Abstract
ContextDue to a long history of intensive forest exploitation, few European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) old-growth forests have been preserved in Europe.Material and MethodsWe studied two beech forest reserves in southern Slovenia. We examined the structural characteristics of the two forest reserves based on data from sample plots and complete inventory obtained from four previous forest management plans. To gain a better understanding of disturbance dynamics, we used aerial imagery to study the characteristics of canopy gaps over an 11-year period in the Kopa forest reserve and a 20-year period in the Gorjanci forest reserve.ResultsThe results suggest that these forests are structurally heterogeneous over small spatial scales. Gap size analysis showed that gaps smaller than 500 m2 are the dominant driving force of stand development. The percentage of forest area in canopy gaps ranged from 3.2 to 4.5% in the Kopa forest reserve and from 9.1 to 10.6% in the Gorjanci forest reserve. These forests exhibit relatively high annual rates of coverage by newly established (0.15 and 0.25%) and closed (0.08 and 0.16%) canopy gaps. New gap formation is dependant on senescent trees located throughout the reserve.ConclusionWe conclude that these stands are not even-sized, but rather unevenly structured. This is due to the fact that the disturbance regime is characterized by low intensity, small-scale disturbances.
Highlights
Virgin and old-growth forests are important ecosystem cornerstones
Gap size analysis showed that gaps smaller than 500 m2 are the dominant driving force of stand development
New gap formation is dependant on senescent trees located throughout the reserve
Summary
Virgin and old-growth forests are important ecosystem cornerstones. they are well represented in the world (35.7% of forest area), only 2.8% of Europe’s (Russian Federation excluded) forest area is classified as primary forest [1]. European beech is a strong competitor and is present in a variety of mixed species forests as well as in pure stands [7] These characteristics make it a dominant tree species in Central Europe. A number of studies have been carried out in the few remaining beech old-growth stands in Northern [8,9], Western [10], Central [11,12,13,14,15,16], Eastern [17], and Southern [18,11,19] Europe Despite this body of work, there is still debate concerning the natural dynamics of beech stands. A third model may suggest that beech stands have a heterogeneous age and size structure at small to intermediate spatial scales depending on the particular disturbance history of the stand, whereby recruitment to the upper layers of the stand is driven by spatiotemporal variation in light availability
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