Forest altitudinal zones with dominant Norway spruce in the Czech Republic

Karel Matějka

The site typology in forestry has a long tradition in the Czech Republic. This discipline was founded by Prof. A. Zlatník. His definitions of the classification units of vegetation need to be accepted in contemporary studies. The Zlaník's work represents a fundament of the current site typological mapping carried out by staff of the Forest Management Institute within the school referred to by the authors Mezera-Mráz-Samek. The original Zlatník's definition of forest type refers to the concept of potential natural vegetation within the meaning of R. Tüxen. Forest [vegetation] altitudinal zone (FAZ) should be understood as a unit determined by climate. The possibility and appropriateness of the use of climate modelling in mapping of FAZ's is based on the previous. Such mapping was used in four areas of the Czech Republic, where stands with dominant Norway spruce (Picea abies) occur - the Bohemian Forest (Šumava Mts.), the Giant Mts. (Krkonoše Mts.), the Ore Mts. (Krušné hory) and the Hrubý Jeseník Mts. It was pointed to errors in the current site typological mapping. These errors shows different character in various regions, such the mapping is not uniform over the whole area of the Czech Republic. Generally, the FAZ's with a dominant spruce (7th and 8th FAZ) are mapped to a larger area than the area really.

The typological mapping is related to the natural abundance of different tree species in the forests. The uncertainty in the determination of such natural abundance was highlighted. It is related to the uncertainty of the mapping of naturalness degree of forest stands.


This paper was prepared in connection with the seminar "Forester of the 21st century", which took place in Stachy on March 27th, 2014.

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