Original scientific paper
Species Composition and Successional Pathways on Abandoned Agricultural Land in Haloze
Mateja Cojzer
; ZGS, OE Maribor, Tyrševa 15, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Robert Brus
; Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Večna pot 83, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
In Slovenia, as well as in others parts of Europe, the share of abandoned agricultural land overgrown by forest has been increasing every year. This article deals with this process of succession in Haloze, in the northeastern part of Slovenia. The main aim of this research was to find out how much of the abandoned agricultural land on the studied area has succeeded to forest in the last 20 years, to examine differences in species composition and the density of individuals of tree and shrub species between abandoned areas and younger developmental phases of forest, as well as to point out the strategies of succession on abandoned areas and compare them with the vegetation process of younger developmental phases in forest. Forest area increased by 7 % in the period from 1985 to 2005 in the study region. The results show that the successional process on abandoned land starts with shrub species, while in younger phases of forest, tree species prevail entirely.
Keywords
abandoned agricultural land; density of individuals; old-field succession; species composition; successional pathways on abandoned land; the Haloze region.; vegetation process in forest; younger developmental phases of forest
Hrčak ID:
62790
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2010.
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