Honey is both a complex food and medicine as well as a healthy alternative to refined sugar. Besides a complex mixture of carbohydrates, honey contains other minor substances which may threaten human health in excess concentrations. Several environmental conditions can affect the quality of honey. This research paper aims to measure the degree of heavy metals (Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn), and Copper (Cu)) in some polyfloral honey from an industrial area of Romania, considered to be one of the most polluted regions in Eastern Europe. The samples were collected from six stationary apiaries and analysed using the atomic absorption spectrometry method. The content of Pb was higher in the sampling areas exposed directly to the polluted air masses. Cd concentration decreases exponentially while Cu concentration increases as the distance from the source of pollution increases. The checking of the quality of polyfloral honey from local producers is imperative because this product is intended to be consumed by the beekeeper’s family or the local community without being sold to an authorised processor. The results of the study can help to set a threshold for the concentration of Pb and Cd in honey marketed in the European Union.

Honey is increasingly recognized not only as a functional food but also as a potential bioindicator of environmental pollution. This study assessed the concentrations of four potentially toxic elements (PTEs)—lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn)—in 48 multifloral honey samples collected in 2023 from seven locations across a historically polluted agro-industrial region in Romania. Samples were analyzed using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS) and Graphite Furnace AAS (GFAAS), with quality control ensured through certified reference materials. Results revealed that Pb (0.72–1.69 mg/kg) and Cd (0.02–0.37 mg/kg) levels consistently exceeded international safety thresholds, while Cu (0.62–2.22 mg/kg) and Zn (0.91–1.93 mg/kg), although essential nutrients, were found in elevated concentrations. Spatial analysis indicated a general trend of higher contamination in sites located closer to former industrial facilities, influenced by factors such as altitude and atmospheric transport. These findings confirm the persistent environmental burden in post-industrial landscapes and support the use of honey as a cost-effective tool for pollution monitoring. The study underscores the need for targeted environmental policies, sustainable apicultural practices, and continued surveillance to protect ecosystem health and food safety.

The decline phenomenon of stands can be defined as the totality of effects that damage the normal vegetation state of trees and stands. There are two types of decline, the acute one, with fast development, and the chronical one, with slow development in space and time. The accurate capture of the phenomenon has direct implications for the forest management measures. A first step in this direction is the analysis of the development type and of its dynamics. Forests which have Quercus species in composition are affected more by this phenomenon. There were identified oak stands presenting decline phenomenon in 9 Forest Districts in Northwestern Transylvania and 22 experimental plots were analyzed. These plots were located in middle aged stands that were affected in different ways. The study was performed during 2013-2015 and focused on crown level assessments of trees, taking into consideration the shape and size, defoliations, percentage of dead or missing slender branches, number of dead thick branches, presence of epicormic branches or dormant buds on the stem, presence of pathogens or pests. These elements were used for calculating some technical indicators of the health and vegetation state: degree of dieback, damage and devitalization, synthetic index damage, annual mortality rate. In 7 out of 22 stands, the overcoming of the incipient stage and beginning of active dieback stage was observed. The strongest correlation occurred between the annual mortality rate and the synthetic index damage.

Asiatic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica has gradually infected all chestnut habitats, forest and horticulture plantations from the most important natural centres of sweet chestnut distribution in Romania. The objectives of this work were to understand the destruction rate of chestnut habitats under C. parasitica pressure, and to test the efficacy of pathogen control in revitalizing these protected forests. Successive inventories of forest health status were carried out in forest districts of Maramures and Gorj counties. C. parasitica biologic control using CHV1 virus has been tested. The methodology includes standard laboratory and field work techniques: local hipervirulent strain identification and conversion to hipovirulence, field canker inoculation, and treatment efficacy evaluation. The fungus killed all mature chestnut trees in roughly two decades. Field inoculation has been successful on chestnut and sessile oak (fungus secondary host) in experimental plots from both target zones. This is the first time in Romania when a forest habitat is recovered by means of biological control, after a severe dieback of the old forest caused by a lethal invasive pathogen.

Work conducted over the course of a year have had as primary purpose the effect of ecological reconstruction through afforestation and other works (support fences, cross and longitudinal works în ravinees) in improvement perimeters Diviciori 1 (compartment 73) and Diviciori 3 (compartment 49). Forest vegetation was installed 30 years ago in 73, according to afforestation formula 7PiN-2Pa (Fr) -1 seadbucktorn and 50 years in 49, according to the afforestation formula: 5PiN-2Pi-3Mo. Stands were led using silvotechnic works were just regarding hygienization, in the first years. However, in the recent past, the trees have suffered due to abiotic factors that favorized the emergence of disease and pests (Lophodermium ssp. and Diprion pini). So as to obtain more relevant scientific data, test surfaces were placed following the methods used in the agricultural field, modified as to fit the forest field, so the data could be statistically processed and allow the recommendation of adequate technical solutions regarding the ecological reconstruction of the damaged terrains. Eight test areas were placed in the forests and limitrophe to them, the collected data concerning the volume of rainfall, the quantity of runoff on each surface, respectively material collected in the designated tanks. Therefore the collected data has been processed in the laboratory, ultimately uncovering the quantity of eroded material and comparing it between the two compartments and the limitrophe land, having the following values: 0.0912 t/ha in 49, 0.1718 t/ha outside 49, 0.0939 t/ha in 73 and 0.1657 outside 73. Keywords: Improvement perimeter, runoff plots, erosion, rainfall, forest bottom