The effects of stand characteristics on the understory vegetation in Quercus petraea and Q. cerris dominated forests

The shelterwood system used in Hungary has many effects on the composition and structure of the herb layer. The aim of our study was to identify the main variables that affect the occurence of herbs and seedlings in Turkey oak-sessile oak (Quercus cerris and Q. petraea) stands. The study was carried out in the Bükk mountains, Hungary. 122 sampling plots were established in 50-150 year old oak forests, where we studied the species composition and structure of the understorey and overstorey. The occurence of herbs was affected by canopy closure, the heterogenity and patchiness of the stand, the slope and the east-west component of the aspect. The composition of saplings was significantly explained by the ratio of the two major oak species in the stand and the proximity of the adult plants. An important result for forest management was that sessile oaks were able to regenerate almost only where they were dominant in the overstorey

Seed bank and vegetation development of sandy grasslands after goose breeding

Four hypotheses were tested using long-term observations of vegetation development (12 years) and present-day seed bank data in a sandy grassland area overgrazed by domestic geese: i) Gap regeneration is crucial in maintaining species richness; thus, closed vegetation of the lower sites prevents continuous establishment of short-lived species. ii) Short-lived, early successional species comprise most of the seed banks and late successional perennials have at most sparse seed banks. iii) Composition of seed banks is more similar to pioneer vegetation than to later successional stages. iv) The similarity is higher between vegetation and seed banks in the upper-positioned plots than in the closed, lower-positioned ones. Two sites, located in the upper part of dune slopes, and another two, positioned on the lower part, were studied. In each site five 2×2 m permanent plots were surveyed between 1991 and 2002. Percentage cover was estimated three times a year. In the last study year, soil seed banks were sampled. Two vertical segments (0–5, 5–10 cm) were separately analyzed. The seedling emergence method was applied on concentrated samples. We found that the vegetation developed from open, annual dominated weedy assemblages to grasslands dominated by perennial graminoids. In the lowerpositioned sites perennial clonal grasses (Cynodon dactylon, Poa angustifolia and P. pratensis) formed more closed vegetation, which was accompanied by lower species richness compared to the upper-positioned sites. Seed density varied between 10,300 and 40,900 seeds/m2. Significantly higher seed densities were found in upper sites than in the lower ones. Annuals and short-lived perennial dicots comprised most of the seed bank. The dominant perennial graminoids also built up dense seed banks