Vegetation phenology is considered an important biological indicator in understanding the behaviour of ecosystems and how it responds to environmental cues. The aim of this paper is to provide information on the variability of phenological behaviours based on discriminant analysis using the R software package with the following libraries: ggplot2, heplots, candisc, MASS, car, and klaR. Three phenological phases were analysed with eight wild fruit tree species from a forest ecosystem in the southwestern part of Romania (44°05′19.5” N 23°54′03.5” E). It was found that there is a large and very large variability for the “bud burst” phenophase, medium and low for “full flowering”, and reduced for the “all petals fallen” phenophase. For the analyzed data, the discriminant analysis model has high accuracy (accuracy: 0.9583; 95% CI: (0.7888, 0.9989). Partition plots show the results of “full flowering” and “all petals fallen” as a function of the “bud burst” of pockmarks when separated into eight clusters and eight clusters of “full flowering” as a function of “all petals fallen”. The differences observed, from a phenological point of view, are not only due to the different cold requirements of these species but also to the temperatures during the spring.

Geographical studies and environment protection research

Humanity is highly dependent on functioning ecosystems and natural capital, which underpin a constant flow of ecosistem services (ES) from nature to society. ES maps are a very important tool for bringing ES into practical applications. With the help of an ecosystem services potential assessment matrix and GIS analysis, a set of maps was created at the level of „Porțile de Fier” Natural Park, for 4 ecosystem services: global climate regulation, water purification, crop production, recreation and tourism. The park has a high potential for all of the ecosystem services mentioned, except production/crops. Forests offer the greatest potential for these services. Ecosystem services are the contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in combination with other resources) to human well-being.