relationship between altitude, slope and tree age with red heartwood of beech (fagus orientalis lipsky) in shaffarud forest area

the relationship between altitude, slope and tree age with the red heartwood of beech (fagusorientalis lipsky) were investigated. transect sampling method was used to collect the data. theresults showed that in the 476 sampled trees, 132 trees were suffering the phenomenon of red heartswith deferent shape and size. the results indicate that the tree with red heartwoods in shafa-roudforest area, with 95% confidence intervals were 27.7 ± 4.6 percent. the mean values (ki ) of the redheartwood were significantly different in three altitude forest areas. the relationship between altitudevariations and red heartwood were significantly different. the relationship between slope variationsand red heartwood were not significant ( ˆr = 0.271, p- value = 0.097). the results of this study indicatethat the frequency of the red heartwood was increased in older stands and was extended when thestands become older than 150 years. the ratio of red heartwood in older and young stands was 2.74.