Title
Illyrian-west Balcanic montane spruce forests (Picea abies) with Abies alba, with Galium rotundifolium, Goodyera repens, Aremonia agrimonoides
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Slovenia and Croatia: (not mappable in this scale); Bosnia-Herzegovina: Dinaric mountains; Yugoslavia: Montenegrin mountains, west Balkan; Bulgaria: west Balkan; Albania: (not mappable in this scale); Macedonia: Šar Planina
area frequency
14 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Hacquetio-Piceetum Zupančič (1976) 1995, Piceetum abietis montanum Horvat (1938, 1950, 1962) 1967, Aremonieto-Piceetum Horvat 1938 mksr.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
the spruce dominates in the tree layer, the silver fir and less frequently the sycamore and beech are admixtures. A shrub layer is hardly present while the herb and moss layers are well developed. Typically there are many Abieti-Piceenion species as well as species of mesophilous deciduous forests with broad ecological-coenotic amplitudes. To the east the proportion of "boreal" species clearly decreases. The western formation types are characterised by south-east European-Illyrian species, while the eastern ones are characterised by Balkan and south-east European species and are geographically differentiated.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Picea abies dominating, admixed Abies alba, isolated Fagus sylvatica s. l., Acer pseudoplatanus
Shrub layer
Salix silesiaca, Daphne blagayana, Daphne mezereum, Rosa pendulina among others
Herb layer
Galium rotundifolium, Blechnum spicant, Luzula luzuloides, Luzula pilosa, Veronica officinalis, Oxalis acetosella, Circaea alpina, Deschampsia flexuosa, Vaccinium myrtillus, Luzula sylvatica, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Homogyne sylvestris, Lycopodium annotinum, Lycopodium clavatum, Moneses uniflora, Cardamine trifolia, Primula veris subsp. columnae, Primula acaulis, Sanicula europaea, Helleborus odorus
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Plagiochila asplenioides, Bazzania trilobata, Polytrichum formosum among others
Diagnostically important species
Picea abies; Hacquetia epipactis, Carex pilosa, Stellaria nemorum subsp. montana, Milium effusum, Saxifraga rotundifolia, Astrantia carniolica, Aremonia agrimonoides
Ecological variants
dry to moist formation types.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
Dinaric strain (Hacquetia epipactis, Cardamine trifolia); Risnjak-Velebit strain (Carex brizoides); Bosnian Vrbas (Drina) strain (Aremonia agrimonoides, Galium rotundifolium, Luzula luzulina); Prokletije strain (Pinus peuce, Pinus heldreichii); Ibar-Timok strain (Bruckenthalia spiculifolia, Campanula abietina, Crocus veluchensis); Šar Planina-(Scardus) strain (Melampyrum scardicum, Soldanella dimoniei).
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Abieti-Fagetum in different geographic formation types, Aceri-Fagetum dinaricum, montane beech forests in different geographic formation types; Small sedge fens.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
alpine grasslands (B54, B55), krummholz shrubs (C39), altimontane spruce forests (D39), pine forests (D61), oak-hornbeam forests (F65), species-poor beech- and mixed beech forests (F87, F89, F103), species-rich beech- and mixed beech forests (F142, F143, F144, F150, F151, F152, F154, F158, F159, F160), hop-downy oak forests (G48, G49), pine forests (K6), black pine forests (K13).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
spruce plantations, wood-cut communities, pioneer forests.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Meadows (Bromo-Plantaginetum, Arnico-Nardetum, Alchemillo-Trisetetum); subalpine swards of the alpine sedge Carex curvula in the east.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
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settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
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Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
High-mountains
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
montane-altimontane; 1000-1500 m
Geology (bedrock)
silicate and carbonate rocks (Triassic, Carboniferous)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
base-deficient, acidic, partly podzolised brown soils, grey brown podzolic soils, ranker, humus carbonate soils, podzole; (chromic and dystric cambisols, luvisols; podzols; leptosols)
soil texture
loamy sand to clayey loam, often grouany, stony
soil moisture, water balance
fresh to moist, partly moderately dry
soil reaction
strongly to weakly acidic (neutral)
soil fertility
oligotrophic to mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
X
average annual temperature
3-6 °C
average annual precipitation
in the west above 2000 mm, in the east 1000 mm and less
average temperature of the warmest month
12-18 °C
average temperature of the coldest month
-4 to -1 °C
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Cool humid to subhumid mountain climate. The growth period is short and mostly lasts 4-5 months; often on cool special sites (inversion sites).
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
No details
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
All natural forest communities.
causes of endangerment
Forestry, forest grazing, timber exploitation, emissions.
required measures for protection and restitution
No details
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Slovenia: Grda draga on the Snežnik and Smrečje in the Trnovski gozd; Yugoslavia (Serbia): Kopaonik.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Blečić 1958; Em 1962; Em 1968; Horvat 1938; Horvat 1962; Horvat, Glavač & Ellenberg 1974; Jovanović, Jovanović & Zupančič 1986; Marinov & Naumov 1963; Mišić et al. 1978; Mišić & Popović 1960; Naumov 1963
Compiled by
M. Zupančič
