Forest vegetation on the island of Upursala of lake Cirišs, Latvia

Only less than one percent of the territory of Latvia is occupied by broadleaved (trees having relatively wide flat leaves) forests. The aim of the research is to assess forest vegetation in the island of Upursala of Cirišs lake. The data is collected in four forest areas of the island. Totally 12 plots, each with an area of 200 m2 (20 x 20 m) have been created. In each plot, the accounting of growing trees and deadwood is carried out. The vegetation is measured in each forest area - the projective vegetation cover and cover of each plant species by tree, shrub, herb and moss layer are determined. The research founds that the average stock of growing trees on the island of Upursala is 565.8 m3 ha-1. The average amount of dead wood is 108 m3 ha-1, it consists mainly of fallen deadwood. Totally 45 species are listed in the vegetation plots, of which seven are determinants of European broadleaved forests. The largest number of determinant species of European broadleaved forests have been observed in stands with mixed forests (aspen - small-leaved lime – pedunculate oak, aspen – Scots pine - pedunculate oak and Scots pine – Silver birch – aspen). It can be argued that these stands will become the European broadleaved forests in the future.