Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians

The herbaceous vegetation and forest stand characteristics in European beech forests growing in the Polish part of the Eastern Carpathians have changed over the last 40 years. This has been influenced by many factors, including land-use change, forest management and climate change. This study invest...

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Autores principales:	Anna Bugno-Pogoda, Tomasz Durak
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	long-term studies forest stands forest management plans East Carpathians forest management global warming Plant ecology QK900-989
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0390fe0fc75840efab19852f7d3a468b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0390fe0fc75840efab19852f7d3a468b2021-11-25T17:37:22ZClimate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians10.3390/f121114461999-4907https://doaj.org/article/0390fe0fc75840efab19852f7d3a468b2021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/11/1446https://doaj.org/toc/1999-4907The herbaceous vegetation and forest stand characteristics in European beech forests growing in the Polish part of the Eastern Carpathians have changed over the last 40 years. This has been influenced by many factors, including land-use change, forest management and climate change. This study investigates changes in forest cover and structure and the associated changes in herbaceous layer plant communities and seeks to elucidate whether and how beech forest herbaceous layer communities have been affected by climate change. The study used information from archival and current land cover maps, semi-permanent sampling plots, forest management plans for the Forest Districts of Brzozów, Lesko and Ustrzyki Dolne and meteorological weather station data compiled for three study periods of herbaceous vegetation (1970s, 2000s, 2010s). In the study area, the regular shelterwood system was changed to an irregular shelterwood system that produces stands with a complex overstorey structure. The results revealed the important role of light availability in shaping the species composition of the herbaceous layer in semi-natural Carpathian beech forests, which was strongly related to the course of management activities. An overall decrease in the number of species during the 2010s is linked to the ageing of beech forests, increased intensity of management activities in ageing stands, competition from understorey vegetation and lower soil moisture that can be linked to climate change. Our study partially supports the existing findings that more manipulative forest management systems can play an important role in countering the current and expected effects of climate change on the forest ecosystem because of the low degree of spatial differentiation of the stand’s structure (developmental stages). Therefore, foresters managing the structure of stands should strive to create a forest structure with high variability of developmental stages on a regional scale.Anna Bugno-PogodaTomasz DurakMDPI AGarticlelong-term studiesforest standsforest management plansEast Carpathiansforest managementglobal warmingPlant ecologyQK900-989ENForests, Vol 12, Iss 1446, p 1446 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	long-term studies forest stands forest management plans East Carpathians forest management global warming Plant ecology QK900-989
spellingShingle	long-term studies forest stands forest management plans East Carpathians forest management global warming Plant ecology QK900-989 Anna Bugno-Pogoda Tomasz Durak Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
description	The herbaceous vegetation and forest stand characteristics in European beech forests growing in the Polish part of the Eastern Carpathians have changed over the last 40 years. This has been influenced by many factors, including land-use change, forest management and climate change. This study investigates changes in forest cover and structure and the associated changes in herbaceous layer plant communities and seeks to elucidate whether and how beech forest herbaceous layer communities have been affected by climate change. The study used information from archival and current land cover maps, semi-permanent sampling plots, forest management plans for the Forest Districts of Brzozów, Lesko and Ustrzyki Dolne and meteorological weather station data compiled for three study periods of herbaceous vegetation (1970s, 2000s, 2010s). In the study area, the regular shelterwood system was changed to an irregular shelterwood system that produces stands with a complex overstorey structure. The results revealed the important role of light availability in shaping the species composition of the herbaceous layer in semi-natural Carpathian beech forests, which was strongly related to the course of management activities. An overall decrease in the number of species during the 2010s is linked to the ageing of beech forests, increased intensity of management activities in ageing stands, competition from understorey vegetation and lower soil moisture that can be linked to climate change. Our study partially supports the existing findings that more manipulative forest management systems can play an important role in countering the current and expected effects of climate change on the forest ecosystem because of the low degree of spatial differentiation of the stand’s structure (developmental stages). Therefore, foresters managing the structure of stands should strive to create a forest structure with high variability of developmental stages on a regional scale.
format	article
author	Anna Bugno-Pogoda Tomasz Durak
author_facet	Anna Bugno-Pogoda Tomasz Durak
author_sort	Anna Bugno-Pogoda
title	Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
title_short	Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
title_full	Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
title_fullStr	Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
title_full_unstemmed	Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians
title_sort	climate and management factors underlying changes in beech forest herbaceous layer plant communities in the polish eastern carpathians
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/0390fe0fc75840efab19852f7d3a468b
work_keys_str_mv	AT annabugnopogoda climateandmanagementfactorsunderlyingchangesinbeechforestherbaceouslayerplantcommunitiesinthepolisheasterncarpathians AT tomaszdurak climateandmanagementfactorsunderlyingchangesinbeechforestherbaceouslayerplantcommunitiesinthepolisheasterncarpathians
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Climate and Management Factors Underlying Changes in Beech Forest Herbaceous Layer Plant Communities in the Polish Eastern Carpathians

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