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THE CHANGES OF FOREST GROUND VEGETATION CAUSED BY GRAZING, LATVIA
Abstract
The aim of the research is to find out how the forest ground vegetation changes in forest pasture where wild horses are allowed to graze, and what impact their grazing in the forest have on the vegetation and how the situation changes in a forest stand where animals are allowed to graze and, in a forest, stand of the same type without grazing. So far forest pastures practically have not been studied, but forest management using animals especially in private forestry is becoming more and more relevant. Almost no similar study has been conducted in Latvia on the impact of large herbivores (wild horses) on forest ground vegetation. Forest stand is divided into two parts - one where the animals graze, the other behind the fence in the same forest stand where they are not grazed, so it is possible to objectively assess the changes between the two territories and how the ground vegetation changes under the influence of animals. The study compares changes between forest pasture and ungrazed forest area: the number, the occurrence and the projective coverage of plant species, as well as other vegetation indicators. It has been established that the ground cover of forest pastures does not differ significantly to compare with ungrazed forest area.
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