Floodplain forest vegetation in the northern part of the Western Carpathians
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Floodplain forest vegetation in the northern part of the Western Carpathians Michal Slezák 1,2 & Ivan Jarolímek 3 & Judita Kochjarová 4 & Richard Hrivnák 3 Received: 3 March 2020 / Accepted: 20 May 2020 # Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2020
Abstract Floodplain forests, as diverse plant communities commonly related to riparian zones, host plant species with various ecological niches and origins. The phytosociological context of floodplain forests has been well described on national level in many European countries, however, there are still regions with relatively poorly known variability of their species composition and environmental drivers controlling their vegetation patterns. Vegetation sampling of floodplain forests using traditional European phytosociological approach along with the recording of environmental (climatic, edaphic, topographic) variables was carried out in the northern part of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia and Poland) in period of 2011–2016. We gathered dataset of 135 original phytosociological relevés, which were classified using modified TWINSPAN algorithm. Five associations were distinguished: (i) meso-eutrophic black alder swamp forests (Carici acutiformis-Alnetum glutinosae), (ii) montane oligotrophic mixed spruce-alder forests on waterlogged sites (Piceo abietis-Alnetum glutinosae), (iii) riparian willow forests (Salicetum fragilis), (iv) meso-hygrophilous riparian alder forests (Stellario nemorum-Alnetum glutinosae) and (v) riparian grey alder forests (Alnetum incanae). Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) with forward selection was used to show effect of environmental factors on species composition variation. The explained variance declined from marginal (13.9%) and conditional (8.6%) to pure effect (7.5%), with altitude (1.6%), total soil nitrogen content (1.6%) and soil pH (1.4%) being the most important predictors accounted for the highest variation in species compositional data. Keywords Alder carrs . Altitude . Environmental gradients . Phytosociology . Plant community . Riparian alder and willow forests . Soil chemistry
Introduction Floodplain forests are dynamic ecosystems and important element of natural forest vegetation in European landscape. Their strong decline has been observed in many European
* Michal Slezák [email protected] 1
Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ľ. Štúra 2, Zvolen SK-960 53, Slovakia
2
Podtatranské Museum in Poprad, Vajanského 72/4, SK-058 01 Poprad, Slovakia
3
Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23 Bratislava, Slovakia
4
Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 24, SK-960 01 Zvolen, Slovakia
countries over the last two centuries. The persisting remnants of original and natural alluvial forests are commonly exposed to human pressure and prone to plant invasions (Wagner et al. 2017), what had led to their inclusion into the threatened ecosystems listed in Habi
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