ONTHOGENETIC AND VITALITY STRUCTURE OF ASARUM EUROPAEUM IN TERMS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT IN GOETTINGEN FOREST, LOW SAXONY, GERMANY

Abstract

A detailed study of the herb layer species of forest ecosystems that are anthropogenically affected makes it possible to predict the successive changes and model the development of plant communities in particular areas. The study results of grassland species populations contribute to the restoration and preservation of unique groups that are part of forest ecosystems. Our research deals with understanding the mechanisms of adaptations that exist at the population level of the organization against the background of forestry impacts. With the comprehensive population analysis approach, the critical point is to observe the consequences after the transformation of the living conditions of plants. The research aim is to establish features and regularities of structural changes in the population typical for beech forests in Low Saxony, Germany, in terms of forestry use. Our research is based on the classical geobotanical and population analysis methods. We used morphometric, vital, gradient analyses, and mathematical statistics methods to process field research materials. It is curtained that the vitality determining features for A. europeaum were W - complete plant phytomass, Wl - leaves phytomass, and A � total foliage surface area. It was found that a significant part of the early generative ontogenetic stage of the Asarum europaeum population is represented in the unmanaged forest. In contrast, in the young forest plots of 40 and 70 years old tree species, the central part is devoted to the middle-aged and old generative ontogenetic stages, 31,25% and 34,33%, respectively. The vitality structure analysis investigated that herb layer species' vitality is remarkably higher in unmanaged forest.