Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
Volume 138, Issue 1, Pages 65-77Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10342-018-1154-8
Keywords
Biodiversity; Field experiment; Forest herbs; Forest management; Light; Soil moisture
Categories
Funding
- Hungarian Science Foundation [OTKA K111887]
- MTA Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme [PD-009/2017]
- National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary [PD 123811]
- Ministry of Human Capacities [UNKP-17-3]
- Erasmus Plus Programme
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In recent decades, alternative management techniques integrating conservation concerns into industrial forestry have become increasingly widespread. In order to compare the effects of various management methods on forest site and biodiversity, a systematic forestry experiment was conducted in a managed, mature oak-hornbeam forest. The present work introduces the 2-year responses of environmental variables and understory vegetation to different silvicultural treatments. These belong either to clear-cutting (clear-cutting, retention tree group), to shelterwood (preparation cutting), or to continuous cover forestry systems (gap-cutting). The experiment follows a complete block design with four replicates. Light availability was significantly higher in all the treatments than in the uncut control, with highest values in the clear-cuts. Soil moisture was highest in the gap-cuts and clear-cuts, while in the retention tree group, it did not differ from the control. Species richness, cover, and height of the understory considerably differed from the control in the clear-cuts and gap-cuts, while in the retention tree group, only species richness was higher. The establishment of ruderal, non-forest species altered the species composition in the clear-cuts. Based on these short-term responses, we conclude that as a result of the extreme environmental changes, clear-cutting in oak-hornbeam forests changes the understory vegetation considerably. Retention tree groups can maintain legacies of the understory composition for some years. Despite the experienced high vegetation cover, gap-cutting preserves the forest characteristics of the understory better than clear-cutting. These results confirm that in oak-hornbeam forests, continuous cover forestry may be more sustainable from conservational aspect than clear-cutting system.
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