ANCIENT FOREST SPECIES AND THE DIVERSITY OF VEGETATION AND SEED BANK INDICATE THE APTITUDE OF TRANSFORMED THERMOPHILOUS OAK WOOD PATCHES FOR RESTORATION

作者：Kwiatkowska Falinska Anna Justyna; Panufnik Medrzycka Dorota; Wodkiewicz Maciej; Sondej Izabela; Jaroszewicz Bogdan^*

来源：Polish Journal of Ecology, 2013, 61(1): 65-78.

• Bialowieza Primeval Forest
• thermophilous oak forest
• seed bank
• ecosystem restoration

Thermophilous oak wood is the most species-rich forest habitat in the zone of mixed deciduous forests. A very limited amount of it has been saved in good condition. We investigated the principal hypothesis that the vegetation and seed banks, especially of the ancient forest species, are good indicators of habitat naturalness and its aptitude for restoration. Vegetation and seed bank sampling were carried out in fragments of forest with a known management and disturbance history over the past 80 years. We predicted that natural and anthropogenic transformations of tree stands would be significant factors shaping species composition and similarity of vegetation and seed banks. The closest similarity was observed between the seed banks of plots which were never logged. The least related to others was the seed bank of the logged site, whose soil was ploughed prior to tree replantation. The highest number of ancient forest species was recorded in the vegetation (33 species) and in the soil seed bank (21 species) of the least transformed patch of thermophilous oak forest. It was decreasing gradually with increase of the tree canopy cover on the research plots. Our results indicate also that the higher the coefficient of similarity between seed bank and vegetation, especially of the ancient forest species, the higher the forest%26apos;s naturalness. We conclude that restoration of thermophilous oak wood has the highest chances for success in patches with well preserved seed banks and vegetation.

• 出版日期2013