Post-Fire Regeneration of Pinus halepensis Mill. Stands in the Sithonia Peninsula, Northern Greece

This paper deals with the post-fire regeneration of Pinus halepensis Mill. ecosystems in the Sithonia peninsula in northern Greece. The pre-burning stands consisted of two storeys; the overstorey of the dominant tree species P. halepensis and the understorey of evergreen sclerophyllous shrubs. The wildfire took place in June 1994. Three months after the fire two experimental plots of 0.75 ha each were established on a northeastern and a southwestern facing slope. In each experimental plot different restoration treatments were applied by using P. halepensis reproductive material. The treatments were the following: (i) planting of paper- pot seedlings, (ii) planting of bare-root seedlings, (iii) seeding in patches, (iv) seeding in strips, (v) seeding in strips and lines. The results of these treatments were compared to the control (no treatment applied). The results showed that all applied restoration works accelerated the rate of regeneration, while the best results were obtained by the method of planting paper-pot seedlings.