VIRGIN FORESTS AND FOREST RESERVES IN ... - Natura 2000

COST Action E4: Forest Reserves Research Network 11
Research in forest reserves
On account of its great ecological differences in altitude (0 - 2387 m), in climate
(continental, oceanic, mediterranean), in soils, etc., Bosnia and Herzegovina is classified
into the following major regions where biological research is carried out:
1. Illyric region (Western humid region)
2. Moesiac region (Eastern arid region)
3. Central European region (Northern part of Bosnia)
4. Eumediterranean region (Evergreen region)
5. Mediterranean mountain region
In accordance with proposal of professor Dušan Mlinšek (in 1980) a network of plots will
be established in these regions, with a minimum surface of 20 ha, and surrounded by a
protection belt. A research in these plots will be carried out in the domain of:
– the main ecological characteristics of plots (climate, soil, etc.),
– the dynamic of forest population, fructification, regeneration, growing,
– how the energy, biomass, water and minerals travel through the ecosystem,
– the development in the past and in the future,
– the structure and functions of flora and fauna,
– what are the main impacts on the ecosystems,
– research into the structure and dynamics of old growth forests in Bosnia and
Herzegovina,
– comparative researches into the patterns of natural disturbances and regeneration
in old growth and management of natural forests,
– natural regeneration and changing of tree species by natural regeneration.
SUMMARY
Bosnia and Herzegovina is situated in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula. It is
predominantly mountainous (5% flat lowlands, 24% hilly, 42% mountainous, and 29%
karst region). High forests, coppices and bare-lands represent 53% of the total land
surface. This area of forest landscape is covered by 46.9% of high forests, 34.3% of
coppices, and 18.8% of bare lands.
In the high forest main tree species are: oak, beech, silver fir, Norway spruce, and black
and Scotch pine. In the coppices, beech and sessile oak are the main tree species.
Approximately 90% of the forest landscape represents natural forest which has great
diversity of tree species. Roughly only 10% of the forest landscape represents
afforestation aged 50 years or less.
In the high forests the growing stock (more than 7 cm d.b.h.) is approximately 218 m 3 /ha,
and 50 m 3 /ha in the coppices. The mean volume increment is more or less 5.57 m 3 /ha
annually in the high forests (2.46 m 3 /ha in conifer forests, 3.11 m 3 /ha in broad-leaved tree
forests). In the high forests annual permissible cutting is 5.63 m 3 /ha (2.16 m 3 /ha in conifer
forests, 3.47 m 3 /ha in broad-leaved tree forests).
The single tree selection or the group selection system is applied in all types of high
forests.