baumzaehlen - Primeval Forests & Their Trees

Detailed historical forest records including maps suggest that 50 ha of the core zone (74.5 ha) of this reserve (98 ha) has never been logged¹. It was the first protected forest in Czechia and among the first in Europe: the core area has been under strict protection since 1838, but deadwood extraction occurred until 1882 ¹. From 1849 to the 1940s the reserve was a part of a game reserve; as a result, trees belonging to the 40–50-cm diameter class are virtually absent². After WWII the density of large herbivores increased further although the area was no longer managed as a game reserve². The whole reserve was fenced in 1991 to exclude the over-dense herbivore populations². Currently, however, the fence is broken in several places; consequently, all the Abies alba (European silver fir) and even some Picea abies (Norway spruce) seedlings are browsed. A storm hit the reserve in 2007 felling about 9% of the core zone; conifer stands were most heavily affected¹. Strong winds are generally the most common natural disturbance type in Central Europe; however, very heavy storms like the hurricanes and typhoons of eastern North America and East Asia, are absent³.

The forest has been thoroughly studied with all living and dead trees of diameter at least 10 cm being mapped¹. Fagus sylvatica (European beech) dominates, followed by P. abies; the other, much less common, trees are A. alba, Ulmus glabra (wych elm), Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore maple), Acer platanoides (Norway maple), Sorbus aucuparia (European rowan) and Salix caprea (goat willow) ¹. All these are easy to identify. The reasons for the low percentage of A. alba are air pollution particularly from the 1960s into the 1980s, the 2007 storm¹ and certainly also the reserve’s history as a game reserve, as A. alba is the most susceptible tree to browsing⁴. F. sylvatica has benefited from the decrease of A. alba ¹. There are also several small wetlands and peat springs. Elevation ranges from 735 to 830 m, gentle northwest-facing slopes predominate. Mean annual precipitation is 917 mm, with a June maximum, and mean annual temperature 4.3°C ¹.

References:

1       Šamonil, P. et al. (2013): Individual-based approach to the detection of disturbance history through spatial scales in a natural beech-dominated forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 24: 1167–1184.

2       Kenderes, K. et al. (2009): Natural Gap Dynamics in a Central European Mixed Beech-Spruce-Fir Old-Growth Forest. Ecoscience 16(1):39–47.

3       Fischer, A., Marshall, P. & Camp, A. (2013): Disturbances in deciduous temperate forest ecosystems of the northern hemisphere: their effects on both recent and future forest development. Biodivers Conserv 22:1863–1893.

4       Standovár, T. & Kenderes, K. (2003): A review on natural stand dynamics in Beechwoods of East Central Europe. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 1(1–2): 19–46.

Official site:

http://www.cittadella.cz/europarc/index.php?p=index&site=NPR_zofinsky_prales_en