EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

own bear, lynx, wolf, locally also wisent, elk and other species) being in a constant
interaction and functioning in a functional unity. Owing to ongoing global changes, such
research can not be reproduced any more as the initial and boundary conditions have changed
reproducible.
Criterium (x): The serial nomination “Beech Primeval Forests of the Carpathians”
contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of
biological diversity, including those containing endangered species of outstanding universal
value from the point of view of science or conservation. Its conservation value consists in the
protection of the only remaining intact populations of pure beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and the
protection of European beech gene pool, not limited in the past through selection or
interventions by man, but formed solely by natural processes. The beech primeval forest of
the nominated series therefore also provide an invaluable opportunity to study the
evolutionary history of Fagus in western Eurasia based on the evidence from genes,
morphology and the fossil record (Denk et al. 2002, 2004).
The serial nomination also includes habitats of entomofauna, avifauna and of some
mammal species (e. g. bats) bound to habitats existing only in primeval forests, as well as
their intact mycoflora (484 species recorded to date). The series contains gene pools of
autochthonous organisms and habitats providing favourable living conditions for globally
endangered species, numerous species of entomofauna (Osmoderma eremita) bound to the
trees necromass, hollow nesting birds dependent on presence of old standing trees (Strix
uralensis), as well as a complete mycoflora of the Carpathian beech forests. Habitats of a
number of animal species practically correspond to distribution of beech forests within the
continent. The survival of numerous vulnerable species directly depends upon beech forests
conservation. They are such species as Dendrocopos leucotos, Myotis myotis, M. bechsteinii,
Rosalia alpina etc. Myotis myotis is a rare fauna species of the continent and, listed in
Annexes 2 of the Bonn and Bern Conventions. Karst caves of the Uholka – Shyrokyi Luh
cluster serve as hibernation shelters for thousands of bats. Dynamics of number of this species
during hibernation is given in Table 4. Myotis bechsteinii is a globally rare species and is
listed in Annexes 2 of Bonn and Bern Conventions. As a typical dendrophillous species,
during a year it is directly bound to tree-trunk hollows. Availability of hollow trees is for that
matter the main limiting factor for this species, though still abundantly available across the
serial nomination, where there have been registered parent colonies of Myotis bechsteinii with
hundreds of bats during the last decade.
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