Наукові праці Лісівничої академії наук України (Dec 2021)
The relict population Ulmus glabra Huds. in Pokuttya Carpathian Mountains
Abstract
In the area of Kosów forestry in the Pokuttya Carpathians, a population of Ulmus glabra with 15 trees, about 100 years old, was found, which survived the epidemic of "Dutch disease" in the last century. Under a tent made of large trees, young elms were restored to an area of about 1 hectare. A unique population, not recorded in the current taxonomic descriptions of the enterprise, was formed on the southern slope of a forest stream in a deep ravine occupied by phytocoenoses of three forest vegetation communities that change as they move away from the water surface - Stellario nemorum-Alnetum glutinosae, Ulmo glabrae-Aceretum pseudoplatani, Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum. Large specimens of Ulmus glabra survived only on the first terrace in the watercourse, creating another strip of black alder in the decline of ravine forests. There is a specific microclimate in the conditions of forest ravines and phytocoenoses of hygrophilous forest vegetation are formed. The discovery of the ancient Ulmus glabra in the Pokuttya Carpathians is an important scientific discovery that foresters can use to reproduce elm forests, and the seeds and the younger generation will serve as a reserve for genetic plantations to restore "Dutch disease" resistant forms of this species. The distribution and syntaxonomic affiliation of forest assemblies, which include Ulmus glabra, have not been fully investigated, and the names of the teams in different regions of Europe, even based on the ecological-floristic school, differ significantly and are often incorrectly verified. It was found that the multi-vector diversity of European vegetation has resulted in a variety of habitats in which Ulmus glabra grows. Due to its large ecological and syntaxonomic amplitude, the elm is part of forest and shrub communities of at least three vegetation classes, including riparian and ravine forests, felling, mountain beech forests and sycamore forests, and thermophilic oak forests. It is an element of lowland deciduous or ravine mountain forests, which determines its participation in the syntaxa of various compounds, and sometimes different classes of vegetation. The study of the species composition and phytosociological features of ravine forests with Ulmus glabra was carried out on the basis of the ecological-floristic classification and the method of Braun-Blanquet (1964). The syntaxonomic structure of the studied phytocoenoses made it possible to determine the place of elm in the wetlands of the Pokuttya Carpathians, to determine the features and conditions of the formation of biotopes in which resistant forms of elms survive. The syntaxonomic analysis showed that the elm forests in the Pokuttya Carpathians found their original habitat, which allowed them to survive the epidemic of "Dutch disease". It is a cold and damp mountain stream gorge with fertile organic soils, and the terrace where the elm grows occupies a transitional strip between alder and beech forests. The population of Ulmus glabra is relict because it is a remnant of the ancient wet forests of the Alno-Ulmion compound, which, as a result of dynamic changes in vegetation and the decrease in groundwater level, gradually transform into the forests of the Tilio platyphyllis-Acerion pseudoplatani compound. This is evidenced by the almost equal share of species from both unions, as well as the extremely high share of species of the Carpinion betuli compound. The studied population does not belong to the beech forest complex, but is part of an independent syntaxon of rare mountain ravine vegetation.
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