Mutual relations between soil cover and plants in mountainous humid climatic conditions

Specific, humid climate of mountain areas has a great influence on the properties of soils and vegetation, as well as on the mutual relations between these inseparable elements of ecosystems. Research on the interdependence between soils and natural vegetation was carried out on ' the mountain meadows of the Bieszczady National Park. In conditions of the cooler and more humid mountain climate the peculiar character of the soils lies in the presence of organic surface horizon of properties varying considerably from the properties of deeper mineral horizons. This horizon is of great importance in the protection of scarce elements. It prevents pollutants from reaching the ecosystem. It influences the soil water economy. It prevents erosion. This buffer element of the mountain soils requires special protection - in the Bieszczady Mountains the erosion of the mountain meadow soils is only noticeable where the covering vegetation and the organic surface soil horizon were destroyed, e.g. on tourist tracks. The plants of the Bieszczady mountain meadows, together with their direct product - the organic surface soil horizon, prevents the chemical erosion of the mountain meadows, reducing the leaching of many biogenous elements, e.g. calcium.