The market demand for interesting varieties and cultivars of Ilex aquifolium necessitates the exploration and sustainable exploitation of plant individuals thriving in nature without human care. In this work, an effort was made to develop a simple and reliable protocol for vegetative propagation of I. aquifolium plants, with desirable-for-market characteristics, grown in a mountain area of Halkidiki, Greece, and at the same time to proceed with their genetic identification using molecular markers. From these plants, new plants were vegetatively produced which afterward were used as stock plants for providing the needed shoot cuttings for the experiments of rooting and leaves for their genetic analysis. Factors studied in formulating a propagation protocol included the season of cutting collection and the application of 0.2% 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), as well as the type of shoot cuttings (terminal, subterminal) and the application of auxin. It was found that application of NAA was crucial for rooting response and number of roots formed, whereas the season effect was not significant on rooting. Terminal cuttings treated with 0.2% NAA exhibited the highest rooting percentage (100%) and formed abundant roots (25.7) compared to subterminal ones. All rooted cuttings, after being potted and transferred to acclimatization greenhouse, were successfully hardened. In the spring of the next year, the produced plants blossomed abundantly and formed fruits (bright red berries) presenting their characteristic ornamental appearance that was maintained until Christmas. For the identification procedure, the genotypic profile of the stock plants was also investigated by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) genetic analysis, revealing that they were genetically the same both among themselves and when compared with a certified I. aquifolium ‘Agrifoglio Commune’ individual, but they differed genetically from I. aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’ and I. aquifolium ‘Hellas’.

Carbon sequestration by forests and storage in biomass has gained great interest globally in climate change mitigation. Resinous pine forests act as ideal carbon sinks because, in addition to capturing atmospheric CO₂ for biomass production, they produce resin (resin concentration in C: 77.17% w/w), contributing further to the mitigation of the greenhouse effect. Greece until the 1970s was considered one of the main resin-producing countries of Europe, due to the quantity and quality of resin products collected from natural populations mainly of Pinus halepensis Mill. Previous and current research has shown that resin production is a genetically controlled trait (h² > 0.70) that exhibits great variability among trees (resin 0.5–33.0 kg per tree and year). The above led to the genetic selection of P. halepensis genotypes with constant over time high resin yields (≥20 kg per tree and year) and consequently greater atmospheric CO₂ sequestration for more effective counteracting climate change but also for economic reasons for the benefit of resin producers. These high-yielding genotypes were cloned through grafting on P. brutia rootstocks and became potential trees for establishing commercial pine plantations. Thus, one hectare of commercial plantation of 500 P. halepensis trees, with a resin yield of 20 kg per tree, is expected to sequester 28.31 tn CO₂ per year (instead of 2.82 tn of CO₂ per year of a natural stand of 400 P. halepensis trees based on a resin yield of 2.5 kg per tree), at the productive age of 25 years. In this case, commercial plantations with improved genotypes of P. halepensis have great potential not only in mitigating the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere, but also in restoring degraded marginal areas and arid soils, and at the same time can offer social and economic benefits to the local communities.

Resin tapping has long been an important traditional economic activity in less advantaged areas that serves as a source for income to local populations as well as an important management tool intricately linked with ecosystem services. In Greece, the majority of the remaining resin tappers are located in communities close to Pinus halepensis stands in the northern part of Evia Island. However, on 3 August 2021, a wildfire burned more than 50,000 Ha in the region, bringing the remaining resin tappers to a standstill. This paper aims to examine the views of 89 resin tappers in N. Evia and their perspectives on their profession as expressed during personal interviews. According to the participants’ replies, resin production is expected to bounce back to pre-fire levels in 40 years. A considerable portion of those interviewed (39.3%) were forced to work in other professions near their communities during the period that followed the fire. They were very dissatisfied by the fire management and initial mitigation actions, and fairly satisfied by the ecosystem recovery works that followed. However, they have high expectations for employment in a seven-year long government-funded support program which will allow them to continue living in their communities, and in this context they are willing to make a professional shift to forest operations work. In this context, the role of state authorities is expected to be crucial. The provision of vocational training and financial incentives could be decisive in preventing them from transitioning to alternative production sectors.

Pyrus spinosa Forssk. (almond-leaved pear) is a wild-growing native tree of the hilly countryside of Greece, which has recently gained interest for its valuable endogenous substances. In the present work, the determination of the total phenol content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (AC) was carried out during 2021 and 2022 in leaves from 32 genotypes of mature wild-growing trees at four different locations of Central Macedonia District, Greece: Agia Anastasia, Chalkidiki, Lagadas and Pieria. The measurements taken from the leaf samples of all genotypes revealed a strong positive linear correlation between TPC and AC (R² = 0.772). Two genotypes from Agia Anastasia, coded as AA2 and AA3, were comparatively the richest in TPC (44.86 for AA2 and 46.32 mg GAE/g fresh weight for AA3) and AC (70.31 and 71.21 μg AAE/g fresh weight for the same genotypes). For these two genotypes of high TPC and AC, an efficient micropropagation protocol was developed to preserve and multiply this valuable germplasm. Newly emerged shoot tips were excised from winter shoots and, after disinfestation, they were established on a modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) nutrient medium with 5 μΜ of 6-Benzyloaminopurine (BAP). For shoot multiplication, explants from clean cultures were transferred to Pear Medium 1 with 5 μΜ of BAP. The effect of the nutrient medium was tested by using five different nutrient media (modified MS, Pear Medium 1, Pear Medium 2, DKW and WPM) supplemented with 5 μΜ of BAP. Pear Medium 1 was the most effective in shoot formation. Among the four different BAP concentrations (0, 5, 10 and 20 μΜ) used in Pear Medium 1, 5 μΜ of BAP resulted in the production of the significantly highest number of shoots (22.7 shoots per explant, 2.4 cm long). The exposure of cultures to 10 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ for one week under light irradiance followed by 35 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ for four weeks increased both the number and length of the shoots produced. A 20-s dip of the shoot bases into 49.0 μΜ of Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in EtOH equally affected rooting in a modified rooting MS (79%) and Pear Medium 1 (80%). The root system developed better in the modified rooting MS medium (mean number of roots of 2.7 with a length of 3.9 cm). The acclimatization of the plantlets was successfully carried out (high survival rates five weeks after their establishment) on a perlite substrate under controlled environmental conditions.