Forests of the Carpathian and Dinaric Mountains are among Europe’s most substantial carbon reserves, the last refuges for numerous endemic European species, and they also provide subsistence to millions of Europeans. The general objective of this project is to better understand the developmental dynamics, disturbance regimes, forest structure and biomass patterns, and biodiversity in the remaining primary forests in the region. We aim to conduct novel, multi-scale analyses to disentangle tree-level (size, age, competition), site-level (soils, topography), and regional-level (temperature, precipitation, drought) factors that drive historical variation in growth and disturbances.

About the Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains represent the second largest mountain range in Europe, an area of approximately 210,000 km2, stretching across eight European countries: Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Czech republic, Poland, Hungary, and Serbia. For a long time, forests in the Carpathians were protected from human influence due to their remote location and poor accessibility. Lowland forests, as well as forests located at lower elevations of the Carpathian Mountains, were cleared because of their suitability for human settlement and agriculture. This process took place in different regions of the Carpathians in various historical periods but mainly throughout the Middle Ages (between 500 and 1500 AD). The mountain forests located deep in the steep valleys and on the mountain ridges remained mainly intact at that time. Until a few decades ago, a relatively continuous mountain forest cover was maintained in the Romanian and Ukrainian (partly also in Slovakian) regions of the Carpathians because it was still not operationally or economically viable to conduct logging in these forests. Recently, however, due to the introduction of modern harvesting technologies, widespread destruction of many previously undisturbed sites has occurred across the Carpathians. As a result, primeval forests are currently relatively rare in the Carpathians and they make up only a small proportion of the total forest cover. In spite of their scarcity, the size of primeval forests is still decreasing, mainly due the unawareness of their exact location (imprecise mapping) and the lack of effective protection measures. Our research in the Carpathians focuses on beech, mixed beech-fir, and spruce forests.

About the Dinaric Mountains

The Dinaric Mountains are approximately 700 km in length and 200 km in width; they range from the northwestern to the southeastern areas of the western Balkan Peninsula. The Mountains cover regions of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Serbia-Kosovo, Albania, Slovenia, and Montenegro. The Dinar Mountains are known for karst areas where a significant part of the mountains were formed by carbonate rocks (e.g., limestone) precipitously shaped by water. Although the area is bleak, it was originally covered by forests. The Western Balkans have historically been a strategic location, even as far back as antiquity - important trade routes used to cross the land and several powerful states used to intersect there. The colonization and related deforestation in the region began around 6000-6500 B.C. The original forests had undergone extraction and burning for settlement foundations, pasture, and metal mining (particularly iron). Ship construction was one of the main reasons for the disappearance of forests by the shores. We can trace the first attempts to protect these valuable forests back to the 12th century, but the measures were largely ineffective. Significant achievements in protecting and restoring forests occured in the 19th century.¹ However, the original forests have already been destroyed or at least completely changed since that time. The last of the true primary forests are scattered in the most isolated places throughout the Dinar Mountains. It has been a long time since the forests formed continuous complexes; only residues are preserved nowadays. The forests are predominantly beech-fir forests, of which the largest and most famous are Peručica in Bosnia (1,434 hectares) and Biogradska Gora (about 1,600 hectares) in Montenegro.² Nowadays, there are even bigger areas of critical forests unknown to the general population. Those areas are usually found outside protected areas, or they are poorly protected, and therefore are in danger of  deforestation. Our research in the Dinar Mountain range focuses on beech and mixed beech-fir tree forests.