Soil forming role of birch in the Ore Mts.

Abstract

Large areas were deforested as a consequence of the immission calamity in the Czech Republic in the last decades. As a part of restoration activities, preparatory species were utilized, both planted and sown, to cover forest soils, to prevent soil erosion and to regenerate forest microclimate, necessary for reintroduction of target, climax species. Birch (especially Betula pendula Roth.) was among the mostly common preparatory species. Presented paper documents the effects of birch in the case of its cultivation on an intact soil. In this case, birch was documented as a species suitable in a short-time perspective, improving soil characteristics and forming effective shelter against increased humus mineralization.