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The article discusses a study on Quercus Petraea, also known as Sessile Oak wood, located in North Wales and the Factors that affect its natural regeneration process. The authors investigated the protection from acorn predators and the effect of various planting positions on acorn germination and seedling yield in a sessile oak wood. They used the method of putting the Quercus Petraea on an acidic soil in a high rainfall area. According to the results, number of seedlings produced by acorns protected from predation was seventy to eighty times as compared to the unprotected controls.

Nitrate utilization by calcicole and calcifuge species has been measured using a field assay for nitrate reductase. Certain calcifuge species, notably members of the Ericaceae, showed no detectable enzyme activity in the field and very low values in the laboratory even after nitrate feeding. It is concluded that these species have a restricted ability to utilize nitrate. Other calcifuge species and all the species from calcareous soils had detectable nitrate reductase activities in the field and responded to nitrate addition by large increases in enzyme activities. Some of these species were used to compare nitrate utilization in a number of acidic and calcareous soils. Nitrate was utilized in all the soils, but utilization was minimal in ombrogenous peat. A comparison of closely adjacent acidic and calcareous soils showed that nitrate is an important source of inorganic combined nitrogen in at least some acidic soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]