Can we assess forest naturalness by ecological interpretation of forest floor vegetation?
Abstract
We searched for a method that is appropriate for comparing the biological status of communities even with different species composition. For this purpose we compared the ecological behaviour of forest floor vegetation in forest stands under natural disturbances versus human impact, i.e. regular forest management. Herbaceous species of forests, forest edges and species with no clear habitat preference were classified based on seven characteristics: leaf phenology, life form, clonal behaviour, start of flowering, height, seed weight and means of propagule dispersal. Classification using global optimalisation, principal co-ordinate analysis and stepwise discriminant analyses were used. We distinguished 6 species groups: Geranium robertianum (A), Sonchus asper (B), Cephalanthera (C), Corydalis (D), Viola sylvestris (E), Stachys sylvatica (F). We studied the behaviour of these species groups in the unmanaged Kékes Forest Reserve and in the neighbouring managed stands. In the managed stands the average species richness per unit area was much lower than in the reserve, but the proportion of species belonging to species groups A, B, C and D was similar to that found in the unmanaged reserve. However, group F had higher relative importance in the reserve, since the more heterogeneous tree stand structure provides much better light supply, which favours tall, summer green species in the dense forest floor vegetation. We suggest that this approach could provide a more sensitive tool for assessing aspects o f forest naturalness if quantitative data expressing species’ importance were collected.
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