ROAD EDGE EFFECT ON BASAL AREA INCREMENT IN LINDEN STANDS

630*38:625.7/.8]:582.685.4(560 Bursa) Road networks within the forested areas are essential structure to access forests for various purposes such as management, protection, regeneration, harvesting, and recreation etc. However, if roads are not planned properly, they may result in serious impacts on forest ecosystems including degradation and fragmentation of habitats. On the other hand, light availability along the road edge increases which reflects the diversity and amount of plant species. In the study, it was aimed to investigate the rod edge effect on tree growing by measuring the basal area increment along road network located within the linden stands. The study area was selected from Karacabey province of Bursa where linden has the largest distribution in Turkey. In the field study stage, four sample trees were selected from 5-meter-wide stripes at the road edge and from control zone which is about 50 meters away from the road edge. Measurements were repeated for 6 sample road sections with 500 meters length along 3 km-long road located in the middle of linden stands. Since the stand characteristics were mostly uniform and did not vary significantly along the sample road, stand structures such as tree ages, stand density, canopy, etc. were not   evaluated in this study. During the data collection, the diameter at breast height (DBH) was measured for the sample trees located in the specified zones. Then, statistical analysis was conducted to indicate whether there is a difference in basal area increments between the trees at road edge and the trees located in control zone.  According to the results, increasing the distance from the road edge resulted in reduction in the average basal area values. There was a statistically significant difference between basal area values for trees at road edge and the trees located in control zone.