Structue and disturbance regime of selected old growth forest in Slovakia

Structure and disturbance regime of selected old-growth forests (old-growth forest Badín, beech old-growth forest Rožok, old-growth forest Skalná Alpa, old-growth forest Sitno, old-growth forest Poľana) will be studied within the area more than 2.5 ha. Apart from determination of different diameter structure types according to the developmental stages, the research will be oriented on analysis of size and formation of canopy gaps, their degree of development and natural regeneration cover of the plots in old-growth forest.
Research of the structure of selected types of old-growth forests will be extended with the rhizology part, that will be focused on the research of the competition relation between beech and fir in Badín old-growth forest. The goal of the research will be to obtain information about the horizontal and vertical distribution of studied tree species fine roots with attention to quantity (biomass) and morphological parameters.
The study will be extended with the research of the light regime in spruce old-growth forest (Poľana) and beech old-growth forest Rožok, that will focus on detecting the light texture in the parts of old-growth forest with different level of disturbance processes (size of canopy gaps). Goal of this study is to investigate the relation between the light input and regeneration processes as well as to detect the vertical light profiles in selected stand structures.