Syntaxonomy and ecology of forest vegetation in the Štiavnické vrchy Mts (Central Slovakia)

Abstract

Vegetation of deciduous forests in the Štiavnické vrchy Mts (Central Slovakia) was studied using the standard Zürich-Montpellier approach. The numerical classification and ordination technique were applied to determine the main forest vegetation types and to find the responsible environmental drivers related to their distribution patterns, respectively. The data set including 198 relevés collected by authors in 1997-2009 and 185 relevés excerpted from literature was used to analysis. Numerical classification resulted in delimitation of fourteen vegetation types representing eleven associations with two variants and two communities within the Quercetea roboripetraeae and Querco-Fagetea classes. The major environmental gradients in variation of forest species composition were associated with moisture and nutrient content following the average Ellenberg indicator values. Along the moisture gradient, vegetation types were ordered from subxerophilous oak forests turn mesophilous mixed oak-hornbeam, beech and ravine forests to hygrophilous riparian alder forest. The results confirmed important role of soil nutrients and moisture by determination of forest vegetation in subcontinental part of Central Europe. Special attention was given to the discussion of floristical characteristics, site conditions and syntaxonomy.

Syntaxonomy and Ecology of Black Alder Vegetation in the Southern Part of Central Slovakia

“…The eutrophic riparian alder forests of Stellario-Alnetum glutinosae and alder carr forests of Carici elongatae-Alnetum glutinosae are distributed across Slovakia (Miadok 1978, šomšák 2000, Žarnovičan 2008, Slezák et al 2011, although in the last decades many stands have disappeared due to drainage and stream regulation. In spite of the relatively frequent occurrence of suitable habitats with stagnant or slowly flowing water, especially within alluvial zones in the southern part of the country, the Carici acutiformis-Alnetum glutinosae association has not been well documented with relevés (e-dataset stored in Slovak Phytosociological Database; http://ibot.sav.sk/ cdf/index.html).…”

Environmental conditions in relation to variability of deciduous forest vegetation — a study from volcanic mountain in central Slovakia

“…This gap in our knowledge has led to an increased interest in such research in Slovakia (Roleček 2005;Ujházyová 2007;Kliment et al 2010;Slezák et al 2011). Volcanic mountains occur relatively frequently at the foothills of the Western Carpathians, although the data about environmental gradients which affect the distribution patterns of the flora elements and forest communities has not been documented yet.…”