The syntaxonomic position of the Norway spruce forest of the Szczeliniec Massif - from Calamagrostio villosae- Piceetum to Abieti-Piceetum

Material presented at conference:

Sandstone Landscapes III, Diversity, Ecology and Conservation, Stolowe Mts. National Park, 25-28 April 2012, Kudowa Zdrój, Poland

Abstract:

The systematic position of the Norway Spruce forest occurring in the highest parts of Szczeliniec Wielki and Szczeliniec Mały (theStołowe Mts., the Sudety Mts., Central Poland) is still unclear. The first attempts to determine its syntaxonomical position were presented in the papers of Szmajda (1979), Matuszkiewicz J., Matuszkiewicz M (1996) and Pender (1996). All above mentioned authors agreed, that this forest presents the impoverished form of Calamagrostio villosae-Piceetum (R. Tx. 1937) Hartm. ex Schluter 1966, which occurs here below the typical borders of mountain zone, due to specific climatic and ecological conditions. In 2011, using the standardized transect methods, we collected 54 phytosociological relevés from all sites in the Sudety Mts. on which the Calamagrostio villosae-Piceetum has been reported so far. It enabled us to compare the floristic compositions of the high mountain Norway spruce forests within their suggested range in the Sudety Mts. (the Karkonosze Mts., the Izery Mts., the Snieznik Massif, the Orlickie Mts., Wielka Sowa Mt.).