Among noble hardwoods (valuable broad-leaved trees), whose name is due mainly to the high value of their timber, sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), Norway maple (A. platanoides), wych elm (Ulmus glabra), European ash (Fraxinus excelsior), broad-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) and small-leaved lime (T. cordata) can form independent forest stands and plant communities. Broad-leaved ravine forests were classified also as an EU priority habitat type 9180 *Tilio-Acerion forests of slopes, screes and ravines, for which special conservation measures are envisaged. As potentially natural vegetation noble hardwood communities in Slovenia commonly occur on small areas, mainly in stony or rocky gullies, in sinkholes, depressions and ravines, on torrential fans, gravelly bases of slopes, in places also on moist rocks on ridges and in rock faces. The soil types in these forests are colluvial-deluvial soils, rarely rendzinas and brown calcareous soils, sometimes also dystric brown soils and ranker or eutric brown soils. Usually, they are biologically very active and nitrogen-rich. Decomposition of litter is relatively fast. The stands of these communities occur on fresh to moist sites that can be quite extreme for the growth of forests (very rocky and steep). These are intrazonal forests that grow mainly in the zone of beech communities from the colline to the altimontane belt. Floristically, they are very similar to the beech communities in the vicinity, but comprise a greater abundance of hygrophilous and nitrophilous species. Due to this similarity and syndynamic relationship – they frequently form pioneer stages on potential beech sites – the noble hardwood communities can be classified into the Illyrian alliance of beech forests Aremonio-Fagion as a special suballiance Polysticho setiferi-Acerenion. In the last few years phytosociologists have prioritised classification into the Central-European alliance Tilio-Acerion, whose diagnostic species are Acer pseudoplatanus, A. platanoides, Tilia platyphyllos, T.cordata, Ulmus glabra, Fraxinus excelsior, Lunaria rediviva, Arum maculatum, Aruncus dioicus, Staphylea pinnata, Euonymus latifolia, Polystichum aculeatum, Phyllitis scolopendrium, Scrophularia vernalis and Polystichum braunii. In such synsystematic classification, noble hardwood communities in Slovenia are classified into three suballiances: Lunario-Acerenion, Lamio orvalae-Acerenion and Ostryo-Tilienion. In the Typology of Forest Sites we described the following types of sites based on ecology and altitudinal distribution: submontane-montane lime forests on carbonate and mixed bedrock, submontane European ash forests on slopes on carbonate and mixed bedrock, montane-altimontane sycamore maple forests with wych elm on calcareous and mixed bedrock and submontane-montane sycamore maple forests with ferns on silicate bedrock. In general the stands with a larger proportion of large-leaved lime and small-leaved lime grow in a slightly warmer climate than the stands with predominant sycamore maple and wych elm. Each of the four site types and its communities were presented separately.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 265170688The group of floodplain, swamp and riverine forests (collectively known as the riparian forest) primarily comprises lowland woods located within the scope of larger streams and bodies of standing water. These forests therefore directly depend on standing or flowing water. They develop on hydromorphic alluvial soils, gleysols and pseudogleys. Vegetation dynamics or successive replacement of communities, in places also zonation from the lowest (youngest) to higher (older) river terraces, takes place in the riparian area only in the absence of excessive human interventions and proceeds from very unstable pioneer stages dominated by grey, red and (or) white willow (Salix eleagnos, S. purpurea, S. alba) and black poplar (Populus nigra) through the stands of grey (Alnus incana) or black alder (A. glutinosa), European and narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus excelsior, F. angustifolia) and European white elm (Ulmus laevis = U. effusa) to already more developed, stable, established communities of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), which are still subject to the influence of groundwater or flood waters. Floodplain and swamp forests in Slovenia are distributed especially in the flood area of all major rivers (along the Dragonja, Reka, Vipava, Nadiža, Soča, Idrijca, Sava, Sora, Ljubljanica, Kamniška Bistrica, Savinja, Krka, Mirna, Kolpa, Sotla, Dravinja, Drava, Mura and their tributaries), as well as, at least in traces, along sinking streams on karst poljes (for example on Cerknica and Planina Poljes, along the Pivka). To a lesser extent, they are present also on the shores of lakes and other standing waters. Human impact on these forests is extensive as they have consistently been cut and converted to agricultural land for a very long time, and were destroyed also on account of hydroelectric power plants, river and stream regulation, drainage of wetlands; in addition, they have been affected also by gravel excavation, strengthening of river banks, groundwater extraction and similar. Especially commercially important are the swamp forest of black alder (carr) and the floodplain forest of pedunculate oak, in places admixed with common hornbeam and other deciduous trees (woodland). The protective role of riparian forests is invaluable as they represent an essential factor in the regulation of water balance and can serve as flood protection for human communities. In addition, they provide a habitat for some rare, protected and (or) notable species in Slovenia, such as Myricaria germanica, Pulmonaria dacica, Gagea spathacea, Omphalodes scorpiodes, Viola palustris, V. uliginosa, Pseudostellaria europaea, Fritillaria meleagris, Leucojum aestivum, Botrychium virginianum, Thelypteris palustris and Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus. Oak riparian floodplain forests, as well other floodplain, swamp and riverine forests are an important habitat to amphibians, cavity nesting birds, and other birds. In view of their enormous conservation capacity most of these forests are classified as European habitat types (Natura 2000), such as the priority habitat type 91E0* Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae), 91F0 Riparian mixed forests of Quercus robur, Ulmus laevis and Ulmus minor, Fraxinus excelsior or Fraxinus angustifolia, along major rivers (Ulmenion minoris), 3240 Alpine rivers and their ligneous vegetation with Salix eleagnos along their banks and 3230 Alpine rivers and their ligneous vegetation with Myricaria germanica along their banks. Among all our forest types, riverine and swamp forests and floodplain woods are the most exposed to the invasion and sub-spontaneous spreading of invasive alien species, such as Robinia pseudacacia, Acer negundo, Helianthus tuberosus, Impatiens glandulifera, I. parviflora, Solidago gigantea, S. canadensis, Echinocystis lobata, Rudbeckia laciniata, Fallopia japonica, F. × bohemica, Parthenocissus inserta, P. quinquefolia, Amorp
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 270705664Mires are areas where peat was formed in the past or is still forming due to special conditions (e.g. water retention, low temperature). Peat (turf) is an accumulation of partially decayed mire plants, mostly peat mosses (Sphagnum sp. div.) and other mosses, sedges, grasses and ligneous plants’ residues. Peat was formed in high humidity and mostly under anaerobic conditions (absence of oxygen). In a simple way, the mires could be divided into three types: raised (high) bog, transitional bog, and fen. This division is based on the configuration of mire surface and on the thickness (height) of peat layers. Consequently, the types of mires differ in water regime as well as in water and soil chemistry. Particularly Slovenian raised bogs characterized by thick layers of peat soil are considered in this publication. Peat soils in these bogs are very acidic (low pH) and nutrient-poor (ombro-oligotrophic). They are mostly covered with different peat-mosses (Sphagnum sp. div.). Dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo) and spruce (Picea abies), both forming characteristic mire communities, are often present among ligneous plants on raised bogs. In raised bogs in Slovenia, many different communities of peat-mosses with different non-ligneous plant species (Sphagnetum s. lat), various dwarf mountain pine communities (Pino mugi-Sphagnetum s. lat and Sphagno-Pinetum mugo) and the initial form of spruce mire forest (Piceo-Sphagnetum flexuosi) are found. Spruce is also the key species of spruce mire forests overgrowing the margins of raised bogs and transitional bogs. In Slovenia, a specific geographic variant of spruce mire forests was described (Sphagno girgensohnii-Piceetum var. geogr. Carex brizoides). Different vegetation types of raised bogs belong to the Oxycocco-Sphagnetea class and vegetation of spruce mire to the Vaccinio-Piceetea class. In Slovenia, the raised bogs vegetation and spruce mire forests are relatively rare and endangered. They are mostly found in the Alpine area (Julian Alps, Karavanke, Kamnik-Savinja Alps, Pohorje). Very small and degraded remnants of the raised bogs vegetation are still seen in area of Ljubljansko barje (Ljubljana basin). Due to their specificity, rarity, vulnerability and location on the edge of the distribution area, the raised bogs vegetation and spruce mire forests in Slovenia are of high nature conservation importance. Therefore, these bogs belong to the European priority habitat types 7110 *Active raised bogs and 91D0 *Bog woodland.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 267206144