COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

thermophilous species. It is not a rare case that in shadowed places (e. g. river valleys) beech grows
at lower altitudes than oak (as a sort of inversion), even it moves from the northern slopes to the
opposite south-oriented slopes.
Survival and growth of beech at low altitudes in Bosnia greatly depend on the orientation of
a particular river valley. If the river valley is extended from the north to the south (as it is the case
of the biggest rivers Una, Vrbas, Bosna and Drina), then the beech line is significantly distant from
the valley. If the river valley is oriented from the east to the west, beech descends from the northern
slopes to the valley itself, and even is able to cross it. Hence, the extent of the lower beech line depends
on ecological conditions of the stand which, under these conditions, are significantly determined by
the terrain form and shape.
Beech reaches its upper distribution limit only in some of the western and southern Bosnian and
Herzegovinian mountains with an altitude above 1,900 m. Summits of these mountains are overgrown
by the stands of mountain pine, where beech occupies favourable locations (north-oriented slopes)
and individually can ascend up to 1,800 m. In addition to the mountain Plješevice located on
the border with Croatia, this is the case of the following Bosnian mountains: Klekovača, Dinara
(Troglav), Kamešnica, Šator, Vitoroga, Golija, Kujača, Cincar, Malovan, Raduša, Vran, Vranica,
Bjelašnica, Treskavica, Jahorina, Zelengora, Maglić (Vučevo) and Ljubišnja, in Herzegovina parts
of Bjelašnica (Krvavac), Visočica, followed by mountains Prenj, Čvrsnica and Velež. On the other
hills and mountains, beech does not reach its upper limit, so either pure submontane beechwoods or
mixed fir-spruce-beech forests cover the highest locations.
The attached map of the beech range shows that Bosnia and Herzegovina is crossed by two important
vegetation and geographical range lines, forming internal limits of beech distribution within its
own range. One is the border of steppe (in a wider sense) or thermophilous and hydrophilous zone
vegetation of the oak forests of Pannonia; the other is the border of evergreen and thermophilous
Euro-Mediterranean vegetation of the Adriatic area.
characTerIsTIcs aNd ForesT maNaGemeNT
Beech is one of the most important forest trees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, viewed both from the
economic and ecological aspects. The forest cover of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents 2, 10,000
ha of forests and forest land, covering approximately 53% of its territory (Stojanović et al. 1986).
High forests represent 1,266,000 ha, low forests, stumps and coppices 918,000 ha. Moreover, there
are bare lands and glades of 390,000 ha suitable for afforestation, and 130,000 ha of arid soils. Of the
overall forest area, pure beechwoods represent 660,000 ha, of which there are 345,000 ha of high and
318,000 ha of low forests (Matić et al. 19 1). In addition, beech is found in mixed forests composed
of beech and fir or beech, fir and spruce mixture at an area of 565,000 ha. In that way, the total area of
forests containing beech is 1,225,000 ha. Out of that, 93% are natural or semi-natural forests, which
is significant in comparison with the European average where the proportion of natural or/and seminatural
forests is rather low. Based on this, Matić, Pintarić, Drinić (1969) elaborated guidelines
for management, however, they were subjected to many changes.
Beech forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina have different characteristics, but the specific feature of beech
forests in central Bosnia is that an important area of pure beech forests are of secondary origin (Beus
1984). They were created from mixed beech and fir stands or beech-fir-spruce mixture through human
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