Rừng núi ở dãy Alps truyền thống cung cấp nhiều lợi ích độc lập, chẳng hạn như sản xuất gỗ, bảo vệ chống lại các thảm họa tự nhiên (ví dụ như tuyết lở và rockfall), khu vực vui chơi giải trí, và môi trường sống cho thực vật và động vật hoang dã đa dạng. Động vật hoang dã, bao gồm cả động vật móng guốc như hươu đỏ, sử dụng rừng núi quanh năm. Vào mùa hè, 15% các khu rừng núi của Thụy Sĩ có thêm chăn thả động vật trong nước, chủ yếu là gia súc. | 18 Plant Species Diversity Forest Structure and Tree Regeneration in Subalpine Wood Pastures Andrea C. Mayer Christine Huovinen Veronika Stoeckli and Michael Kreuzer INTRODUCTION Mountain forests in the Alps traditionally offer several independent benefits such as timber production protection against natural hazards . avalanches and rockfall recreation area and habitat for diverse vegetation and wildlife. Wild animals including ungulates such as red deer use the mountain forests all the year round. In summer 15 of the Swiss mountain forests are additionally grazed by domestic animals mainly cattle Brassel and Brandli 1999 . Farmers graze their cattle in the mosaics of coniferous forests open pastures with diverse herbaceous vegetation and half-open pastures with dwarf shrubs and young trees . Foresters fear that such grazing hinders tree regeneration and reduces the protective function of mountain forests Delucchi 1993 . Others claim that forest grazing provides the opportunity for extensive agricultural and forest production and that wood pastures have a high structural diversity thus positively influencing the landscape amenity and biodiversity Ten Klooster 2000 . In this study plant species diversity forest structure and tree regeneration in subalpine wood pastures were investigated and conclusions were drawn concerning the value of subalpine forest grazing as a management strategy and its influence on biodiversity. MATERIAL AND METHODS Study Site The study was carried out on wood pastures traditionally stocked with cattle located in the Dischma Valley 46 46 N 9 53 E between 1560 and 2000 masl at Davos Canton of Grisons Switzerland. The soil in this area is a humus podzol Krause and Peyer 1986 derived from crystalline rocks Bosshard 1986 . The climate has aspects of both continental and oceanic character as the region is located at the transition between the central and northern part of the Alps. Compared to other alpine regions the annual precipitation from
