<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The condition of Norway spruce (<italic>Picea abies</italic> (L.) Karst) in the Białowieża Forest is categorized as a crisis. It is believed that due to the cooling in the Holocene, the then-relict species of the forest, silver fir (<italic>Abies alba</italic> Mill.), disappeared from its ecosystems and then spruce appeared. Today’s climate change presents challenges to our civilization, including to forestry. However, there is no information at all about how this affected the silver fir in the Białowieża Forest. In the Polish part of the forest (subcompartment 498 Сi, Białowieża Forest District), for the first time a comprehensive study has been carried out on the condition of mature fir trees planted by man and on their progeny. The results indicate high forestry-taxation indicators of trees, resistance to the abiotic factor and competitiveness. Their constitution corresponds to local environmental conditions. However, the disproportionately small number of adult natural regeneration of old firs indicated some kind of malfunction in the mechanism of natural generational change.</p></abstract>

The condition of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) in the Białowieża Forest is categorized as a crisis. It is believed that due to the cooling in the Holocene, the then-relict species of the forest, silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), disappeared from its ecosystems and then spruce appeared. Today’s climate change presents challenges to our civilization, including to forestry. However, there is no information at all about how this affected the silver fir in the Białowieża Forest. In the Polish part of the forest (subcompartment 498 Сi, Białowieża Forest District), for the first time a comprehensive study has been carried out on the condition of mature fir trees planted by man and on their progeny. The results indicate high forestry-taxation indicators of trees, resistance to the abiotic factor and competitiveness. Their constitution corresponds to local environmental conditions. However, the disproportionately small number of adult natural regeneration of old firs indicated some kind of malfunction in the mechanism of natural generational change.

European silver fir – an alternative for the dying Norway spruce in Białowieża Forest?

Folia Forestalia Polonica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The condition of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) in the Białowieża Forest is categorized as a crisis. It is believed that due to the cooling in the...

European silver fir – an alternative for the dying Norway spruce in Białowieża Forest?

Article Category: Original article

Published Online: Jun 08, 2021

Page range: 150 - 166

Received: Jan 02, 2021

Accepted: Feb 23, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ffp-2021-0016

© 2021 Aleh Marozau, Miłosz Mielcarek, Grzegorz Krok, Rafał Paluch, Krzysztof Chiliński, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.