Effect of the first generation of spruce on ground vegetation

Nowadays, the changes in tree species composition represent a great threat for productive forests of Slovakia. The change of edificator species is coupled with the change of ground vegetation, which can be used as a phytoindicator of site conditions in forest stands. Our goal was to compare two communities with different tree species composition. In the first case, tree species composition resembled the natural composition, i.e. the mixture of spruce, fir, and beech. In the second case, tree species composition was changed to favour spruce. Both communities belonged to Abieto-Fagetum group of forest types. In both communities, 15 plant relevés were collected and subsequently evaluated using an ecological analysis according to Ellenberg (1992). The results of the analysis were presented in graphs to visualise the changes. Statistical test and ecological analysis did not detect any differences between ground vegetation communities in the stands with natural and changed tree-species composition. Therefore, we conclude that the first generation of spruce in the altered forest stands has not significantly affected species composition of ground vegetation communities yet.