Changes in horizontal structure of natural beech forests on an altitudinal gradient in the Sudetes

The article describes horizontal structure of the tree layer, natural regeneration, snags and crown projections of natural beech stands on three permanent research plots in the wide altitudinal range in the Krkonoše Mts (Czech Republic). The spatial structure was classified from 1980 to 2010 and subsequently the prediction of spontaneous development with an outlook for 30 years (to 2040) was done by growth simulator. Hopkins-Skellam index, Pielou-Mountford index, Clark-Evans index and Ripley’s K-function were calculated. Further, the vertical structure and total diversity index was evaluated. The horizontal structure of individuals in the tree layer had not changed significantly during the monitored years. Tree spatial pattern of the lowest altitude lying herb-rich beech forest was mostly regular to random, in acidophilous mountain beech forest predominantly random and in fragments of beech groups around the timberline aggregated. Juvenile growth on all investigated plots was distributed aggregated and snags randomly. The horizontal structure of crown projection centroids had always higher values toward the regularity than tree layer and was random to regular. The result of principal component analysis also confirmed that spatial pattern was dependent on the altitude, but also on the number of trees.