Vegetation Dynamics in Temperate Lowland Primeval Forests

• I. Aim and Premisses.- I.1. Introduction, aim and subject.- I.2. Theoretical basis.- I.3. Study area. Methodical basis. Material.- II. The Area — Basic Data about Bia?owie?a Forest.- II. 1. General features.- II.2. Biogeography.- II.3. History.- II.4. Climate.- II.5. Geology.- II.6. Terrain formation and relief.- II.7. Hydrology.- III. Geobotany.- III.1. The flora.- III.2. Forest building trees and tree stands.- III.3. Forest vegetation.- III.4. Natural and anthropogenic non-forest vegetation.- IV. Major Natural Factors Differentiating the Forest Environment and Landscape.- IV.1. General introduction.- IV.2. Soils in relation to forest vegetation differentiation.- IV.3. Ground frost and snow cover as ecoclimatic factors.- IV.4. The transition zone (ecotone) and its synchorological and syndynamic aspects.- IV.5. Uprooting of trees (tree saltation).- IV.6. Impact of herbivorous animals on vegetation structure and dynamics.- V. Fluctuatuation, Regeneration and Succession in Forest Communities under Natural Conditions.- V.1. General introduction.- V.2. Regression of thermophilous oak forest.- V.3. Field layer regeneration in pine forest (Peucedano-Pinetum) after ground fire.- V.4. Tree stand dynamics in Pino-Quercetum and Tilio-Carpinetum communities.- 4.6. Discussion.- V.5. Permanence of species composition and repeatability of seasonal rhythms in a many-years cycle as indicator of stability (homeostasis) of forest communities.- V.6. Changes in the species composition and structure of the main forest and brush communities.- V.7. State and dynamic tendencies of forest communities.- VI. Seasonal Dynamics of Forest Communities.- VI.1. Introduction.- VI.2. Phenological characteristics of forest and brush communities.- VI.3. Synphenological analysis.- VI.4.Floristic-ecological analysis of seasonal dynamics of forest communities.- VI.5. Phytophenological seasons in the forest communities of the Bia?owie?a Forest.- VII. Dynamics and Structure of Plant Populations in Forest Ecosystems.- VII.1. The notion of cenopopulations and the basis for their distinction.- VII.2. Phenological individuality of cenopopulations.- VII.3. Reproductive strategy of perennial herbaceous plant populations in forest ecosystems.- VII.4. Estimation of potential reproduction of forest phytocenoses.- VII.5. Plant populations in stabilised forest ecosystems.- VII.6. Plant populations in the ecotones between forest ecosystems.- VII.7. Population structure of forest communities.- VIII. Behaviour of Natural Forest under Man’s Activity Synanthropisation of the Plant Cover.- VIII.1. Introduction. The notion of synanthropisation.- VIII.2. Factors of synanthropisation.- VIII.3. History of anthropogenic changes in the plant cover of the Bia?owie?a Primeval Forest.- VIII.4. Some selected phenomena.- VIII.5. Relations between anthropogenic vegetation and habitats of definite forest communities.- VIII.6. Changes in the abiotic environment.- VIII.7. Tentative balance and generalisation.- IX. Spontaneous Return of Forest onto Once Cleared Areas-Secondary Succession.- IX.1. Introduction.- IX.2. Examples of spontaneous changes in vegetation on anthropogenic terrain forms and secondary habitats.- IX.3. Secondary succession in a mesotrophic oak-linden-hornbeam forest habitat.- IX.4. Secondary succession in an oligotrophic pine forest habitat and the role of woody species.- IX.5. Properties, role and origin of woody species participating in secondary succession in permanently deforested habitats.- IX.6. Time indispensable for recreation of the main types offorest ecosystems by way of secondary succession.- X. Recapitulation: Foundations of Functioning and Permanence of Lowland Primeval Forests.- X.l. Character and causes of contemporary differentiation of vegetation in the Bia?owie?a Forest.- X.2. Dynamic tendencies in natural vegetation released from anthropogenic pressure. Role of biotic-biocenotic factors in vegetation dynamics.- X.3. Essence of phenological vegetation differentiation and its connection with differentiation and stability of environmental conditions.- X.4. Effect of anthropogenic transformations of the plant cover and their importance for the permanence and functioning of forest ecosystems.- X.5. Ecological and technical-organisational bases to ensure the permanence of relict primeval lowland forests.- Annex.- Systematic index.

`A comprehensive list of references, subject and taxa (including syntaxa) indexes complete the book which depicts the structure and life of an unique ecosystem.' `Instructive illustrations, graphs and tables contribute to the vivid presentation of ecological results. The reviewed publication may be considered as a model of team work, dealing with the principal questions of origin, present life and further development of an unique primeval forest in the European temperature zone.'Robert Neuhäusl and Zdenka Neuhäuslová, Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica, Vol. 24, 1989.