Natural Vegetation of Hungary

Abstract

The species composition of the vegetation in the Carpathian Basin is determined by the climate, relief, lithology/soil and hydrological conditions. Two main zonal vegetation types appear in Hungary: the zone of deciduous forests, which is dominated by oak and beech (especially in hilly and mountainous areas), and its most widespread forest type is the turkey oak-oak forest. The other zonal vegetation is the forest steppe on lowland areas, which includes different sand and loess forest steppes, and herbaceous associations (e.g. lossy and sandy steppe grasslands). Based on the reconstruction of potential vegetation, approximately 30-50 % of the Carpathian Basin was covered by forest before the intensive human impact, while just approx. 20 % of Hungary was covered by forest. The Carpathian Basin is very rich in species (ca. 3000 plant and 43,000 animal species), and it has colourful and various ecological systems; thus, it is one of the areas with the richest vegetation in Europe. Therefore, the questions of nature protection and conservation are highlighted in the chapter. Highly protected areas are the peatbogs, marshland forests, mixed oak forest and lowland oak forest, which are endangered by natural and human factors.