Abstract
The research objective was to provide a generalised model of spatial variation in the basal area of live and dead trees in primeval beech–fir–spruce forests in the Western Carpathians region. The study was carried out in three primeval stands located in the Polish part of the massif. In each research area, small sample plots (0.015 ha) were localised in a regular 20 × 20 m grid covering approximately 10 ha. In each sample plot, the diameters at breast height (d 1.3) and species of all live and dead trees were recorded. The spatial pattern was tested statistically using a variance-to-mean ratio on a single sample plot scale (0.015 ha) and a paired-plot approach for the distance range between 20 and 200 m. Simulation techniques were then used to model variation in the basal area of live and dead trees dependent on spatial scale. The spatial patterns of live and dead canopy trees (d 1.3 > 50 cm) were regular when analysed on a single sample plot scale (0.015 ha) but most often random at distance lags ≥20 m. The spatial variability in the basal area of live and dead trees also tended to be random. These results suggest that the patch-mosaic assumption is inapplicable to the primeval beech–fir–spruce stands in the Western Carpathians. In all three stands studied, the basal area recorded on the plots 0.015 ha in area had a very similar pattern of variation, which could be generalised as either a truncated normal distribution (live trees) or a negative exponential distribution (dead trees). The bell-shaped frequency distribution of the basal area of live trees suggests a dynamics model in which extreme values of biomass accumulation are rare and disturbances frequent but quickly balanced by stand increment.
Highlights
Over recent centuries, the species composition of almost all European forest ecosystems has changed and their structural diversification decreased
The research objective was to provide a generalised model of spatial variation in the basal area of live and dead trees in primeval beech–fir–spruce forests in the Western Carpathians region
The spatial pattern was tested statistically using a variance-to-mean ratio on a single sample plot scale (0.015 ha) and a paired-plot approach for the distance range between 20 and 200 m
Summary
The species composition of almost all European forest ecosystems has changed and their structural diversification decreased. The natural stands of shadetolerant European beech (Fagus sylvatica), silver fir (Abies alba), and Norway spruce (Picea abies), formerly widespread in the mountain regions (Mayer and Ott 1991), exist today only in relic form in a few locations in central and south-eastern Europe (Mayer 1986; Korpel’ 1993; Veen et al 2010) The dynamics of such forests is driven by disturbances of minor intensity that kill single or eventually small groups of trees (Standovar and Kenderes 2003; Splechtna et al 2005; Zeibig et al 2005; Nagel and Svoboda 2008; Firm et al 2009; Trotsiuk et al 2012) and favour multilayered stand structures Even the most basic characteristics of these stands, such as the range of variation in structural attributes or the minimal area for shifting mosaic steady-state conditions, remain a subject of discussion (Korpel’ 1993; Emborg et al 2000; Piovesan et al 2005; Paluch 2007; Kral et al 2010a, b)
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