D. I. KARATOTEVA
University of Forestry, BG - 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria
KARATOTEVA, D. I., 2016. Landscape investigation in the forest area of „Central Balkan” National Park. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 26–29
The “Central Balkan” National Park occupies an area of 72021.07 ha. In order to study the presence of naturally occurring potential risk factors in the park – soil enrichment with heavy metals, its forest territory has been divided into relatively homogenous and comparable landscape units. A classification system has been selected where the soil-forming rocks have been adopted as the leading component, which chemical composition, according to some studies, represents a potential risk factor. At the next taxonomic levels the landscape units have been divided according to the terrain characteristics – altitude, slope and exposure. 69 territorially divided relatively homogenous and comparable landscape units have been obtained, which makes them applicable for the purposes of scientific research in the vast park territory.