The larch-cirbian forests in the Gesäuse National Park as well as the sociological discussion of the Carbonate-Lärchen-Zirbenwald in Austria

Larch forests represent the highest forest formation of the Alps. Especially in the inner and intermediate Alps, they form the forest and tree boundary where not orographical but climatic reasons are decisive for the failure of the trees. The pine of the Alps, Pinus cembra, is a close relative of the vast areas of the Siberian taiga, and also the European larch, Larix decidua, is considered a descendant of the Siberian circle of forms. Pine and larch colonise the high altitudes of the Alpine arch from France to Slovenia, and the two tree species occur in the High Tatras and in the Romanian and Ukrainian Carpathians. In the Alpine region, the area of the pine is much more limited than that of the larch, so that here the occurrences of Pinus cembra are determinating for the spread of larch-circle forests. The pine trees in the Gesäuse represent the most eastern documented deposits in the Alpine region. There are three larger contiguous larch forests in the Gesäuse National Park. The pine tree occurs in the area mainly at altitudes between 1 600 m and 1 750 m above Dachsteinkalk. For the description of the stocks in the Gesäuse National Park, vegetation surveys from larch-circle forests from 2010 and 2011 were taken into account, taking into account other plant sociological images and data on soil characteristics. In addition to the characterisation of the sites, bite and rejuvenation were also collected. At the end of the thesis is a plant-soliological discussion of the carbonate-Lärchen-Zirbenwald in Austria.