Beech Forests: Woody Species Composition, Populations and Spatial Aspects

Abstract

Beeches dominate forests over a large geographic area, with a large variation in environments. Over this area species composition of beech forests varies. To the south the species diversity increases (Rohde, 1992) and the percentage of evergreen broad-leaved trees is likely to increase (c.f. Wolfe, 1979; Ohsawa, 1990). This affects the light environment in the forest because, in general, temperate evergreen broad-leaved forests have a higher leaf area index, with a larger extinction coefficient of the canopy, than deciduous broad-leaved forests (Kira & Shidei, 1967). Also, to the south the angles of the sun with the horizontal are larger, which may affect forest structure by inducing shallower crowns in the canopy and more vegetation layers (Terborgh, 1985). However, Terborgh (1985) mentions that trees with deep crowns, like beech trees, seem to prevent the development of understory layers.