RESEARCH PAPER
Dead trees in Fraxino-Alnetum ash-alder forest in the Ochojec Nature
Reserve (Katowice, Poland)
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Centrum Dziedzictwa Przyrody Górnego Śląska, ul. Graniczna 29, 40-017 Katowice,
Polska
Online publication date: 2020-07-09
Publication date: 2020-07-09
Fragm. Flor. et Geobot. Pol. 2020; XXVII(1): 169-189
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ABSTRACT
The paper presents changes in the structure of a Fraxino-Alnetum stand in a permanent
study plot established in 1979 in the Ochojec Nature Reserve in Katowice. During the research
period (1979–2019), 17 tree and shrub species were found on the plot. The dominant species of the
stand is black alder. Pedunculate oak and rowan dominated among saplings. The volume of timber
increased from 247.99 to 527.36 m3/ha during the study period. The share of standing dead trees
in the stand was small: 5 trees in 1987 (0.90% N/ha and 0.02% V/ha of living trees) and 51 trees
in 2019 (11.80%, 0.84%). Oak and rowan dominated in quantity, and black alder in volume. Lying
dead trees form the coarse woody debris. In 2004, 147 trees (which were measured as standing in
1987) with a total volume of 15.86 m3/ha were lying on the forest floor. In 2019, another 174 trees
(measured as standing in 2004) with a total volume of 24.82 m3/ha were on the forest floor. In this
category as well, oak and rowan dominated in quantity, and black alder in volume.