ANNA ORCZEWSKA

University of Silesia,
Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Departament of Ecology;
Bankowa 9, 40-007 Katowice
e-mail: anna.orczewska@us.edu.pl

Description popularizing the research project

Look carefully and show the differences between the ancient and recent woods. Maybe first a word of explanation. An ancient wood is the one which has grown in the given area “forever", whereas the recent one has been planted by man to resemble the original one. In our “spot the difference" game the ancient wood is the black alder one, and the recent one is the post-agricultural black alder wood imitating the original. Moreover you should know that the recent wood has been planted in a place where the black alder used to grow but was cut to make room for fields and pastures. The fields and pastures were covered with water as it is typical for places where black alder woods grow. Using them in agriculture turned out to be unprofitable and too difficult, despite all the efforts so the idea to turn them back into woods emerged. Is it possible to find more details than just age of the trees which would differ the two? Unfortunately it is possible and we are not talking about petty details...
The herb layer of both types of woods differ dramatically. Characteristic trees growing in the wild are completely different than the ones in the planted wood. Moreover the herbs composition in the planted woods differ as the level of water is different in various places. This is something what you cannot miss.
The same story is with the chemical composition of the soil. It will take many water level seasonal changes, many fallen trees, before chemism of the soil returns to the state from before the logging and drainage. Yet with every season the features make the wood closer to the original. Every year it is harder and harder to spot the differences. The planted woods obey the rules of Nature and try to reach the state of equilibrium so typical for the ancient woods. Typical for the conditions. Original ones. Because original always means better.

Abstract

The aim of the studies, carried out in the Oleśnica Plain (Opole Silesia) and Żmigród Valley (Lower Silesia) was I. to compare edaphic and hydrological conditions in ancient and in adjoining post-agricultural, black alder woods, and II. to describe the relations between habitat conditions and the rate of colonization of the recent woods by the herbaceous woodland flora.
The herb layer in ancient and recent woodlands differs and these differences have qualitative character. Both types of forests have their own group of characteristic, indicator species. Woods also differ in the chemical features of their soils, which is due to the different origin of those woods. The history and the former agricultural use of alder plantations are recorded in the species composition of their herb layer, in soil conditions and also in the presence of the padded layer in their soil profiles. Although the formation of the herb layer in woodlands of such high fertility and moisture proceeds faster than in other forests, growing in poorer and drier soils, differences in the ecological character of the herb layer and in soil conditions between ancient and recent woods are long-lasting. However, in alder woods of older age, the number of woodland species in their herb layer becomes higher and many chemical features of their soil change as well.