Species composition in low mountain beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stands in the Bieszczady National Park under the global warming

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The author analyzes the changes in the tree species composition of Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum Klika 1927 em. Mat. 1964 in the mountain stands of Bieszczady National Park in 1993-2003. The analysis takes into account the changes over a ten-year period in the number and volume structure of each tree species in each stand layer: young natural regeneration, undergrowth, and mature stand. Additionally, after comparing the results with the natural Carpathian forests' structure, the adaptation level of the present tree species composition to the current climate and soil conditions, as well as probable directions of future changes have been assessed. A ten-year period is too short to find significant changes in stand species structure but it is possible to see some trends: beech share in stands is increasing and fir is decreasing.

Climate change impacts on the Alpine ecosystem: an overview with focus on the soil

“…Mountains are susceptible to the impacts of a rapidly changing climate and provide interesting locations for early detection and study of the signals of climate change and its impacts on hydrological, ecological and societal systems (Cannone et al 2008;Kohler, Maselli 2009;Sugiero et al 2009;Wolf et al 2012). Human settlement does not explain the marked differences between the potential and contemporary actual vegetation in the Alpine environment (Gerlach et al 2006;Evershed 2008;Hjulström, Isaksson 2009;Miehe et al 2014) -the ecological continuity of parent material and the nowadays vegetation was broken by both processes occurring after Dryas 3 (the end of the Würm period) and the continuing Holocene global climate changes (Simonneau et al 2012).…”

Soil Heterogeneity Reflected in Biogeography of Beech Forests in the Borderland Between the Bohemian Massif and the Outer Western Carpathians

“…Although beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) naturally tends to form monocoenoses, the communities that it creates show locally different dynamics (Christensen et al, 2005;Gömöry et al, 1997;Seynave et al, 2008). Thanks to the adaptability of beech to the soil-forming substrate properties; beech stands display unequal competitiveness in different parts of their range and on different sub-soils (Ngao et al, 2005;Davi et al, 2005;Diaci, Rozenbergar, 2003;Sugiero et al, 2009).…”