Forest Regeneration Patterns Differ Considerably between Sites with and without Windthrow Wood Logging in the High Tatra Mountains

Our research focused on the impact of post-disturbance management on the subsequent forest stands in the territory of the High Tatra Mts. situated in the northern part of Slovakia. The field work was carried out within the post-disturbance area in 2019, i.e., 15 years after the windstorm. In total, we used data from 80 monitoring plots (MP): 40 plots situated inside the managed part and 40 in the unmanaged areas. Post-disturbance management specifically consisted of logging of wind-thrown wood; therefore, the main difference between the two areas (salvaged versus unsalvaged) was the amount of coarse woody debris (CWD) left on site. We focused on the characteristics of newly regenerated forest stands: the number of trees and tree species per MP, tree height and browsing (mostly by red deer, Cervus elaphus) were recorded as was their growth substrate, i.e., soil or CWD. Higher tree densities, larger trees as well as higher tree species richness were found at salvaged plots. In addition, more evident dominance of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L) Karst.) was recorded at unsalvaged plots. Common rowans (Sorbus aucuparia L.) were frequent at both plot types. Birch trees (Betula sp.) were very frequent at salvaged plots, while only a few birch individuals were recorded at unsalvaged ones. The proportion of trees growing on CWD was 15% at unsalvaged and 3% at salvaged plots. Trees growing on the soil contained nearly double the aboveground biomass than those on CWD. Red deer browsing was approximately two times more frequent at salvaged than unsalvaged plots. While rowan was extremely prone to browsing, spruce was damaged negligibly. These main findings could have two contradictory conclusions, the positive one being that differentiated post-disturbance management within a certain area can combine both forestry and nature conservation interests. Moreover, it can generate parallel forests with different properties that might positively influence the future stability of forest ecosystems as a whole. The negative side might be that contrasting post-disturbance management can cause an uneven distribution of red deer population and intensive browsing in areas favourable for game.

Not every large glacial episode lowers valley bottoms: inisghts from the cave systems of the Tatra Mts (the Western Carpathians)

<p>The Tatra mountains, the northernmost portion of the Central Western Carpathians, host a stunning alpine landscape despite an average elevation that rises 1.4 km above the surrounding lowlands. Regional geomorphology studies on both sides of the range correlate various landforms interpreted to be glacial in origin with all each of the eight major Alpine glacial  events based largely landscape position, and in some cases geochronologic constraints. This regional relative chronology assumes that wet-based mountain glaciers are efficient agents of erosion and each successive glaciation lowered the valleys within the Tatra. While the tendency of subsequent glaciations to obscure evidence of previous events makes it difficult to study the work done by past glacial episodes, the cave networks on the northern side of the Tatra offer a way to evaluate the amount and timing of valley lowering with U-series dating of speleothems. Epiphreatic and paleophreatic caves that developed near the water table and dried out as valley deepening occurred can serve as excellent recorders of the valley incision history.</p><p>Speleothems were collected from a number of cave levels present throughout the northern Tatra, of which only a subset were suitable for U-series geochronology. The oldest speleothems collected in active epiphreatic passages on the valley bottom level from each valley are consistently between 284-325 ka (MIS 8-9). This shows that the modern karst drainage system of the Tatra was established prior to the late Middle Pleistocene, and the cave conduits changed to epiphreatic or vadose conditions between 280 and 330 ka. Since the lowest cave level is at or below the modern valley floor, we can conclude that no valley incision occurred after ~330 ka, which includes both the penultimate and last glaciations periods. Clearly, the regional glacial chronologies in the Tatra must be reassessed. The implications of our findings demonstrate that the assumption of successive valley lowering should not be assumed and that even the extensive MIS2 glaciation did not result in valley lowering despite its size.</p>

New Records of Rare Hypogeous Fungi from Poland (Central Europe)

Investigations carried out in recent years have provided new data on the localities of some rare hypogeous fungi in Central Europe. In this study, we present new localities of <em>Leucangium carthusianum</em>, <em>Melanogaster luteus</em>, and <em>Rhizopogon </em><em>melanogastroides</em>, two of which are new for Poland. Sporocarps of <em>L. carthusianum </em>were found in seven new localities in mixed and coniferous forests in the Western Carpathians as well as in Sudetes. In Poland, the species was also recorded in a mixed forest in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Fir, <em>Abies alba</em>, accompanied the fungus in almost all known localities. Three localities of <em>M. luteus </em>were found in the Polish Western and Eastern Carpathians in <em>Alnus incana </em>communities mostly associated with streams. Knowledge of the distribution of this species in Europe is incomplete due to the complicated taxonomic history; nevertheless, it is regarded as rare, despite its wide distribution. One new locality of <em>R. melanogastroides </em>recorded in the Tatra Mts, Western Carpathians, is the fourth known to date. This species is mostly associated with <em>Pinus mugo </em>in high mountain localities (the Alps, the Tatra Mts). In this study, detailed descriptions and illustrations of the macro- and micromorphological features of the species are provided.

Rivers Try Harder. Reversed “Differential Erosion” as Geological Control of Flood in the Large Fluvial Systems in Poland

We study cross-sections on the Detailed Geological Map of Poland (SMGP) to find a geologic and geomorphic pattern under river valleys in Poland. The pattern was found in 20 reaches of the largest Polish rivers (Odra, Warta, Vistula, Narew, and Bug) located in the European Lowland, in the landscape of old (Pleistocene, Saalian) glacial high plains extending between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) moraines on the North and the Upland on the South. The Upland was slightly folded and up-faulted during Alpine orogeny together with the thrust of Carpathian nappes and the uplift of Tatra Mts. and Sudetes. The found pattern is an alluvial river with broad Holocene floodplain and the channel developed atop the protrusion of bedrock (Jurassic, Cretaceous limestones, marlstones, sandstones) or non-alluvial, cohesive, overconsolidated sediments resistant to erosion (glacial tills, lacustrine or “ice-dammed lake” clays) of Cenozoic (Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary—Elsterian). We regard the sub-alluvial protrusion as the limit of river incision and scour. It cannot be determined why the river flows atop these protrusions, in opposition to “differential erosion”, a geomorphology principle. We assume it is evidence of geological flood control. We propose an environmental and geomorphological framework for the hydrotechnical design of instream river training.

Wpływ cyrkulacji atmosferycznej na opady w Tatrach oraz Czarnohorze = Influence of atmospheric circulation on precipitation in Tatra and Chornohora Mts.

While significant increases in air temperature are being observed in the context of climate change, precipitation characteristics, indicators and indices seem to be changing in a more regionally-variable manner. High-mountain areas prove particularly subject to fluctuations and changes of climate, given that mountains serve as barriers to masses of air flowing over them, with the result that atmospheric precipitation totals are high in the context of the so-called orographic rainfall. Overall, the Chornohora represents the highest range anywhere in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mts, as there are six peaks over 2000 m a.s.l. capable of serving as a barrier running NW-SE. Nevertheless, the main ridge of the High Tatras (of the Slovakia-Poland borderland) is even higher and runs W-E. Each massif is some 30 km in length, while the two ranges are separated by a distance of almost 350 km. Main drainage divides run along the highest ridges here, with the Tatras separating the drainage basins of the Vistula and Danube, while the Chornohora represent a divide between the Prut and Tysa basins. The aim here has been to present characteristics of atmospheric precipitation in Tatra and Chornohora Mts. as these are seen to relate to atmospheric circulation. To this end, the dependent relationship between intensity of precipitation and atmospheric circulation was examined exhaustively, with changes in the latter considered from the point of view of intensity of precipitation in the massifs under study, and with trends for precipitation over the study period also looked for.The Niedźwiedź (2017) classification of types of atmospheric circulation was applied, with annual values calculated for circulation indicators P (a W-E inflow), S (a S-N inflow) and C (a cyclonic/anticyclonic inflow). Overall, the study drew on 1961‑2015 daily precipitation data from the north-eastern slope of Chornohora Mts. (as represented by Ukraine’s Pozhyzhevska weather station, PO, 1451 m a.s.l.), as well as the north slope of the Tatra Mts. (as represented by Poland’s Hala Gasienicowa weather station, HG, 1520 m a.s.l.).An air inflow from western directions was found to have prevailed over 28% of the days in the average year (Fig. 1). The most frequent types involved here were: Ka (12%), Bc (10%), Wc (10%) and Wa (8%). During the summer months (JJA), it is the Ka and Bc types that are even more frequent (present on approx. 15% of summer days). Types Wc and Wa in turn occur more frequently in winter (DJF) – respectively 13% and 12% of the time. In autumn, these types reach a level of occurrence around 10%.At 1712 mm, the average annual rainfall total for Tatra Mts is higher than that for the Chornohora (on 1446 mm). While the seasonal distribution of rainfall in spring and autumn looks almost the same in the two massifs, winter brings more precipitation in the Chornohora, while summer is a wetter season in the Tatras (Fig. 2). Largest amounts of precipitation nevertheless fall in the warm half-year, in the circumstances of N+NEa advection, cyclonic situations and under arctic, polar-marine or polar-marine transformed air masses (Figs. 3 and 4).The largest changes over time are to be observed for the zonal inflow index (P) and the cyclonic index (C). The P index points to increased numbers of days with a western circulation, while the C index confirms the domination of anticyclonic circulation (Fig. 5). The trend for annual rainfall totals is an upward one overall in both regions, but in neither does this achieve statistical significance (Fig. 6). Equally, there is a downward trend line for numbers of days featuring precipitation (RRdays) in the cases of both the Chornohora and Tatra ranges (equal to -7.3 days/10 years and -7.59 days/10 years respectively) (Fig. 7). On the other hand, the trend for numbers of days with higher rainfall, e.g. with RRdays>10mm is upward for the Chornohora (at +1.23 days/10 years), but downward for the Tatra Mts (at -0.6 days/10 years) (Fig. 8).

The mycobiota of needles and shoots of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) with symptoms of Herpotrichia needle browning in the Tatra Mts. (Poland)

The European silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) has the largest distribution area of all the European species of fir. It is the only species of this type found in the Carpathian Mts., including their highest range - the Tatras, where it constitutes one of the main components of lower montane forests. In certain sections of the Carpathian Mountains fir stands are affected by the competitive pressure of beech. This may be due to climate change, as well as biotic factors such as plant diseases. One such disease is Herpotrichia needle browning. The goal of the present research was to assess the occurrence of Herpotrichia needle browning in the Tatra National Park and determine the species composition of fungi colonizing symptomatic needles and shoots. Symptoms of the disease were observed across the entire research period, i.e., from May to mid-September 2019. They included the wilting of the needles with subsequent mycelial growth on the remains, as well as shoot deformation. The mycological analysis of the needles and shoots of A. alba resulted in the isolation of 22 fungal taxa. In the case of the needles and shoots, which showed symptoms of infection, the most frequent species of fungus was Sydowia polyspora (Bref. & Tavel) E. Müll., followed by Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissl. and Rhizosphaera macrospora Gourb. & M. Morelet. Herpotrichia needle browning seems to be triggered by a complex disease resulting from synergistic interaction of several fungal pathogens

Trichia sordida (Trichiaceae) – nowy dla Polski i Karpat gatunek śluzowca przyśnieżnego znaleziony w Tatrach

Trichia sordida Johannesen represents the ecological guild of nivicolous myxomycetes, which occurs in mountainous areas at the edge of melting winter snow cover. It is not very common in the Northern Hemisphere and has never been reported from Poland. In the spring of 2020, two specimens of it were found in the Tatra Mts, in spruce forest close to the Polana Upłaz meadow on the Ciemniak massif (49°15′05.0″N, 19°52′46.4″E; Figs 1, 2). Together with the newly reported species the list of nivicolous myxomycetes reported from the Tatra Mts numbers eleven species. Trichia sordida is also reported for the first time for the entire Carpathian range.