Abstract
In nearly 600 randomly selected forest stands including elms (Ulmus spp.), we conducted field research to identify them to species level and to find trees showing symptoms of Dutch elm disease (DED). The presented data show that all the 3 native elms (U. glabra, U. laevis, and U. minor) still exist in the whole ranges of their distribution in Poland reported earlier, but their role as forest-forming species has changed. In comparison to published data, the contribution of U. minor has markedly decreased, while an increased contribution was observed in the case of U. laevis, a species which in the past was predominantly located out of woodland and was rarely cultivated. In mountains, where the most frequent is U. glabra, the contribution of elms to forest stands is currently clearly lower than in the lowlands and uplands of Poland. The observed changes most probably result from Dutch elm disease. It cannot be excluded that the changes are at least partly linked with natural correction of forest stand composition modified earlier by human activity (silviculture). In all parts of Poland, trees with symptoms of Dutch elm disease are found, but large-scale decline (of a majority of elm trees) is observed only in about 1.5% of the directly investigated localities.
Highlights
Three elm species are native to Poland: wych elm (Ulmus glabra Huds.), field elm (U. minor Mill.), and European white elm (U. laevis Pall.)
We identified elm species and determined if and to what extent they showed Dutch elm disease (DED) symptoms
In the 600 forest plots included in this study, in total 797 localities of the 3 elm species were distinguished: 516 of U. laevis, 179 of U. glabra, and 102 of U. minor (65%, 22%, and 13% of the total, respectively)
Summary
Three elm species are native to Poland: wych elm (Ulmus glabra Huds.), field elm (U. minor Mill.), and European white elm (fluttering elm) (U. laevis Pall.). U. glabra prefers submontane and montane zones. Outside mountainous regions, it usually occurs in mixed stands with the other 2 native elm species, U. minor and U. laevis. The other 2 species occupy the lowlands and the submontane zone, mostly in river valleys, along streams, in riverine forests, and in forests on sunny slopes (U. minor) [1,2,3,4,5]. According to some sources cited above, including the publication by Matuszkiewicz [4], based on extensive phytosociological literature, U. minor is regarded as the most important forest-forming elm species in natural forests in the lowlands of Poland, e.g., in the major alluvial forest communities in this region, while U. laevis is always an admixture. There is a shortage of publications on the quantitative contribution of individual species to forest stands in a given area
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