Var-hegy Forest Reserve Site, Sikfokut LTER - Hungary

Basic Information
Site Name
Var-hegy Forest Reserve Site, Sikfokut LTER
Short name
hu_sik_varhegy
Country
Hungary
Operating Organisation
Site Manager
Site Description
Central Europe maintains a considerable diversity of dry-mesic oak forests as the main representatives of zonal forest vegetation types in Hungary, covering the major part of foothills of the middle-range mountain, Inner Western Carpathians. The 669 m high, Triassic limestone hill called ‘Vár-hegy’ belongs to the Bükk Mountains. The annual mean temperature is about 8◦C and the annual precipitation is about 650 mm. The core area of the reserve (94 ha) is covered mainly by close-to-nature. long untouched oak dominated forests stands: Pannonic woods with Quercus petraea and Carpinus betulus; Pannonian-Balkanic Turkey oak-sessile oak forests; Pannonian woods with Quercus pubescens. It has been set aside for preservation in 1991, though several previous conservation acts had already secured almost spontaneous natural development of the stands. Most of the area was cut around 1880, however, several over-mature trees were retained. The intensive use in the previous centuries and during the world wars left a sessile oak dominated, 120-130-year-old, mostly coppice forest. The abandonment and the precedent severe oak decline contributed to generate a more diverse forest composition and structure developing towards a mixed forest with pronounced ‘old-growth’ characteristics.
Last modified
2023-07-26 09:07:55

CC-BY-NC Logo

General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1993
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
LTER Hungary (LTER_EU_HU_017)This site is a verified "LTER Hungary" member.
ILTERThis site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER EuropeThis site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
Photos
Panoramic View of the Var-hegy Strict Forest Reserve, Photo by F. Horváth

Panoramic View of the Var-hegy Strict Forest Reserve, Photo by F. Horváth

Pannonian dry oak forest stand with downy oak. Photo by F. Horváth

Pannonian dry oak forest stand with downy oak. Photo by F. Horváth

Geographic
Elevation (average)
500.00msl
Elevation (min)
400.00msl
Elevation (max)
600.00msl
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]