Title
Inner Carpathian lime-pedunculate oak-hornbeam forests (Carpinus betulus, Quercus robur, Tilia cordata) with Picea abies, with Stellaria holostea, Galium schultesii
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Slovakia: Liptovská basin, Popradská, Tur…ianská, partly also ðilinská kotlina
area frequency
5 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Tilio cordatae-Piceetum abietis J. Michalko in J. Michalko et al. 1979 (et 1986).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Three-layered, tree-species-rich lime-hornbeam-pedunculate oak forests with Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris or lime-spruce forests with (sub)boreal and subcontinental species. The herb layer has a low to a high degree of coverage and consists of herbs and grasses. The moss layer is mostly insignificant, but quite species-rich.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Picea abies, Tilia cordata, (on nutrient-rich soils), Quercus robur, Pinus sylvestris, Sorbus aucuparia, Carpinus betulus (only rarely at the margin within the contact area between the basins and the mountain slopes), Populus tremula, Fraxinus excelsior, Acer platanoides, Prunus padus (on moist sites), Salix caprea, Larix decidua (only rarely), Abies alba
Shrub layer
Corylus avellana, Lonicera xylosteum, Lonicera nigra, Sambucus racemosa, Rosa pendulina, Ribes alpinum, Rubus idaeus
Herb layer
Melica nutans, Luzula luzuloides, Luzula pilosa, Poa nemoralis, Fragaria vesca, Hieracium murorum, Maianthemum bifolium, Oxalis acetosella, Dryopteris filix-mas, Galium schultesii, Stellaria holostea, Ranunculus auricomus agg., Lathyrus vernus, Asarum europaeum, Carex digitata
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
locally: Pleurozium schreberi, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Hylocomium splendens, Buxbaumia aphylla
Diagnostically important species
Tilia cordata, Picea abies, Carpinus betulus, Quercus robur; Lonicera xylosteum; Stellaria holostea, Galium schultesii, Melampyrum nemorosum
Ecological variants
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Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
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Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Potentillo albae-Quercion, Quercion petraeae, Abietion.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
mixed fir forests (D27), species-poor beech forests (F86), species-rich beech forests (F120, F118, F135), sessile oak-bitter oak forests (G16), moist forests (U27).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Spruce and fir forestry.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Arrhenatherion elatioris Koch 1926, Cynosurion Tüxen 1947, Genistion Bocher 1943, Anthoxantho-Agrostietum tenuis Sillinger 1933.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Potatoes, oat, cereals; Lathyro-Avenetun fatuae Passarge in Passarge & Jurko 1975, Rhinantho-Avenetum fatuae Passarge in Passarge & Jurko 1975.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
Lolio-Plantaginetum majoris Beger 1930, Sisymbrion officinalis Tuexen, Lohmeyer & Preising in Tuexen 1950,
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
West-Carpathian basin and at the foot of the High Tatra mountains; the hills are separated by shallow valleys, and the floodplain terraces and alluvial cones of the neighbouring mountains are typical; primarily a profluvial-fluvial relief
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
submontane, montane; 500-900 m
Geology (bedrock)
flysch (Tertiary), locally layers of loess clays on neogene terraces and alluvial fans of adjacent mountains; dolomite, limestone (Cretaceous, Triassic)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
saturated brown forest soils (pararendzines), eutrophic, mesotrophic brown soils, unsaturated brown forest soils (oligotrophic brown soils), brown gleyed forest soils (on heavy disaggregations more or less gleyed soils on loess clays); (stony humus carbonate soils; eutric and dystric cambisols; vertic luvisols)
soil texture
loamy, loamy-clayey, chady to stony
soil moisture, water balance
fresh, moist
soil reaction
weakly acidic to neutral
soil fertility
oligo-mesotrophic, mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI8c, VI9b
average annual temperature
5,8-7,4 EC
average annual precipitation
600-850 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
July 16-18 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
January -6 to -2,5 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Inversion sites mostly with basin climate, mild-warm to mild-cold with cold winters. amplitude of yearly temperature 20-24 EC.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
The initial sites of this mapping unit were largely transformed by man into meadows and crop fields; they have receded greatly (preserved locally only in small fragments) and are very much endangered (mainly by spruce plantations).
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Remnants of the nearly-natural vegetation are worthy of protection, also grassland with Trollius altissimus, Valeriana simplicifolia.
causes of endangerment
Improper preservation of the landscape, forestry with species inappropriate for the area.
required measures for protection and restitution
Ecologically-minded forestry with the aim of preserving and promoting the original biodiversity.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Slovakia: Pieniny (Kláštorná hora) – limestone region, Hornádska kotlina (Dlhé Stráne near Levo…a).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
Slovakia: grassland of the Caricion davallianae - Popradská kotlina.
Most important references (author, year)
Karpov 1973; Michalko, Magic, Berta, Rybníček & Rybníčková 1986(1987); Schubert, Jäger & Mahn 1979
Compiled by
Z. Neuhäuslová based on documents by J. Michalko, completed by Š. Maglocký
