow soil can be considered a nonrenewable resource, erosion is of special concern. The vegetation covers, at both soil and canopy level, provides essential protection to the soil against the rainfall erosivity and reduces considerably the water erosion rate. Consequently vegetation management may affect soil erosion. We focused our attention on old coppice beech forest growing on a steep slope (28-32°) and subjected to conversion to high stand. With the aim of obtaining information on surface water flow and the mineral soil loss, three runoff-erosion plots (10 m long x 3 m wide) were installed in catchments in Lombardy Alps (Intelvi Valley, Como) at three stands: a coppice 40 years old (CpS 1968) and two conversions from coppice to high forest respectively cut in 1994 (CvS 1994) and 2004 (CvS 2004). Water run-off and sediment losses were collected from June to October 2008 and from May to October 2009 together with stand characteristics, LAI, soil surface cover, canopy cover and fine-root traits. Our results showed that the conversion practices significantly affect the water runoff and soil erosion with the younger conversion CvS 2004 showing the highest erosivity. This was due to the lower values of tree density, canopy cover, soil surface cover and fine-root biomass and length. The old coppice stand (CpS 1968) together with the older conversion stand (CvS 1994) showed comparable values of soil erosion. Therefore, the major role in protecting soil from erosion played by old coppice stand is recovered by the conversion stand after a number of years since harvesting. Our study highlights that abandoned old coppice stand plays an important role in protecting soil from erosion and claims consideration in forest management of steep forestland stands.

Most of the Iberian Peninsula has a Mediterranean climate, which strongly determines the objectives, strategies and techniques of forest restoration. This communication addresses a main forest restoration challenge for Mediterranean-climate woodlands in Spain: the transformation of old monospecific pine plantations to more diverse, resistant and resilient forest systems. I also present how afforestation methods and some ideas on plant quality have evolved in the last 80 years. Productivity of Mediterranean forests is low, which discourages private owners to invest in woodland management. Therefore, woodland management strongly relies on public funds. Large-scale afforestation in the 20^th century has created huge areas of monospecific pine plantations, which have been under thinned and are very simple structurally with almost no understory. The stands are very prone to fires, diseases and drought dieback. However, old pine plantations can facilitate the establishment of late successional trees and shrubs when properly thinned. Therefore, pine plantations are an opportunity for restoring several types of oak-dominated forests at a large scale and resources should invested to preserve and gradually transform these plantations into mixed forests. Funds should be invested in thinning progressively rather than to plant new areas. In many plantations close to oak forests remnants, thinning is the only management required. However, many pine plantations are far from seed sources and enrichment plantations together with thinning are needed. Extensive enrichment plantations are expensive. Therefore, an option is to develop a network of small islets strategically placed inside pine plantations and properly managed as seed foci to foster pine plantation colonization. This option is cheaper than conventional extensive low-density enrichment plantations but research is needed to assess its effectiveness for pine plantation transformation.

Increased summer drought and wildfires as a consequence of continuing climate change are expected to lead to disturbance of Mediterranean ecosystems. Seedlings recruitment is sensitive to both stresses and, therefore, any adaptation and restoration strategy devised to protect these forests should take into account a careful study on their effects on seedling development. As a substantial fraction of net primary productivity of forested ecosystems is channelled in the belowground compartments, the knowledge of how roots behave under stressful conditions becomes of primary importance to select the right management strategy to be implemented. This work tries to enlighten the events occurring in the fine root portion of the root system in young seedlings of three co-existing oak species (Quercus ilex, Quercus trojana and Quercus virgiliana) under controlled conditions. We have made a comparative analysis of the effect of these two stresses, alone or in combination, with the aim to evaluate the tolerance level of these seedlings and, therefore, to obtain an indication of their recruitment potential in the field. The parameters investigated were biomass and a number of morphological traits. Data obtained suggest that a decrease in diameter could be part of a tolerance strategy in all three oaks tested together with a reduction of root length. In addition, tolerance to water shortage could require a reduction of carbon allocated belowground, in particular in the very fine roots, which leads to an overall reduction of the root system dimension. Q. trojana seedlings seem to be the fastest in resuming growth after stress interruption but a good recovery was also found for the remaining two oak species. Although our study provides interesting information regarding a possible tolerance strategy taking place in the fine root compartment when seedlings of these three oak species undergo water stress and fire treatment, more information is needed before any suggestion can be made as to which species would be best suited to make these forests more resistant to global changes.

The conducted research that involved the assessment of the census size of the black poplar population on The Great War Island, its viability and health status, levels of genetic diversity and recent changes in population served as the basis for defining the measures of in situ conservation of the available gene pool. A network of in situ conservation habitats, labeled A, B and C, were formed. The area of conservation habitat A is 27.90 ha and includes 455 individual trees of black poplar. Conservation habitat B spreads over an area of 7.84 ha and includes 192 individual trees of black poplar. Conservation site C spreads over an area of 21.25 ha and includes 260 individual trees of black poplar. Potential new areas suitable for natural regeneration have been identified in the vicinity of the conservation habitats. Their total area amounts to 16.50 ha and they are surrounded by reproductively mature black poplar trees and thus, seeds can easily be transferred to these areas. The suggested measures of in situ conservation are aimed at the maintenance and conservation of existing black poplar population in the area of Great War Island.

Surface mining causes major destruction of natural landscapes and ecosystems. The most fertile, surface soil layer is lost permanently, together with vegetation, wildlife, and micro flora. Post-mining areas are characterized with diverse edaphic, topographic, hydrographic conditions, which complicate land restoration. Successful establishment of forest ecosystems on such land depends mostly on selection of tree species. The chosen plants must be capable of tolerating a wide range of acidity, fertility, moisture, and have potential to ameliorate such substrates for more demanding species. But, reforestation of heavily damaged ecosystems, such as post-mining areas, demands a new approach in seedlings production. This new approach takes into account specific requirements of habitat and integrates them into “targeted production of planting material”. A good strategy for successful reforestation of post-mining areas is the input of organic matter (compost, mulch). Also, current knowledge and experiences emphasize the potential of beneficial microorganisms such as, mycorrhizal fungi (MF) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). The majority of studies that deal with beneficial interactions between trees and microorganisms are focused on the mycorrhiza, while plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are less present in silviculture. In this study, the focus is on the reforestation challenges of two mining basins, Majdanpek and Kolubara and suggests beneficial microorganisms as potential solution. The study presents results of several years’ researches on plant response to the presence of mycorrhizal fungi and PGPR. The substrates used for plant growth were Majdanpek and Kolubara mine deposals. Mycorrhizal seedlings were grown in Majdanpek mine deposal, and at the end of the experiment they had 30% higher biomass in comparison to control (seedlings without mycorrhiza). Seedlings linked with fungi had a higher survival rate. Deposals from Kolubara Mining Basin were used as a substrate for seedlings inoculated with PGPR. In the first experiment, Scots pine and Norway spruce were inoculated with Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megaterium, B. circulans, B. licheniformis, B. pumilus, B. amyloliquefaciens. Inoculation resulted with higher biomass production (Scots pine 43%, Norway spruce 34%). Similar results were obtained in the second experiment where Scots pine and black locust were inoculated with Bacillus licheniformis, Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas putida and Burkholderia cepacia. Both species had higher biomass (around 20%) in comparison to un-inoculated control. The results confirmed the fact that early establishment and successful growth of vegetation on devastated areas depends on the presence and activity of soil microbes. Microorganisms as a “nature’s solution” pose the potential to alleviate reforestation challenges of anthropogenic devastated landscapes. Their presence and activity is crucial for ecosystem stability. In areas with compromised balance, their introduction is justified action for achieving the goal of long term ecosystem sustainability.