A period of stagnation in silver fir development has been recorded in all felled trees in selection forests of Serbia (233 trees on Mt. Goč and 451 trees on Mt. Tara). It was also found that the duration of latent state and tree sizes attained over that phase (except for height, and that was to a lesser extent) did not affect the silver fir tree development in the post-stagnation period. | D. PANTIĆ, S. BANKOVIĆ, M. MEDAREVIĆ, S. OBRADOVIĆ Research Article Turk J Agric For 35 (2011) 367-378 © TÜBİTAK doi: Some characteristics of the stagnation stage in the development of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) trees in selection forests in Serbia Damjan PANTIĆ*, Staniša BANKOVIĆ, Milan MEDAREVIĆ, Snežana OBRADOVIĆ Department of Forest Management Planning, Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11 030 Belgrade - SERBIA Received: Abstract: A period of stagnation in silver fir development has been recorded in all felled trees in selection forests of Serbia (233 trees on Mt. Goč and 451 trees on Mt. Tara). In the selection forests on Mt. Goč, the stagnation stage ranges between 40 and 330 years, but on Mt. Tara, it ranges from 15 to 185 years. It was concluded that the duration was caused not by the ecological and productivity potential (site class) of the soil for fir development, but primarily by the growth space, resulting from the application of single-tree selection or group selection systems. It was also found that the duration of latent state and tree sizes attained over that phase (except for height, and that was to a lesser extent) did not affect the silver fir tree development in the post-stagnation period. Key words: Selection forest, Serbia, silver fir, stagnation stage Introduction Uneven-aged forest management has a significant role in forestry in central Europe (Mitscherlich 1961; Mlinšek 1968; Schütz 1989; Klepac 1995) and parts of southeastern Europe. Over the last few decades, higher public awareness of the forest ecosystem multifunctionality has made it a significant option (Schütz 1997) in the integration of forest protection, social production, and other aspects of forest management. However, the management of selection forests in these areas of Europe has recently encountered numerous problems, which are reflected in the structural changes (Schütz 1975, 1992; Korpel 1982; Boncina
