PECULIARITIES OF TREE NATURAL REGENERATION IN THE VIRGIN BEECH FORESTS OF THE VELYKOBEREZNYANSKY REGION
The effect of gaps size in the virgin beech forests on natural regeneration of tree species in the Velykobereznyansky region has been investigated. It was species composition and height structure of the self-seeding and underwood depending on the size of "gaps" analyzed. The number of "gaps" on 1 hectare ranged from one to five, and their total area - from 117 m <sup>2</sup> to 4138 m <sup>2</sup>. In overall, on the 10 plots were recorded 23 gaps. The average area of one gap was 510 m <sup>2</sup>. Number of self-seeding and underwood on separate "gap" made ​​from 2810 pcs./ha to 72,663 pcs./ha. Share of the beech in the undergrowth on separate "gap" ranged from 6.2 % to 98.7 %. The beech dominated by 10 "gaps" of 23 studied, and in the 9 "gaps" dominated by maple-sycamore. Besides this species in the self-seeding and underwood in the plots have occurred maple, ash, silver fir, elm and cherry. The largest share was small fraction seedlings (<50 cm), its share varied in separate windows from 13.5 to 94.0 % of the underwood.