Abstract
Currently, little is known about the spatial variability of significant soil properties and their relationships to forest ecosystems of different vegetation grades. This work evaluates the variability of the properties of the upper layer of Cambisol taxa and their relationship to altitude and forest ecosystems of 2nd to 5th forest vegetation grades selected in the Western Carpathians using PCA and regression analysis. The content of clay, total carbon and total nitrogen, humus, energy, and ash in the soils varied between 5.43 and 11.53 %, 21-65 mg g(-1), 1.9-4.7 mg g(-1), 36-112 mg g(-1), 438.4-5845.7 J g(-1) and 852.9-946.3 mg g(-1), and C/N, pH(H2O), and pH(KCl) values ranged between 11.2 and 16.7, 4.0-5.8 and 3.1-4.6. PCA showed that EAC in the 3rd oak-beech vegetation grade had significantly higher pH values and significantly lower energy content, ESC in the 4th beech vegetation grade had a significantly higher ash content and a significantly lower energy content, and DC in the 5th fir-beech vegetation grade had a significantly higher content of Ct, Nt, and humus. Linear regression revealed a strong negative correlation between the energy content and soil reaction (R(2) for pH(H2O) = 0.48; R(2) for pH(KCl) = 0.38) for all Cambisol taxa. Ct content and ash show a strong negative correlation (R(2) = 0.78). The positive relationship between altitude and FVGs was found only for the soil C(t) (R(2) = 0.87), N(t) (R(2) = 0.81), and humus content (R(2) = 0.87). A strong negative linear relationship between altitude and FVGs showed the ash content (R2 = 0.77). In turn, the oscillatory, polynomial course had a relationship between the clay content (R2 = 0.65) and energy (R2 = 0.75) to altitude and FVGs. Recognizing significant soil variables and better understanding their impact on the development of forest ecosystems is a prerequisite for distinguishing areas with the highest risk of their damage under conditions of various anthropogenic interventions and climate change. Therefore, this topic continues to require increased research efforts. For this reason, a better understanding of the relationships between soil properties and ecologically differentiated communities of forest ecosystems will allow us to identify areas with the highest risk of ecological changes that could lead to the degradation of European forests in the future.