Étude phytosociologique et phytodynamique de la végétation des réserves biologiques de la forêt de Cîteaux (département de la Côte-d'Or)

Abstract

Phytosociology and dynamics of forest communities in the reserve plots of Cîteaux (Côte-d'Or French district). I investigate two old grown reserve plots in the domanial forest of Cîteaux (in the Côte-d'Or French district) in order to state, in a phytosociological perspective, the nature of the mesotrophic, beech-dominated forest of the Saône valley, which usually become under forest management mixed oak-hornbeam forests. They indeed belong to the Melico uniflorae - Fagetum sylvaticae Lohmeyer in Seibert 1954 association, for which a sub-association illicetosum is here proposed. They further represent a successional stage subsequent to the Carici brizoides - Quercetum roboris Neuhâusl in Mikyska et al. 1968 association, and their slow evolution depends on the intensity of past human-induced disturbances. A better understanding of the forest dynamics in reserve plots may help adapting oak management to the particular soil and ecological constraints in the Saône valley.