Abstract
In this study, we analysed patterns of spatial variation in the basal area of live and dead trees and structural complexity in close-to-primeval forests in the Dinaric Mts. The results were compared with an analogous study conducted in the Western Carpathians. The research was carried out in the Janj, Lom and Perucića forest reserves (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in mixed-species stands of silver fir Abies alba Mill., European beech Fagus sylvatica L. and Norway spruce Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. In the core zones of the reserves, concentric sample plots (154 and 708 m2) were set in a regular 20 × 20 m grid covering approximately 10 ha. The analyses revealed varying distribution patterns of live canopy trees, suggesting that these characteristics may fluctuate to some extent at the regional level. At the spatial scale of 708 m2, attractive associations between dead canopy trees were found, but this tendency disappeared with increasing area. Although stands in the Dinaric Mts. are characterized by an almost twofold greater biomass accumulation compared to those from the Western Carpathians, the study revealed analogous bell-shaped distributions of stand basal areas of live trees and a very similar trend of decreasing variation in stand basal area and structural heterogeneity with increasing spatial scale. Nonetheless, the higher growing stocks, lower ratios of dead to live tree basal area and lower proportion of homogeneous structure types found in the Dinaric Mts. may suggest a less severe disturbance history over recent decades in this region compared to the Western Carpathians.
Highlights
A crucial goal for contemporary forestry is to develop management methods capable of combining economic sustainability, maintenance of biodiversity and adaptability of forest ecosystems to on-going environmental changes (Messier et al 2014; Bauhus et al 2017)
At the single plot scale (154 m2), the variation of B AL was smaller in the Dinaric Mts. than in the Western Carpathians, but for areas above 1000 m2 these differences quickly disappeared (Figs. 4, 6). In both cases the distributions had a truncated bell-shaped form with a low proportion of the smallest BAL values. This finding confirms earlier suggestions based on material from the Carpathians that in montane mixed-species forests, natural disturbance rarely reduces the stand basal area to a close-tozero level even in small stand patches and that these biomass losses are rapidly balanced by the growth of neighbouring or under-canopy trees
The study, which was conducted by using an identical methodology in several mixed-species montane forest relics of primeval character in the Dinaric Mts. and Western Carpathians, indicated substantial inter-regional differences in the growing stocks of live trees and proportion of live to dead trees
Summary
A crucial goal for contemporary forestry is to develop management methods capable of combining economic sustainability, maintenance of biodiversity and adaptability of forest ecosystems to on-going environmental changes (Messier et al 2014; Bauhus et al 2017). An increasing understanding of these challenges has led to growing interest in the functioning of complex natural ecosystems. Such ecosystems are usually characterized by higher structural heterogeneity, which is crucial for habitat diversity as well resilience against disturbances and recovery potential (Röhrig et al 2006; Brang et al 2014). After the long history of human colonization in Europe, only relicts of the former pristine forests remain. Among these remnants, one of the best represented is montane mixed-species forests consisting of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), which can still be found in fragmented patches in the Carpathians, Balkans and Alps (Mayer 1986; Korpeľ 1993; Veen et al 2010)
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