Forest habitats of Godech Municipality, Western Bulgaria

By

Grigorov, Borislav
Velev, Nikolay
Assenov, Assen
Nazarov, Momchil
Genova, Beloslava
Vassilev, Kiril

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

BioRisk : biodiversity & ecosystem risk assessment

Volume

20

Pages

153--163

Subjects

EUNIS , GIS , habitat mapping , syntaxa , vegetation and habitat diversity

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.20.97534

 

Abstract

The current study aims at revealing the forest habitat diversity of Godech Municipality, according to the EUNIS habitat classification. Initial data was collected from the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Forestry Management Plans. Subsequently, 418 vegetation plots (relevés) and 3422 verification points were collected during the fieldwork seasons of 2019 and 2020. The research territory is situated in Western Bulgaria in close proximity to the country’s border with the Republic of Serbia. Forests cover a total of 144.85 km2. Their phytocoenoses are dominated by Fagus sylvatica L. (59.22 km2), Quercus cerris L. (14.85 km2), Carpinus betulus L. (4.94 km2), Quercus dalechampii Ten. (2.39 km2), Q. frainetto Ten. (2.99 km2). There are plantations with Pinus nigra J. F. Arnold (20.87 km2), P. sylvestris L. (16.06 km2) and Picea abies H. Karst (11.65 km2) also. Forests are experiencing some major threats, such as logging, pollution and fires.