The research presented herein explores soil organic carbon concentration (SOCC) under monodominant primeval forests of European beech trees and their association with parent material on a regional scale. Soil sampling to a maximum depth of 0.8 m was conducted in six localities in the West, East, and South Carpathians, Eastern Albanides, and Central Apennines, situated on different parent materials. Samples were analysed for SOCC by the dry combustion method. The average SOCC values representing individual localities ranged from 12.5 g kg⁻¹ to 154.8 g kg⁻¹ with a 99.7% coefficient of variation. SOCC association with climatic variables and forest stand volume data available from the literature were assessed by a Pearson correlation coefficient. Differences in SOCC among localities caused by site conditions were treated as a fixed factor in Welch’s ANOVA and found to be significant (p < 0.05) in the majority of cases. The associations between SOCC and climatic variables or stand volume were nonsignificant or perturbed. Since they validly explained less than 10% of the overall SOCC variance, the results of multiple comparison tests were assessed and interpreted in view of distinct parent materials.

Introduction: The paper analyzes the results of 26 years (1996–2021) of phenological observations of the vegetative organs of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the Western Carpathians. It evaluates the influence of the heterogeneity of this territory, including relief and elevation, based on climatic-geographical types.Methods: Phenological stages, including leaf unfolding, full leaves, leaf coloring, and leaf fall, were monitored at 40 phenological stations across eight elevation zones. The study assesses trends in the occurrence of phenological stages, the length of the growing season, and phenological elevation gradients.Results: The results indicate a statistically significant earlier onset of spring phenological phases and delay in autumn phases, resulting in an average extension of the beech growing season by 12 days. Our findings confirm that the lengthening of the growing season due to warming, as an expression of climate change, is predominantly attributed to the warming in the spring months. The detected delayed onset of autumn phenophases was not due to warming in the autumn months, but other environmental factors influence it. The trend of elongation of the growing season (p<0.01) is observed in all elevation zones, with a less significant trend observed only in zones around 400 and 600 m a.s.l, signaling changes in environmental conditions across most of the elevation spectrum. Moreover, the heterogeneity of climatic-geographical types within each elevation zone increases the variability in the duration of the growing season for sites with similar elevations. By extending the growing season, it is assumed that the beech area will be changed to locations with optimal environmental conditions, especially in terms of adverse climatic events (late spring frosts, drought) during the growing season. The phenological elevation gradients reveal an earlier onset of 2.2 days per 100 m for spring phenophases and a delay of 1.1–2.9 days per 100 m for autumn phenophases.Discussion: These findings highlight the specific environmental conditions of European beech in the Western Carpathians and their potential for anticipating changes in its original area. Additionally, these observations can aid in forecasting the further development of phenological manifestations related to climate change.

The paper proposes a system for zoning of mountain areas based on the level of provisioning of ecosystem services. Techniques of multi-objective land allocation were applied to allocate complementary and conflicting objectives. The zoning system consists of four phases: i) Identification of criteria for the evaluation of ecosystem services; ii) Quantification of criteria for three different forestland states; iii) Evaluation of potential and effect of the forest on providing the ecosystem services and iv) Zoning of ecosystem services with their prioritization and spatial allocation of support measures. The study was conducted in the Tatra Mountains (Slovakia). Erosion control, avalanche control, wood production and cultural services were evaluated. The greatest differences between potential and effect of the evaluated ecosystem services were identified for the avalanche control. A comparison of our results with the existing (control) map of ecosystem services has proved that the proposed system is a potent means for multi-objective forest planning.