Marteloscopes
What is a marteloscope?
Marteloscopes are delimited forest areas within which all trees are measured, and their ecological and economic value recorded. They can serve as training sites for foresters, forest owners, students, school pupils and the interested public. In a marteloscope, you can “become a forester” by conducting field exercises, either retaining or removing trees according to various criteria.
Tree selection software
The virtual selection of individual trees in a marteloscope is done using a software specifically developed for this purpose. It runs on mobile devices such as tablets or mobile phones. Selection results are made available to the participants at the end of an exercise, which then allow discussions to take place directly in the forest. To carry out such virtual tree selections, data was recorded for each tree (e.g. diameter, height, wood volume, habitat structures, wood qualities) and stored in the tablet software.
What are tree microhabitats?
Tree microhabitats are, for instance, lichens and fungi on the bark, or woodpecker cavities, which can be visibly demarcated habitat structures. They are partly used by highly specialised species or species communities at least during part of their life cycle and are thus important places for shelter, breeding, hibernation, or foraging. There are surely microhabitats in the marteloscope you are visiting – take a look around!
Our marteloscope sites
Smarna gora near Ljubljana (Slovenia)
The educational marteloscope on the slope of Šmarna Gora, a 0.2-hectare forest area, is tailored to educate schoolchildren and other visitors interested in biodiversity and forest ecosystem services. They can learn more about the numbered trees using the web app and other learning materials that can be accessed via the QR code.
The marteloscope was developed in collaboration with experts from the Šmartno pod Šmarno gora Primary School, the Slovenian Forest Institute, the Slovenian Forest Service and the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana. We appreciate the support of the forest owner Marko Bitenc.
Contact
Gregor Torkar, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Jägerhäuschen in the Kottenforst near Bonn (Germany)
The Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) owns 13 %, or 113,000 hectares, of the total forest area in NRW. The State Forest Administration Wald und Holz NRW is responsible for managing these forests and in addition provides its expertise and assistance to private forest owners. The regional forest district office Regionalforstamt Rhein-Sieg-Erft, manages about 60,000 hectares of forest in the Greater Cologne/Bonn area. Of these, approximately 22,000 hectares are state-owned.
There are several well-known forests in the area including the Königsforst, the Siebengebirge and the Kottenforst. They all vary considerably in their site conditions. The Kottenforst is located in the west and southwest of the former German capital of Bonn. The local state forests are a part of the forest districts Kottenforst and Buschhoven.
The Kottenforst is dominated by old oak stands. They are embedded in a concentric arranged network of forest paths and roads which served in the past for electoral par force hunting. Jägerhäuschen (“hunter’s cottage”) is a relic within these former hunting grounds. It was built around 1750 as a relay-station where hold horses were ready to replace those exhausted.
News on marteloscopes
New video: Marteloscopes as outdoor classrooms
School Marteloscope: Workshop for sixth grade pupils in Slovenia
Same trees, different perspectives: using a marteloscope to present forests in a new light
