Light Conditions, Soil Moisture, and Vegetation Cover in Artificial Forest Gaps in Western Hungary

Abstract One of the greatest challenges of continuous cover forest management is to find a suitable gap size in a given forest stand that will help the regeneration of economically significant tree species, and possibly control competitor species. This paper summarizes the results of a two-year intensive mapping of various bearing artificial gaps at two sites in western Hungary: a sessile-oak-hornbeam and a Turkey oak forest. Light conditions and soil moisture were measured in the gaps as abiotic variables. Hemispherical photography and a Field Scout TDR 300 Soil Moisture Meter were used. Vegetation cover as well as quantity and height of the regeneration were measured as biotic variables. There are significant differences between the middle of a gap and the closed canopy forest stands. The maximum light intensity below the canopy shows a slight northward dislocation. Correlation analysis results showed that a gap’s slight, northward irradiation surplus effected soil moisture, regeneration heights, and total vegetation cover less than a gap’s real shape and size, ergo, its openness did.