Monitoring of groundwater level fluctuations at flooded area of lowland forests of the Sava River (Serbia)

Abstract

Lowland pedunculate oak forests in the alluvium of the river Sava are of a great economic and ecological importance. Their growth and development features, and their survival, as well, mostly depend on soil moisture and available water. The paper deals with the influence of groundwater level on pedunculate oak forests condition in flooded area of Donji Srem. During four-year long research, the average (reference) groundwater level was determined, and extremes, the wettest and the driest year, were determined based on climate factors such as temperature and rainfalls. Deviation of the average from the reference groundwater level in the vegetation period during some years indicates possibility of risk zones presence. These zones are defined according to geostatistical analysis – ArcGIS, Kriging model and they are very significant for forestry practice, because they can predict some drought events and warn forestry experts to react in time in order to prevent big damages. Bearing in mind that investigated area is flooded, and that groundwater level is close to the soil surface, these anaerobic site conditions are obviously more suitable for another hygrophilous species than for pedunculate oak.