The Native Forest Vegetation of Killarney, South-West Ireland: An Ecological Account

Abstract

A general account of the native forest vegetation of the Killarney district, the site of Ireland''s major National Parks, is presented. Quantitive floristic data are presented in tabular form; the bryophytes are fully treated, and the floristic accounts are accompanied by a range of edaphic data. The Killarney woods fall naturally into 2 sectors, along a geological divide. The larger area, on Devonian Old Red Sandstone, supports a relatively homogeneous acidophilous forest-type, dominated by Quercus petraea, and referable to the Blechno-Quercetum association of Braun-Blanquet and Tuexen (1952). The main gradient in this vegetation is from a relatively species-poor variant in the lower-rainfall woods, to one with a rich and luxuriant bryophyte and epiphyte flora, corresponding to well-developed Blechno-Quercetum scapanietosum sub-assocation. Accounts are presented of the bryophyte micro-communities on the forest floor, and of the epiphyte communities on Quercus. The forest vegetation on the Carboniferous limestone is described for the 1st time. The unique moss-rich Taxus baccata forest on limestone outcrops is a facies of the Corylo-Fraxinetum association (Br.-Bl. et Tx 1952). An account is presented of the epiphytes on Taxus. The carr forest, which covers substantial areas of low-lying swampy ground, is also described. A brief account is given of the distribution and ecology of alien plant species in the Killarney woods, in particular the strongly invasive Rhododendron ponticum.