Original scientific paper
FOREST VEGETATION OF TECTONIC DOLINES PIHLJA AND VITRA ABOVE THE VINODOL VALLEY (LIBURNIAN KARST, NW CROATIA)
Boštjan Surina
orcid.org/0000-0002-2635-315X
; University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, Koper, Slovenia / Natural History Museum Rijeka
Abstract
We studied floristic composition, structure and topology of forest stands in tectonic dolines Pihlja and Vitra above Vinodol valley (Liburnian karst, NW Adriatic). Floristically and structurally homogenous stands represent zonal forests of the association Aristolochio luteae-Quercetum pubescentis (=Ostryo carpinifoliae-Quercetum pubescentis, Ostryo-Carpinion orientalis) and cover 1,75 and 2,73 ha, each (85 and 70 % of tectonic dolines, respectively). Preliminary multivariate analyses revealed several incongruences in current synsystematics and forest topology within the alliance Ostryo-Carpinion orientalis and raised a need for a thorough revision. Unsettled synsystematics makes addressing the forest vegetation zonation of the area uncertain. We assume that various stands with Carpinus orientalis in northwestern Adriatic represent only secondary succession stages in several thermophytic vegetation types. Studied forests in tectonic dolines Pihlja and Vitra represent well preserved stands without any visible traces of wood cutting and are valuable in giving insights into patterns, processes and dynamics of northern-Adriatic vegetation. As such they are in need of a special protection.
Keywords
Aristolochio luteae-Quercetum pubescentis; Liburnian karst; NW Adriatic; Ostryo-Carpinion orientalis; phytosociology; tectonic dolines; zonal vegetation; Vinodol valley
Hrčak ID:
125671
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2014.
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