Forest vegetation diversity of the Slivenska Mountain (Eastern Stara planina, Bulgaria)

This study deals with the diversity of forest vegetation in the Slivenska Mountain (Eastern Stara planina) and presents a contemporary classification scheme for the identified syntaxa. A total of 137 releves were collected and analyzed using specialized software (JUICE 7.0 and PC-ORD Version 4). As a result, forest vegetation is classified into 10 associations, 3 subassociations, 4 variants and 5 communities They belong to 7 alliances, 5 orders and 3 classes: Carpino-Fagetea sylvaticae, Quercetea pubescentis and Alno glutinosae-Populetea albae. The recorded 18 distinguished vegetation groups show a relatively high diversity of forest plant communities of the study area.