T172 Pyreneo-Cantabrian neutrophile Fagus forests

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Description

Mesophile deciduous forests potentially and often actually occupying large areas on basic substrates wherever summers (by any combination of elevation and northern aspect) are cool, cloudy or rainy enough to support the high transpiration demands caused by beech’s aggressive light-competing behavior. The large, horizontally displayed leaves of beech cast a deep shadow on the understorey, generating very selective conditions and consequently a very distinctive floristic composition, including early-spring geophytes and a number of sciophilous, even partially or entirely mycoheterotrophic plants.

Protection

Most stands are protected by the EU Habitat Directive under the code 9130 ("Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests"), whereas those on abrupt karstified slopes (see below) fit more comfortably under 9150 ("Medio-European limestone beech forests of the Cephalanthero-Fagion").

Floristic Composition

Frequent species

Fagus sylvatica 100%, Viola riviniana aggr. 70%, Helleborus viridis 61%, Oxalis acetosella 51%, Daphne laureola 47%, Euphorbia amygdaloides 45%, Melica uniflora 44%, Galium odoratum 44%, Mercurialis perennis 41%, Poa nemoralis 41%, Stellaria holostea 38%, Hepatica nobilis 37%, Carex sylvatica 36%, Ranunculus tuberosus aggr. 34%, Crepis lampsanoides 33%, Hedera helix aggr. 32%, Anemone nemorosa 32%, Pteridium aquilinum 32%, Crataegus monogyna 31%, Ilex aquifolium 31%, Saxifraga hirsuta 30%, Euphorbia dulcis 29%, Polystichum aculeatum 28%, Polystichum setiferum 27%, Geranium robertianum 27%, Dryopteris filix-mas 26%, Vicia sepium 25%, Brachypodium sylvaticum 24%, Fragaria vesca 23%, Sanicula europaea 22%, Corylus avellana 22%, Polypodium vulgare 21%, Scilla lilio-hyacinthus 20%, Athyrium filix-femina 19%, Lilium martagon 19%, Potentilla sterilis 19%, Dryopteris affinis 18%, Avenella flexuosa 18%, Ajuga reptans 18%, Veronica chamaedrys 15%, Helleborus foetidus 15%, Luzula sylvatica 15%, Sorbus aucuparia 14%, Hieracium murorum aggr. 14%, Arum maculatum 14%, Scrophularia alpestris 14%, Melittis melissophyllum 14%, Milium effusum 14%, Aquilegia vulgaris aggr. 13%, Veronica montana 12%, Dryopteris dilatata 12%, Lamium galeobdolon 12%, Primula veris 12%, Brachypodium pinnatum 12%, Sorbus aria 11%, Euphorbia hyberna 11%, Lonicera periclymenum 11%, Polygonatum verticillatum 11%, Blechnum spicant 10%, Primula acaulis 10%, Fraxinus excelsior 10%, Epipactis helleborine aggr. 10%, Moehringia trinervia 10%, Vaccinium myrtillus 9%, Acer pseudoplatanus 9%, Lathyrus linifolius 9%, Dioscorea communis 9%, Luzula forsteri 8%, Urtica dioica 8%, Acer campestre 8%, Pimpinella siifolia 8%, Buxus sempervirens 8%, Ruscus aculeatus 8%, Lactuca muralis 8%, Paris quadrifolia 8%, Saxifraga spathularis 8%, Rosa arvensis 8%, Crataegus laevigata 7%, Symphytum tuberosum 7%, Hyacinthoides non-scripta 7%, Asplenium trichomanes 7%, Galium rotundifolium 7%, Teucrium scorodonia 7%, Rubus ulmifolius 6%, Epilobium montanum 6%, Lamium maculatum 6%, Sesleria argentea 6%, Drymochloa sylvatica 6%, Gymnocarpium dryopteris 6%, Allium ursinum 6%, Erica vagans 6%, Erythronium dens-canis 6%, Asplenium scolopendrium 6%, Neottia nidus-avis 6%, Quercus petraea 6%, Festuca rubra 6%, Ulmus glabra 6%, Viburnum lantana 6%, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum aggr. 6%, Omphalodes nitida 5%, Taxus baccata 5%, Carex flacca 5%

Phytosociology

  • Carici caudatae-Fagetum sylvaticae
  • Carici sylvaticae-Fagetum sylvaticae
  • Epipactido helleborines-Fagetum sylvaticae
  • Neottio nidi-avis-Fagetum sylvaticae

Relations with other habitat types

Basophilous analogue of T182. In calcareous mountains, uninhabitable to T1D7, these forests may make up a particularly lowered treeline. Within this unit at level V (or even as a separate level IV unit if more data enable their statistical recognition), it is useful to recognise as distinct the more rocky, abrubt stands that EUNIS admits as T1742 ("Northwestern Iberian xerophile Fagus forests").

Regional distribution

For their climatic requirements, beechwoods prefer north-facing slopes (less productive as croplands or pastures and harder to burn, thus having been reserved for timber and less deforested by traditional agrarian communities, leading to the relative abundance of these forests) and are rare in lowlands, increasingly so towards the south and the west of the ecoregion, where they ultimately disappear altogether, as happens in Portugal.

Known occurrences and potential area of occupancy of the habitat type in the study region.

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Citation: IBEROATLANTICA – Flora and Habitats of the Cantabrian Mixed Forests ecoregion.
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