Tez özetleri Astronomi ve Uzay Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı

Understory Herbaceous Forage Species in Some Natural Stands of Belgrad Forest

This study named “Understory Herbaceous Forage Species in Some Natural Stands of Belgrad Forest” was carried out in Belgrad Forest as a master thesis study. Aim of the study was to identify and quantify understory plants species in the beech, oak, and mixture of beech and oak stands in Belgrad Forest depending on sampling time.

Our approaches to natural resources, especially to forests and their importance in human being life due to their functions, have changed since environmental awareness have increased from day to day.

Forests together with wild animals and herbaceous plant species growing beneath the forest canopy form a big ecosystem. This ecosystem affects directly or indirectly all living things. Forests are critically important especially for wild animals, which utilize forests as a habitat for grazing, sheltering, and living, etc. In addition, forest vegetation influence quantity and diversity of understory vegetation because of micro or local climate formed by different stand types that are the smallest unit forming forests. Because of such differences caused by stands forming forests, understory vegetation is generally composed of different herbaceous species. This situation plays an important role on the diet preferences of wild ungulate animals in the forestlands. There is limited information about quantifying number and diversity of understory herbaceous vegetation growing under different stands in our country. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine herbaceous understory plant species in Belgrad Forest.

The results of the study revealed that plant species, plant diversity and recurrence were grater in oak stand compared to other stands. According to results of this study, it can be concluded that oak stand was the most appropriate stand in the conditions of Belgrad Forest for wildlife animals because oak stands, which could offer wildlife animals much more choice for diet selection from a much more diverse vegetation community, had more plant species in the understory vegetation than beech and mixture of oak and beech stands.