{"title":"Tatra Mountains Biosphere Reserve - Poland, Slovakia","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/","suffix":"c4bbebb0-f5e4-43c3-9cf8-6bb946e7173d"},"type":"site","created":"2016-07-13T15:40:23+02:00","changed":"2023-07-26T09:35:24+02:00","attributes":{"affiliation":{"networks":null,"projects":[{"label":"EcoPotential (H2020)","uri":"https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/641762"}]},"contact":{"siteManager":[{"type":"person","name":"Pavol  Majko","email":"pavol.majko@sopsr.sk","orcid":null},{"type":"person","name":"Peter Fleischer","email":"pfleischer@lesytanap.sk","orcid":null},{"type":"person","name":"Szymon Ziobrowski","email":"sekretariat@tpn.pl","orcid":null}],"operatingOrganisation":null,"metadataProvider":[{"type":"person","name":"Marcin Bukowski","email":"mbukowski@tpn.pl","orcid":null},{"type":"person","name":"Slavom\u00edr  Celer","email":"slavomir.celer@sopsr.sk","orcid":null}],"fundingAgency":null,"siteUrl":[{"title":null,"value":"http:\/\/www.unesco.org\/mabdb\/br\/brdir\/directory\/biores.asp?mode=all\u0026Code=POL-SLO%2001"},{"title":"Polish Tatra Nat. Park (Tatrza\u0144ski Park Narodowy - TPN) - the site in Polish","value":"http:\/\/tpn.pl\/"},{"title":"Slovak Tatra Nat. Park (Tatransk\u00fd n\u00e1rodn\u00fd park - TANAP)","value":"http:\/\/www.tanap.org\/english\/"}]},"general":{"abstract":"The Tatra Mountains are located at the border between Poland and Slovakia in eastern Central Europe. They cover the area of approx. 785 km2, with approximately 78% of their total area belonging to Slovakia and 22,3% belonging to Poland. The elevational gradient reaches from around 700 m a.s.l. to the highest peak Gerlachovsk\u00fd \u0161tit at 2655 m a.s.l. The Tatra Mountains (despite being part of a greater mountain range, namely the Carpathian Mountains) are often referred to as the smallest high mountain range in the world, with 28 individual peaks above 2500 m but only about 80 km length along its main ridge.\r\n\r\nGeologically the Tatra Mountains belong to the Carpathian uplift. The interior part of the Tatra Mountains mostly consists of granite, while the exterior regions are mainly composed of calcite, dolomite, claystone and shale, displaying a variety of different bedrocks and potential environmental heterogeneity (Figure 1). The topography of the Tatra Mountains was substantially shaped during the past ice ages, resulting in glacial valleys and other geomorphological forms associated with glacial and peri-glacial processes (e.g. solifluction).\r\n\r\nThe Tatra Mountains are representing the wettest and coldest regions in both Poland and Slovakia. The climate is described as Central European temperate with strong continental influences, with July as the wettest and February the driest month. Mean annual temperatures and precipitation range from 5,5\u00b0C and 608 mm on 672 m a.s.l. (Popr\u00e1d at the Slovak foothills) down to -3,8\u00b0C and 1565 mm at 2632 m a.s.l. (Lomnick\u00fd Peak, Tatra\u2019s 2nd highest, also in Slovakia). The highest rainfall spots have precipitation reaching 2500 mm and even sometimes more.\r\n\r\nThe Tatra Mountains are a continental divide. The northern streams flow into the Baltic Sea, while the streams on the southern side have their outlet in the Black Sea. The Tatras lack glaciers but still boast a unique alpine landscape with rocky peaks, screes, mountain meadows and dwarf pine shrubs, and forests. About 200 lakes, streams and waterfalls, limestone cliffs and 300 caves can be found in the Tatra Mountains.\r\n\r\nThe Slovak Tatra National Park (Tatransk\u00fd n\u00e1rodn\u00fd park, TANAP) is the oldest national park in Slovakia and was established in 1949. The establishment of its Polish counterpart (Tatrza\u0144ski Park Narodowy, TPN) followed in 1954. The Parks together encompass the area of approx. 950 km2, out of which TANAP covers approx. 738 km2 (plus approx. 307 km2 of the buffer zone), and TPN extends over approx. 212 km2. In 1992 the Tatra Mountains (including the two national parks) were designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Both parks are also included in the Natura 2000 network: both as \u201cbird\u201d Special Protection Areas (SPA\u2019s) and \u201chabitat\u201d Sites of Community Importance (SCI\u2019s).\r\n\r\nThe Biosphere Reserve possesses more than 1300 plant species, distributed over several altitudinal vegetation zones. These vegetation zones span from mixed forests, through coniferous forests, to dwarf shrub (dwarf pine) and Alpine meadow communities. About 2\/3 of the Tatras are covered by forest ecosystems. Most important tree species are Picea abies and Abies alba, although Pinus sylvestris, Pinus cembra, Larix decidua and Pinus mugo occur as well, accompanied birch (Betula sp.) and rowan (Sorbus sp.). In mixed forests occuring at lower elevations, species of beech (Fagus sp.) and maple (Acer sp.) can be found.\r\n\r\nAlthough being a relatively small mountain range, the Tatra Mountains boast 37 endemic plant species. Examples for regional endemic species are: Erysimum wahlenbergii, Cochlearia tatrae, Pulsatilla slavica and Erigeron hungaricus. The alpine meadows are renowned for their diversity. About 300 plant species can be found there. On summits above 2600 m a.s.l. still 40 plant species occur. Various species in the alpine environments are interpreted as glacial relicts, e.g. Ranunculus alpestris, Ranunculus glacialis, Dianthus glacialis, Gentiana frigida, Primula minima and Saxifraga aizoides. In snowbed environments Salix herbacea and Salix reticulata are characteristic.\r\n\r\nThe Tatra Mountains are famous for their large predator species such as wildcat (Felis silverstris), lynx (Lynx lynx), wolf (Canis lupus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos), which are largely extinct in other parts of Central Europe. Characteristic bird species are the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Eurasian nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and black grouse (Tetrao tetrix). An endemic subspecies of chamois exist in the Tatra as well (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica; Figure 2).\r\n\r\nIn November 2004 a storm caused heavy damage to the forests on the Slovakian side of the mountain range, resulting in a large-scale deforestation in the area. In response to this, landslides and flooding increased (especially during snowmelt) as well as calamities of bark beetles within the deforestation zones. While at first this was perceived - from the human point of view, of course - almost as a national tragedy, practitioners soon changed their minds and saw this as a chance to change land use from former spruce monocultures to more natural mixed forest.\r\n","citation":null,"relatedIdentifiers":null,"status":{"label":"Operational","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/elter_cl\/10772"},"yearEstablished":1992,"yearClosed":null,"relatedSites":[{"typeOfRelationship":{"label":"contains","uri":"null"},"listOfSites":[{"type":"site","title":"Tatra National Park - Poland","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/","suffix":"2cfd89fe-e561-4551-9ae3-78ad8a8a4d72"},"changed":"2023-07-26T09:35:57+0200"},{"type":"site","title":"Tatra National Park - Slovakia","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/","suffix":"f7b73d7c-068f-4406-b4e8-13e5c6e212b9"},"changed":"2025-05-05T09:17:06+0200"}]}],"siteName":"Tatra Mountains Biosphere Reserve","shortName":"Tatra Mountains","siteType":null,"protectionLevel":null,"landUse":null,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/deims.org\/sites\/default\/files\/photos\/Tatra_2778.jpg","alt":"Western Tatras "}]},"environmentalCharacteristics":{"airTemperature":{"yearlyAverage":2.7,"monthlyAverage":null,"unit":"\u00b0C","referencePeriod":null},"precipitation":{"yearlyAverage":1100,"monthlyAverage":null,"unit":"mm","referencePeriod":null},"biogeographicalRegion":"alpine","biome":"alpine","ecosystemType":[{"label":"Alpine","uri":null},{"label":"Forest","uri":null},{"label":"Grasslands","uri":null}],"eunisHabitat":[{"label":"Alpine and subalpine grasslands (E4)","uri":null},{"label":"Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E)","uri":null},{"label":"Inland unvegetated or sparsely vegetated habitats (H)","uri":null},{"label":"Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)","uri":null}],"landforms":null,"geoBonBiome":["Terrestrial"],"geology":null,"hydrology":null,"soils":null,"vegetation":null},"geographic":{"boundaries":"POLYGON ((19.5405578613 49.0675681408, 19.5405578613 49.3573337629, 20.3315734863 49.3573337629, 20.3315734863 49.0675681408, 19.5405578613 49.0675681408))","coordinates":"POINT (19.963489 49.231538)","country":["Poland","Slovakia"],"elevation":{"avg":1800,"min":700,"max":2655,"unit":"msl"},"size":{"value":123566,"unit":"ha"},"relatedLocations":null},"focusDesignScale":{"experiments":{"design":null,"scale":null},"observations":{"design":null,"scale":null},"observedProperties":[{"label":"biological parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20940"},{"label":"ecosystem parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20939"},{"label":"soil parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20944"}]},"infrastructure":{"accessibleAllYear":true,"accessType":"regular car","allPartsAccessible":false,"maintenanceInterval":5,"permanentPowerSupply":true,"operation":{"permanent":true,"notes":"Refer to data for individual Parks.","siteVisitInterval":5},"notes":"Developed infrastructure at both PL and SK national parks.","collection":[{"label":"\u003E 10 beds","uri":null},{"label":"\u003E 5 places","uri":null},{"label":"Graph or object database","uri":null},{"label":"Other data services","uri":null},{"label":"Paper","uri":null},{"label":"Proprietary file format","uri":null},{"label":"Relational database","uri":null},{"label":"Snow mobile","uri":null},{"label":"Spatial data file (GIS)","uri":null},{"label":"Spatial database (GIS)","uri":null},{"label":"Structured file","uri":null},{"label":"Temperature Controlled Container","uri":null},{"label":"Unstructured file","uri":null},{"label":"Vehicle 2WD","uri":null},{"label":"Vehicle 4WD","uri":null},{"label":"Web Catalog Service (CSW)","uri":null},{"label":"Web Coverage Service (WCS)","uri":null},{"label":"Web Feature Service (WFS)","uri":null},{"label":"XML database","uri":null}],"data":{"policy":{"url":null,"rights":["The data provider must be offered co-authorship for publications using this dataset at least within the metadata description"],"notes":"Please, refer to data sharing policies of individual national parks (TPN, TANAP) elsewhere on this portal."}}},"relatedResources":null,"projectRelated":{"lter":{"lterSiteClassification":null}}}}