Edaphic characteristics of Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) forests in the Višegrad area

This paper presents the results of soil research in Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) forest communities in the Višegrad area, carried out to determine the basic soil characteristics and eco-production potential of forest habitats as an important basis and framework for the successful management of these forests on the principles of sustainable development. Austrian pine forests in this region are an important and ecologically valuable community. The complexity of the geological structure and relief dynamics are dominant environmental factors that condition the expressed variability of soils in the study area. Forest communities of Austrian pine are formed on the peridotites and serpentinites, eutric ranker (haplic leptosol), eutric cambisol (haplic cambisols) and pseudogley (haplic planosol), dense granular and marl limestones calcomelanosol (mollic leptosol), rendzina (rendzic leptosol) and calcocambisol (leptic cambisol). The productivity of these soils is highly correlated with depth and texture composition, and the impact of these factors is linked with soil type, climate and other site conditions. In the research area, soil types with low production potential such as rankers, rendzinas, limestone and dolomite calcomelanosol are dominant. Deeper variants of eutric cambisol, pseudogley and calcocambisol can be classified as soils with moderate to high production potential

Study of the floristic composition of fir-spruce-beech forests in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

The mixed forest of fir, spruce, and beech (Piceo-Abietetum Čolić 1965) is an important and widespread plant community on the Balkan Peninsula. Within the Dinarides, it occupies the upper zone of the beech-fir forest belt, establishing a regional belt of vegetation in the Illyrian province. This community occupies significant areas in western and southwestern Serbia where it also creates a regional belt, thus confirming that this part of Serbia belongs to the Illyrian floral-geographical province. This paper compares the floristic composition of the fir-spruce-beech forests in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to determine the differences between the study stands. A total of 29 relevés were analyzed, 17 from the mountain of Lisina (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and 12 from the Pešter plateau (Serbia). Cluster analysis revealed a clear differentiation between the study stands and species in Bosnia-Herzegovina and those in Serbia. The main difference is in the dominant species: Fagus moesiaca (K. Maly) Czecz. in Serbia and Fagus sylvatica L. in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the forest grows under conditions of a uniform, maritime and humid climate, while in Serbia it grows under conditions of a continental climate with less rainfall and a strong zoo-anthropogenic impact. Regarding the spectrum of life forms, there are more phanerophytes and geophytes in Bosnia-Herzegovina than in Serbia. On the other hand, the spectrum of floral elements in Serbia is richer in xerophilous, Balkan and sub-Mediterranean floral elements

Needle morpho-anatomy and pollen morpho-physiology of selected conifers in urbanconditions

Comparison of twelve conifer species (Abies alba, A. concolor, A. nordmanniana, A. pinsapo, Cedrus atlantica, C. deodara, Picea abies, P. omorika, P. pungens, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Taxus baccata, andPinus nigra) in the sense of needle morpho-anatomy and pollen morpho-physiology, in correlation to air pollution, was performed for the first time. Analyzed properties of species werealso compared with literature sources. Listed conifers were investigated in five Belgrade parks, characterised by different degrees of air pollution, especially CO2. Their rank, I-V, was performed from non-polluted to heavily-polluted parks. Ranking in the sense of needle morpho-anatomy and pollen morpho-physiology didnot match expected ones, but park V remained the worst for many analyzed species. Trees with shorter needles had greater stomatal density, which was particularly prominent in A. alba, A. nordmanniana, P. abies, P. omorika, P. nigraand T. baccata. The pollen grains of C. atlanticaand T. baccatawere the most sensitive to air pollution. In some analyzed species distance of particular trees close to the heavy traffic also was in correlation with needle dimensions (P. omorika, A. concolor, A. nordmanniana, P. nigra), stomatal density (A. alba, P. abies, P. omorika, P. pungens) and pollen vitality (A. pinsapo, C. atlantica, P. menziessi, P. nigra, andT. baccata)