Regional Monitoring of Natural Environment 2003, No 4, 79-98
ORGANIC MATTER FALL DYNAMICS IN YEARS 1994-2002 IN TWO FOREST STANDS OF ACIDIC BEECH ASSOTIATION ON THE ŁYSOGÓRY MASSIF
Alojzy Kowalkowski, Marek Jóźwiak
Summary
In two multi-species forest stands of different age, in an unattained climax fir-hornbeam-beech forest and in a beech forest with the immature fir-trees neared to a transitional forest type, the organic fall mass was similar during the research period. However, they fundamentally differed in the composition of assimilation organs which dominated in the fall. This phenomenon has plays a significant role in formation of different humus types in the soil. With a diverse age of forest stands a mosaic character of organic layers is connected. From its content conditions types and sub-types of the soil humus. In the fir-hormbeam-beech stands the humus mosaics of the dendromorphic character are found; from the xeromor type of the thickness 15-20 cm under parent fir-tress to the discontinuous layer of the fresh moder and fresh moder-mull of the thickness 2 – 3 cm to 0 cm under deciduous tree crowns. However, in the beech stand a uniform leaf cover of the thickness upto 10 cm with the humus of the moder-mull type was found.
It was found that the quality of the organic fall and connected with it types of soil humus are controlled more by biological feature of tree species dominant in the forest stand individually or inclusters than by their diversity. It confirms the adequacy of the hypotheses of Grime (1997) and Kutch et al. (2002). In the nearest neighbourhood two different forest stands cause the overlaying on the same soil type, by their fall, differently features in arranged and changing with the forest stand soil subtypes and soils subtypes varieties.
