COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

On the eastern limit, beech occurs over 280 m above sea level (Melnyk, Korinko 2005). Here the
climate and ecological conditions for European beech are very specific. Temperature fluctuations,
particularly the winter minimum temperature, and a lower air humidity negatively influence
European beech and limit its range (Molotkov 1966, Pogrebnyak 1968).
ForesT resources oF euroPeaN beech IN uKraINe
Stands with the prevalence of European beech in the Ukraine represent almost .4% of the forest area
(Parpan, Stoyko 1995). The area of beech stands managed by the State Forestry Committee of the
Ukraine in six western regions with an almost continuous natural distribution of European beech is
502,889 ha, out of which 53.3% is situated in the Zakarpattya, 18.1% in the Lviv region, 1 .5% in the
Ivano-Frankivsk region, 8.3% in the Chernivtsi region, and only 2.6% and 0.2% in the Ternopil and
Khmelnytsk regions, respectively.
In the mountains, 8.3% of beech forests grow and 21. % in the highlands. In the Zakarpattya region,
mountain conditions represent 99. % of the area of beech forests, whereas in the Ivano-Frankivsk,
Lviv and Chernivtsi regions these shares are 81.4%, 49.5% and 23.3%, respectively.
In the mountains, 9. % of beech forests grow on very steep slopes (over 30º on south slopes and over
35º on north slopes), 4 .9% slopes are steep (21 – 30º on south slopes and 21 – 35º on north slopes),
and 35.0% are moderate (11 – 20º). Very steep and steep slopes are most frequent in the Zakarpattya
region (11.8% and 52. %, respectively), which shows the important soil protection, water protection
and water regulating function of beech forests in this region.
Optimum, and nearly optimum sites (nutrient-rich fresh and moist soils) represent 64.6% of the
beech stands area. Most fresh rich soils are present in the Ternopil and Khmelnytsk regions (90.9
and 92.9% respectively), but a significant part can be found in the Chernivtsi region (41. %). In the
Lviv and Zakarpattya regions, most beech sites are represented by wet rich soils (56.4 and 48. %,
respectively), whereas in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, most represented are wet, moderately rich soils
(53.5%). In total, of the range of European beech forests 35.4% are found on sites with fresh and
moderately nutrient-rich soils.
Growing mainly in favourable habitats, European beech forms highly productive forest stands: 32.2%
of the beechwood area are classified as Ia quality class or higher, and in some places beech stands
even of reach quality classes Ic and even Id. The largest percentage of highly productive stands is
found in the area of Ternopil (43.5%), followed by Lviv (3 .2%), Chernivtsi (35.9%), Khmelnytsk
(35.0%), Zakarpattya (33.6%), and Ivano-Frankivsk (18.9%).
Because of poorly regulated control, and after the Second World War destruction of the forest, the
current age structure of beech stands is extremely irregular. In particular, large areas are represented
by forest stands of the third and fourth age class 1 (22.9% and 24.1%, respectively) and the proportion
of the other age classes is quite small. For instance, the 8th, 9th and 10th age classes represent only
between 2.8 and 3.9 of the beech stand area. Especially affected is the age structure of beech stands
in the Ternopil area, where 43. % of stands belong to the 4th age class, 21.1% to the 5th, and 13.9%
to the 3rd age class. Predominance of beech stands of the 3rd to 5th age classes (especially compared
to older stands) is characteristic also for the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions but is less
pronounced in the Zakarpattya region.
1 Age class span is 20 years. The oldest tree stands belong to the 16th age class.
26