Vegetation succession in extensive abandoned tall-trunk cherry orchards: a case study on Kaňk Mountain near Kutná Hora (Czech Republic)

Authors

  • Markéta Šantrůčková Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Květnové nám. 391, 252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1519-8235
  • Jiří Dostálek Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Květnové nám. 391, 252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic
  • Tomáš Frantík Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic

Keywords:

vegetation succession, abandonment, extensive tall-trunk orchards, arable soil, medieval ore extraction

Abstract

Extensive tall-trunk orchards, a component of the central European landscape since the Middle Ages, form a biotope to which a number of plant and animal species are bound that are rare in other habitats. For these reasons, extensive tall-trunk orchards are interesting with regard to nature conservation. Once the management of these low-productivity vegetation sites ceases, the habitat is threatened by successive overgrowth by shrub vegetation. Taking abandoned tall-trunk cherry orchards with dry/mesophilous grassland undergrowth in the locality of Kaňk as an example, the degree of colonization of orchards by woody species and differences in the composition of vegetation cover in different time periods after abandonment were monitored. The results showed that the cover of cherry trees in orchards abandoned before 1990 was approximately 30% lower than that in orchards abandoned after 2000, and the cover of the herb layer was approximately 60% lower. The species diversity of orchards abandoned before 1990 was statistically significantly lower than that of orchards abandoned after 2000. The total cover of all species in habitat in areas of medieval ore extraction was approximately 50% lower than that in land originally used for farming.

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Published

2020-01-27

How to Cite

Šantrůčková, M., Dostálek, J., & Frantík, T. (2020). Vegetation succession in extensive abandoned tall-trunk cherry orchards: a case study on Kaňk Mountain near Kutná Hora (Czech Republic). Hacquetia, 19(1), 127–136. Retrieved from https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/hacquetia/article/view/7440

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