Title
North Caucasian pedunculate oak and hornbeam-pedunculate oak forests (Quercus robur, Carpinus betulus) with Acer cappadocicum, Cornus sanguinea subsp. australis, Helleborus caucasicus
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Russia: plains, valleys and outliers on the northern side of the Greater Caucasus
area frequency
13 polygons .
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Querceta roboris, Carpineto-Querceta (roboris), Carpineta caucasicae auct. soviet.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
One- to two-layered tree layer with dominant pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), sometimes mixed forests with Carpinus betulus, Fraxinus excelsior, Quercus petraea, Quercus hartwissiana. Stand age of 120 to 200 years. The shrub layer is loose, and sometimes absent. The herb layer is closed or interspersed.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Quercus robur, mostly admixture of Carpinus betulus, Fraxinus excelsior, partly Quercus petraea, Quercus hartwissiana, Acer cappadocicum, Pyrus caucasica, locally Ulmus glabra, Acer tataricum
Shrub layer
Cornus sanguinea subsp. australis, Crataegus spp., Prunus spinosa
Lianas
Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris, Clematis vitalba
Herb layer
Deschampsia cespitosa, Festuca drymeja, Urtica dioica, Galium odoratum, Convallaria transcaucasica, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Arum orientale, Circaea lutetiana, Helleborus caucasicus, locally Molinia caerulea
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
No details
Diagnostically important species
Quercus robur, Carpinus betulus, Fraxinus excelsior, Acer cappadocicum; Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris, Clematis vitalba; Brachypodium sylvaticum, Arum orientale, Circaea lutetiana, Helleborus caucasicus, Convallaria transcaucasica
Ecological variants
Different moisture and trophy forms.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
In the plains and the foothills east of the Psekups river, Pyrus caucasica is a codominant, and in the foothills there is also Quercus hartwissiana. In the mountains to the west of this boundary Quercus petraea is present.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
At the upper distribution limit there are transitions to Quercus petraea or Fagus sylvatica subsp. orientalis forests, in the alluvial plains Populus alba and Populus nigra forests with Salix purpurea, Salix cinerea.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
species-rich Oriental beech forests (F164), mixed hornbeam-oak forests (F167), forest steppes (L7, L8), steppes (M1, M11, M17), tall sedge swamps (R3), alluvial forests (U21).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Oak forestry, degraded deciduous forests with Acer cappadocicum, Acer tataricum, Pyrus caucasica; scrub with Prunus spinosa, Crataegus spp.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Meadows, pastures.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Tobacco, corn and sunflower fields.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
No details
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Plains, foothills, promontory plateaus, floodplain terraces and alluvial plains of mountain rivers
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
lowland-colline to submontane; up to 600 m
Geology (bedrock)
fluviatile sediments (Holocene and Pleistocene above Tertiary); marine sediments (Tertiary, Cretaceous)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
gleys, degraded black earths, partly gleyed, grey forest soils, brown soils, humus-carbonate soils; (mollic gleysols; luvic chernozems; dystric and humic cambisols; rendzic leptosols)
soil texture
clay and loam, partly stony
soil moisture, water balance
fresh to moist, locally wet
soil reaction
acidic to neutral
soil fertility
mesotrophic, meso-eutrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI2, VI(VII)2
average annual temperature
6-8 EC
average annual precipitation
500-670 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
18-22 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
-2 to -1 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Maximum in precipitation in spring and summer, droughts at the end of the growth period.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Natural forests destroyed to a large extent, but one does occasionally find 120-200 year-old stands with a semi-natural structure.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Nearly-natural forests are especially worthy of protection, also because of the soil protection; species rare and worthy of protection: Cyclamen coum subsp. caucasicum, Orchis purpurea, Orchis mascula, Cephalanthera rubra, Steveniella satyrioides, Paeonia mascula, Galanthus caucasicus.
causes of endangerment
Forest clearing, agricultural use, timber harvesting.
required measures for protection and restitution
Preservation of all semi-natural forest stands.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Russia: Krasnodarsk region, Wald "Krasnyj les" in the forest district Machoševskoe lesni…estvo, "Poltavskij kruglik" in the valley Kuban, "„ernoreska" in the region of the station Myšastovskaja, "Ivanovskaja dubinka", "Elizavetinskie krugliki", region of the station Kavkazskaja.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Elagin 1953; Grudzinskaja 1953; Kosenko 1930; Koval’ & Litvinskaja 1986
Compiled by
Z. Neuhäuslová based on documents by Ja.P. Diduch and S.A. Litvinskaja, completed
