Mast (forest)
Mast is a term used in forestry and hunting language , and it generally stands for the fruits of beech , oak and chestnut . The fruits of the wild fruit trees are also included. Trees with heavy fruit attachments are also known as mast trees .
Fattening year
Trees that produce seeds that are very rich in energy tend to cyclic fructification (fruiting) in so-called fattening years. So in most years no or only a few seeds are formed. In fattening years, a large part of the assimilation is used for seed formation. The wood growth declines sharply, which can be seen in the annual rings . The time interval between two fattening years varies from region to region and is six to ten years.
For the trees, the mast is a survival strategy and a defense mechanism against predators . In the lean years, when few seeds are formed, bank vole and squirrels , for example, can not reproduce as much. When a fattening year sets in, the tree produces considerably more seeds than the predators can use, and there is enough seed left for a new generation of trees.
A distinction is made depending on the fruit set:
- Full fattening : all trees in a stand are fruitful
- Half -mast : about half of the trees are fruiting
- Explosive mast : only individual trees will produce fruit
- Faulty mast : no tree or only a few trees produce fruit
history
The term mast goes back to times when the forests were used intensively for agriculture in addition to wood . During this period, the fertile Sami years were good years for the local population, who drove their cattle to graze in the woods, also known as Hutewald or Schmalzweide . In one seed year the cattle were well fed or fattened . Although this form of use is a thing of the past, the term still relates to this form of use of the forest.
use
In silviculture , the years of the mast are used for seed production or are available for natural forest regeneration. In mast years, the increasing bank vole above average. In such gradation years , in the endemic areas of the Hanta viruses, diseases in humans in the form of hemorrhagic fever - caused by the viruses - occur more frequently .
Hunter language
In the hunter language the term mast is also more generally for the lining of wild boar and badger and for Äsung the deer . There is the upper mast, which consists of the tree mast (the seeds of the mast trees) and other above-ground seeds and fruits. The feed of wild boar and badger, which is located in the ground and consists of beetles , larvae , worms , roots , etc., is called ground or undermast . Badgers and wild boars break or stab this food out of the ground, which can cause extensive damage to agriculture. In the years of full fattening, the hunt for wild boar is made more difficult, as it avoids feeding due to the abundant food in the forest , where it can usually be safely approached and shot.
See also
literature
- I. Haseder & G. Stinglwagner: Knaur's large hunting dictionary . Weltbild Verlag, Munich 2000. ISBN 3-8289-1579-5
- P. Schütt, HJ Schuck & B. Stimm (eds.): Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol Verlag, Hamburg 2007. ISBN 3-933203-53-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ P. Schütt, HJ Schuck & B. Stimm (Ed.): Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol Verlag, Hamburg 2007. p. 287.
- ^ I. Haseder & G. Stinglwagner: Knaurs large hunting dictionary . Weltbild Verlag, Munich 2000. p. 529.