Research took place in Kočevski Rog, in the virgin forest Rajhenav, which is apart of the Dinaric mountains in the South of Slovenia. In the year 2000 research plots were located in the gaps of Rajhenav virgin forest as a part ofthe NAT-MAN research project. In each gap a 5x5 m grid was used to define the plot locations. In the years 2000 and 2005 we measured and registered on each plot in six gaps: ground coverage, woody regeneration, browsing impact, growth of 5 dominant beech trees and light conditions. Our analysis showed that the share of woody regeneration in the overall ground coverage increased.Moreover, the density of young beech trees increased and the shape of the dominant trees improved. The density of silver fir and sycamore decreased. The most worrying result was that silver fir and sycamore were not present in the height classes above 50 cm. In both years of measurements a higher density and coverage of regeneration was recorded on gap edges, which indicates the adaptation of dominant tree species to low light levels.
|