Abstract
The aim of the work was to compare the influence of a beech (B) and a spruce stand (S) on the accumulation and melting of snow cover in comparison to an open area (O). The measurements were performed in winter seasons from 2012/13 to 2014/15 in the Hučava catchment, Poľana Biosphere Reserve (BR). We monitored hydrological and physical parameters of snow cover (snow depth – SD, snow water equivalent – SWE, snow density – D) at 13 research plots in 100 m elevation intervals (567–1,259 m a.s.l.). Within one research plot, the listed snow parameters were measured in a stand of spruce (S), beech (B), and at an open area (O).
Based on the snow conditions, we found different characters of winter during the monitored period (2012/13 – snow rich, 2013/14 snow poor). For each winter, we tested the difference in the average values of SWE between the stands and the open area separately for the phase of snow accumulation and melting. The differences in the accumulation phase were found significant (α ≤ 0.05) in all cases. The ratio between the forest SWE and open area SWE during the monitored period was in the case of the spruce stand 46.8% SWE of the open area, and 76.6% SWE of the open area in the beech stand.
Acknowledgements
This work was accomplished as a part of VEGA projects No.: 1/0367/16, 1/0589/15, 1/0463/14 of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Science; and the projects of the Slovak Research and Development Agency No.: APVV-0423-10, APVV-0303-11, APVV-15-0425 and APVV-15-0497. The authors thank the agencies for the support. The data acquisition for a comparative study in the Czech Republic was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA16-05665S).
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