NON FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

Foothill and lower Mountain zone

Meadow ecosystems

Non-forest areas located in the foothills and the lower mountain zone are connected with the occurrence of semi-natural grassland communities - meadows and pastures, which were found mainly in the area of ​​Sobieszów, Jagniątków and Wilcza Poręba in Karpacz. These ecosystems happen to be the result of centuries of settlement, especially of the 18th and 19th centuries, for which livestock has been raised. Post-war territorial and social changes along with the protection of the Park’s areas resulted in the abandoning those haylands. As a consequence of the ongoing succession, communities began to transform and move away from this kind of commotion. Active conservation treatments (such as mowing, fertilizing, hay harvesting) are currently being preserved as a form of protecting both the land and rare species of vascular plants along. 
 

Higher Mountain Zone, Alpine, and Subalpine floor

 Brushwood stands

The subalpine floor is occupied mainly by the scrub communities – mostly of the dwarf mountainpine. The species is accompanied here by: mountain-ash rowan, Salix silesiaca, and numerous blueberry bushes, as well as common heather, Gentiana asclepiadea, and chickweed-wintergreen. In the lower part of the glacial and niche cirques bush plantilife is represented by Prunus padus subsp. Borealis and the mountain rowan again, which holds a stronger stands there. In the upper parts of post glacial mountain cirques – we can observe an endemic species of the Salix lapponum, also known by the common name of the downy willow. 

Herbaceous plant stand

Within the streams and couloirs of the post glacial rock cirques numerous and exceptionally rich schools of Adenostyles alliariae has originated. Amoung others we can spot here: the alpine sow-thistle, Aconitum plicatum, and Valeriana sambucifolia J. C. Mikan.

Grasses

On heavily leaning slopes, where many avalanches do not allow for the development of brushwood plant life, there are still many plants present. In Karkonosze we deal with two types of these communities: Calamagrostis villosa stands, and Calamagrostis arundinacea – both species of bunch grass in the Poaceae family, native to Eurasia. The most common occurrence is otherwise poor grassland with the dominant grass species as follows: Calamagrostis villosa, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Deschampsia flexuosa (known as the wavy hair-grass), along with the Deschampsia cespitosa, commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass. 

Shrubs

Among the shrub communities we distinguish: Empetrum nigrum, known as the crowberry, and Vaccinium myrtillus, which is a species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, commonly called "bilberry", "wimberry", "whortleberry", or European blueberry. Above mentioned species are accompanied by: Calamagrostis villosa, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Deschampsia flexuosa, commonly known as wavy hair-grass, and Deschampsia cespitosa, commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass. 

Nardetalia

Flattened peaks on the acidic and poorly nutrient soils are settled by the so-called nardetalia. Typical species of this very kind of plant life are: Luzula - a genus of flowering plants the family Juncaceae. Plants of the genus are known commonly as wood-rush. Diphasiastrum alpinum, also known as the alpine clubmoss, is a species of clubmoss. Carex bigelowii is a species of sedge known by the common names Bigelow's sedge and stiff sedge. It has an Arctic–alpine distribution in Eurasia and North America, and grows up to 50 centimeters (20 in) tall in a variety of habitats.

Scree

Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, volcanoes or valley shoulders that has accumulated through periodic rockfall from adjacent cliff faces. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically have a concave upwards form, while the maximum inclination corresponds to the angle of repose of the mean debris size. Such kind of biotope is commonly occupied by lichen – a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi in a symbiotic relationship. The Karkonosze Mountains are proud to be a home to the most rare and intriguing species such as: Saxifraga moschata subsp. basaltica, Micranthes nivalis, commonly called snow saxifrage, Saxifraga oppositifolia, the purple saxifrage or purple mountain saxifrage – a species of edible plant that is very common all over the high Arctic and also some high mountainous areas further south, and the Woodsia alpina, commonly known as alpine woodsia, a fern found in northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. 

Snow patches 

Snow patch is a geomorphological pattern of snow and firn accumulation which lies on the surface longer time than other seasonal snow cover. In such spots we can observe species like: Allium sibiricum L, Primula minima L., Swertia perennis is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common names felwort and Pedicularis sudetica, common names of which are fernweed, Sudeten lousewort, Sedetic lousewort.

Peatlands

A mire or quagmire, sometimes called a peatland, is a wetland terrain without forest cover, dominated by living, peat-forming plants. For botanists and ecologists, the term peatland is a more general term for any terrain dominated by peat to a depth of at least 30 cm. The bogs of the of the Giant Mountains subalpine region, thanks to a specific combination of geomorphological, climatic and geological conditions, resemble those in the mountains of northern Europe. Their age can date back up to 5-10 thousand years. In the subalpine zone, high peat bogs are predominantly fed with acid rain water of low mineral content.