Old Forests from Dobrogea’s Plateau

From the oldest times, the forest has been the main food, shelter and energy source, playing an essential role in the development of human societies. Old stands are characterized by their long life, large heights and diameters and by their help in conserving biodiversity. The surfaces occupied by old stands have decreased lately because of their wood mass high value which leads to exploitation. This is furthermore coupled with climate changes, urbanization and human influences. These stands occupy a surface of 128.500 ha in the forests from Dobrogea’s Plateau, where broad-leaved species are preponderant (Quercus sp., Fraxinus ornus, Tilia tomentosa, Acer sp.). As such, the present paper intends to characterize the oldest stands from Dobrogea’s Plateau with the help of forest management plans realized during 1993-2007. The main characteristics analyzed in this study for stands older than 120 years were: location, surface, height, diameter, structure, forest type, soil type, altitude, exposition, slope and consistency. Stand older than 100 years occupy only 4% of the total surface and are composed of linden, brown oak and pedunculate oak which grow and develop on common luvisols.