Analysis of the link between injuries on forest trees and presence of harmful fungal organisms

This research focus on the occurrence of pathogenic microorganisms on beech trees relative to the presence of tree injuries, with the aim to ensure protection and preservation of this species in Serbia. The research was conducted in eastern Serbia, in a hillside beech forest Fagetum moesiacae submontanum of generative origin. The testing was carried out on two sites over 51 testing plots, with a total of 829 trees and 21 species of identified fungi. On the first site it was found that the appearance of fungi primarily depends on the presence of mechanical damage on trees (as much as 73.46%), while the presence of abiotic damage has almost no bearing (only 3.21%). On the second site there was a strong correlation link between the occurrence of fungi and presence of mechanical damage 51.88%, as well as between the fungi and abiotic damage – 47.96%. The health condition of high beech stands was found to be heavily dependent on careful and proper manipulation during harvesting, while each injury inflicted on a beech live tree during logging opens the door to infection with pathogenic microorganisms.