Uzytki ekologiczne w Kotlinie Kurpiowskiej

Ecological land in Poland has been considered since 1991 as one of the forms of nature protection. It is formed by the residues of ecosystems, being of importance for preservation of unique gene resources and types of environment. In the study, attention was concentrated on the classification of ecological land and description of habitats with merit protection in this form. Ecological land of the Kurpie region has been divided into swamps and dry grounds. Among the ecological swampy areas, the most important are as follows: flooded terraces appearing in river valleys, old-river beds, soligenous peatlands of nearedge zone, and the residues of swampy alder carr. This group also includes peat wind-blown troughs (intermittent lakes and interdune peatlands), high peatlands and those ones with an active peatforming process, and strongly watered excavated peatlands. In the valleys of the greatest rivers of the region (Narew, Pisa) we found sandy alluvial soils, grown with marshy meadows and willow scrubs Salicetum albo-fragilis, and Salicetum triandro-viminalis and communities with Petasites spurius. Ecological dry lands also cover numerous sandy elevations, being scattered among the meadows and arable lands, and grown with sparsely wooded pine forests, scrubs with juniper, and various communities with a number of dune and grass species. Selected objects were presented and the sites of 15 rare, protected and threatened species of vascular plants were demonstrated as an illustration of the natural value of ecological land at the discussed above territory.