Anna Justyna KWIATKOWSKA-FALIŃSKA 1 , Dorota PANUFNIK-MĘDRZYCKA 2 , Maciej WÓDKIEWICZ 2 , Izabela SONDEJ 3 , Bogdan JAROSZEWICZ 1 * 1 Białowieża Geobotanical Station, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Sportowa 19, 17-230 Białowieża, Poland, *e-mail: b.jaroszewicz@uw.edu.pl (corresponding author) 2 Department of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Av. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland 3 Department of Anatomy and Vertebrate Zoology, University of Szczecin, Wąska 13, 71-415 Szczecin, Poland ANCIENT FOREST SPECIES AND THE DIVERSITY OF VEGETATION AND SEED BANK INDICATE THE APTITUDE OF TRANSFORMED THERMOPHILOUS OAK WOOD PATCHES FOR RESTORATION POLISH JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY (Pol. J. Ecol.) 61 1 65–80 2013 Regular research paper ABSTRACT: Thermophilous oak wood is the most species-rich forest habitat in the zone of mixed deciduous forests. A very limited amount of it has been saved in good condition. We investigated the principal hypothesis that the vegetation and seed banks, especially of the ancient forest species, are good indicators of habitat naturalness and its apti- tude for restoration. Vegetation and seed bank sam- pling were carried out in fragments of forest with a known management and disturbance history over the past 80 years. We predicted that natural and an- thropogenic transformations of tree stands would be significant factors shaping species composition and similarity of vegetation and seed banks. The closest similarity was observed between the seed banks of plots which were never logged. The least related to others was the seed bank of the logged site, whose soil was ploughed prior to tree replantation. The highest number of ancient forest species was recorded in the vegetation (33 species) and in the soil seed bank (21 species) of the least transformed patch of thermophilous oak forest. It was decreas- ing gradually with increase of the tree canopy cover on the research plots. Our results indicate also that the higher the coefficient of similarity between seed bank and vegetation, especially of the ancient forest species, the higher the forest’s naturalness. We con- clude that restoration of thermophilous oak wood has the highest chances for success in patches with well preserved seed banks and vegetation. KEY WORDS: Białowieża Primeval Forest, thermophilous oak forest, seed bank, ecosystem restoration 1. INTRODUCTION Thermophilous oak wood is the most species-rich forest in the boreonemoral zone. It is distributed mainly in the southern part of Central and Eastern Europe (Jakubows- ka-Gabara 1996). The major part of this habitat range is in the European Union, and the European Community countries are re- sponsible for its conservation as a priority habitat of the European Natura 2000 conser- vation network. These habitats are refuges for many rare and threatened forest plant species, including a number of ancient forest species, and heliophilous and thermophilous animals (Matuszkiewicz 2001). The flora of thermophilous oak woods includes a wide ecological spectrum of species demonstrat- ing contrasting demands for light, moisture and trophic conditions (Kwiatkowska and Solińska-Górnicka 1993). Therefore, even small patches of this community signif- icantly contribute to the biodiversity of the entire forest complex. journal 33.indb 65 2013-04-30 10:05:24