Europaean chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) aboveground dendromass and its impact on composition of phytocoenoses in Jelenec castanetarium PA

The paper deals with aboveground dendromass production in the European chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) trees growing in the Protected Area (PA) Castanetarium Jelenec and impact of this important introduced woody plant on the succession shift in the phytocoenoses. The locality is situated in the Tribec Mts, and it belongs to the Ponitrie Protected Landscape Area. It has been protected since 1952 and to the category PA it was reclassified in 1986. The locality represents an important dendrological subject established in the 13. century by the owner of the Gymes castle, count of Forgach with the aim to provide the fruits (edible chestnuts) for the forest game. The European chestnut was planted on a plot with an area of 2.66 ha at an altitude of 400-450 m. The planted trees had been well acclimated and at present, they penetrate into the surrounding forest stands. The number of chestnut trees per one hectare of PA is 212, they reach height of 14.5-24.5 m, breast-height diameter d1,3 12.5-114.0 cm and growing stock 478.89 cubic m; the corresponding values for another woody plant at the site - Quercus dalechampii Ten. are: tree number 24, height 17.5-22.5 m, d1,3 17.0-65.0 cm and growing stock 12.03 m3. From the total dendro-necromass (496.69 m3.ha-1) is the greatest amount (305.91 cubic m/ha) created by branches. The geobiocoenoses in the PA belong to the 3rd forest vegetation tier (fvt), group of forest types Fagetum pauper inferiora, forest type Dentaria bulbifera - nudum. The European chestnut is an important edificatory species of phytocoenoses. In phytocoenoses formed by this tree occur, in addition to the species characteristic for oak stands - profiting from favourable light conditions, also the species indicating the presence of the 3rd fvt \{Circaea lutetiana, Dentaria bulbifera, Epilobium montanum, Rubus caesius, Senecio ovatus, Stachys sylvatica and other) not occurring in the surrounding oak stands. In the PA we identified 15 woody plants (7 shrub species) and 62 herb species. On the other hand, in the surrounding secondary oak stands, the woody species number is only 8 (3 shrub species) and herb species number 27.