Resource description:
According to various censuses, Europe has less than 1.5 million ha of old-growth forests (OGF). Most of them are in the boreal zone, while their presence in the temperate zone is residual and fragmented. In the framework of the EU biodiversity strategy, it has been adopted a broad definition of OGF which includes late-seral forests and forests with some management legacies. However, research purposes need to identify strictly defined OGFs characterized by structure, disturbance history, and processes typical and exclusive of the last stage of the forest dynamic.
The present paper wants to contribute to this debate by presenting a research network of four mixed (Fagus-Abies-Picea) montane OGFs in the Dinaric Alps (Lom, BiH; Janj, BiH; Perućica, BiH; Biogradska Gora, MNE), summarizing 20 years of multidisciplinary research by focusing on the structural characteristics and the disturbance history of the whole network and their coherency with strict OGF indicators. These sites were selected in relatively structurally uniform study areas, where 142 permanent plots have been established since 2002.
Author/Contact:
1. Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Grugliasco, Italy
2. Department of Agrifood, Environmental and Animal Sciences. University of Udine, Udine, Italy
3. Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
4. Biotechnical Faculty, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
5. ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France
6. Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
7. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Old-growth forests.pdf (3.66 MB)