Investigating longterm survival/growth status of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) plantations on eroded fields in Keklik kayasi region of Erzincan and their effects on some soil properties

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the applications of the afforestation (using scots pine seedlings) and erosion control efforts (terracing with mini-excavator named BUROR), started in 2012, at the end of 2018 vegetation period (6 years) in Erzincan-Keklik Kayası region. For this purpose, seven experimental sites of 20 m x 20 m (400 m2) in size were selected from the research area and heights, diameters at root collar and annual length increments for each vegetation period since planting were measured on 30 seedlings randomly chosen within each experimental site. In addition, in order to determine the effect of the afforestation and erosion control applications on some physical and chemical properties of soils, a total of 71 disturbed soil samples -42 from terraces (bottom of planted seedlings) and 29 from the land between terraces (natural area)- taken and analyzed for pH, organic matter, electrical conductivity, aggregate stability and texture analysis. As a result, it was determined that the survival rate of planted scots pine seedlings were approximately 88% while their mean diameters at root collar was 47.3 mm at the end of the sixth growing periods. Moreover, it was revealed that the scots pine seedlings on south-facing slopes were significantly taller with 130.3 cm than the seedlings planted on north-facing slopes (120.9). In addition to these results, evaluations of the results on the soil analyses revealed that works of building terraces with BUROR negatively impacted some soil properties and it was concluded that more time needed for these soil properties to recover. Finally, the high relationship found between the annual height increments for vegetation periods from 2013 to 2018 and both the previous year's total (R2 = 0.77) and growing-season (R2 = 0.85) precipitation amounts was also one of the most important findings of this study.