Title
Pannonian-pre-Carpathian sessile oak-bitter oak forests (Quercus cerris, Quercus petraea, Quercus dalechampii) with Potentilla alba, Vicia cassubica
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Austria: north and south of Vienna; Czech Republic: between Brno and the Austrian border; Slovakia: north of Bratislava (Záhorská nižina), border of Hungary; Hungary: 30 % of the forest area at the lake Neusiedler, around lake Balaton, between Budapest-Miskole and Slowakian border; Romania: Somes-plateau, western Pre-Carpates
area frequency
44 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Quercetum petraeae-cerris Soó 1957, Tilio argenteae-Quercetum dalechampii-cerris (Soó 1957) Borhidi in Soó et al. 1969 (syn.: Querco-Potentilletum albae Knapp 1942 p.p. et auct. hung. et austr. non Libbert 1933; Potentillo albae-Quercetum petraeae-cerris Zólyomi 1958, Potentillo micranthae-Quercetum petraeae-cerris A. Horvat 1961, Carici montanae-Quercetum Michalko et al. 1987).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Higher growing, two- to three-layered forest, mainly with Quercetea pubescentis-petraeae species but also with Fagetalia, Carpinion as well as acidophilous species.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Quercus cerris, Quercus dalechampii, Quercus petraea, Tilia tomentosa, Acer campestre, Sorbus torminalis, Ulmus minor, (Carpinus betulus)
Shrub layer
Ligustrum vulgare, Crataegus monogyna, Cornus mas, Rosa arvensis, Rosa gallica
Herb layer
Festuca heterophylla, Poa nemoralis, Poa angustifolia, Melica uniflora, Luzula luzuloides, Carex montana, Melittis melissophyllum, Digitalis grandiflora, Silene coronaria, Pulmonaria mollis, Tanacetum corymbosum, Vicia cassubica, Potentilla alba, Serratula tinctoria, Calamintha menthifolia, Lathyrus niger
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
No details
Diagnostically important species
Quercus cerris, Quercus dalechampii, Quercus petraea, Tilia tomentosa; Potentilla alba, Vicia cassubica, Silene coronaria, Lathyrus niger, Calamintha menthifolia, Serratula tinctoria, Helleborus odorus, Fritillaria orientalis among others
Ecological variants
No details
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
Geographic variants: in the north with Carex montana, Melica picta, Pulmonaria mollis, in the south-west with more Quercion frainetto species, in the south-east with Tilia tomentosa, Helleborus odorus, Ruscus aculeatus, in the Hungarian mountains with Trifolium medium, Iris variegata, Valeriana wallrothii, Verbascum chaixii subsp. austriacum; floristically impoverished in Austria where these species are lacking.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
On acidic soils Genisto pilosae-Quercetum, on rocky sites Tilio-Fraxinetum, on debris slopes Mercuriali-Tilietum, at southern slopes Cotino-Quercetum and Orno-Quercetum, on fresh sites Primulae veris-Carpinetum, Frangulo alni-Quercetum, Pinus sylvestris forests of the Dicrano-Pinion with Dianthus serotinus, Koeleria glauca, mosses and lichens (in Slovakia).
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
mixed fir forests (D27), acidophilous oak forests (F22), oak-hornbeam forests (F43, F46, F47, F57, F58, F60, F65), species-rich beech- and mixed beech forests (F118, F120, F126), mixed pedunculate oak forests (G3, G4, G5), sessile oak-bitter oak forests (G17), Balkan oak-bitter oak forests (G20, G21), mixed flowering ash-downy oak forests (G46), black pine forests (K9), freshwater tall reed swamps (R1), alluvial forests (U16).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Degraded low forest with dominant Quercus cerris; Robinia and Pinus forestry.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Calamagrostietum epigei, Cynosurion, Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati, Festuca pseudodalmatica grasslands, Agrostetum tenuis.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Caucalidion lappulae, Panico-Setarion, Eragrostidion.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
Onopordion acanthii.
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
hilly country to mountainous areas
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
colline-submontane; 150-500 m
Geology (bedrock)
fluvial and glaciofluvial sediments (Pleistocene); basalt (Tertiary); limestone (Cretaceous)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
brown soils and parabrown soils, pseudogleys; (eutric and dystric cambisols; orthic and gleyic luvisols)
soil texture
loamy to clayey
soil moisture, water balance
fresh to moderately dry, partly periodically moist
soil reaction
weakly acidic to neutral
soil fertility
mesotrophic to meso-eutrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI2, VI(VII)1, VII
average annual temperature
8-11 °C
average annual precipitation
550-750 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
July 19,5-21 °C
average temperature of the coldest month
-4 to -1 °C
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
In late summer an enduring drought of several weeks is possible.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Very degraded as a result of low forest management, cleared forests, greatly endangered at the northern edge of the range.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Covers with rare species like Valeriana wallrothii, Pulmonaria murinii, Waldsteinia geoides, at the northern boundary Silene coronaria, Calamintha menthifolia, Fraxinus ornus and Poa pannonica are endangered.
causes of endangerment
Low forest management, transformation, oak decline.
required measures for protection and restitution
Semi-natural stands of all geographic variants with endangered species should be protected.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Austria: Wolkersdorfer forest (Lower Austria), Steinberg forest (Lower Austria), northern Burgenland; Slovakia: Lučenecká- and Rimavsko-Sobotská kotlina; Hungary: Szentendre-Visegrád- and Mátra-mountain; Romania: Lipova (Arad district), Bocsa Romana (Caraş-Severin district).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
---
Most important references (author, year)
Coldea 1970; Horánszky 1964; Michalko, Magic, Berta, Rybníček & Rybníčková 1986(1987); Neuhäusl & Neuhäuslová-Novotná 1964; Raţiu, Gergely, Boşcaiu, Codoreanu, Bechet, Silaghi, Raţiu, Turcu, Lőrinczi, Peterfi, Micle, Pleşa & Nicolau 1966; Schrött 1972; Soó 1964a; Soó 1971; Soó, Borhidi, Csapody, Kovács & Pócs et al. 1969; Zólyomi 1967; Zukrigl (Red.) 1977
Compiled by
N. Doniţă based on documents by Z. Neuhäuslová, J. Michalko, A. Borhidi, Coldea, N. Doniţă, K. Zukrigl, completed by Š. Maglocký
