Editing Sudetes (section)

== Vegetation ==
Settlement, logging and clearance has left forest pockets in the foothills with dense and continuous forest being found in the upper parts of the mountains.<ref name="Mazurski1986" /> Due to logging in the last centuries little remains of the [[Broad-leaved tree|broad-leaf]] trees like [[beech]], [[Acer pseudoplatanus|sycamore]], [[Fraxinus excelsior|ash]] and [[Tilia cordata|littleleaf linden]] that were once common in the Sudetes. Instead [[Norway spruce]] was planted in their place in the early 19th century, in some places amounting to [[monoculture]]s.<ref name="Mazurski1986" /> To provide more space for spruce plantations various [[peatland]]s were drained in the 19th and 20th century.<ref name="Glinaetal2016"/> Some spruce plantations have suffered severe damage as the seeds used came from lowland specimens that were not adapted to mountain conditions.<ref name="Mazurski1986" /> [[Abies alba|Silver fir]] grow naturally in the Sudetes being more widespread in past times, before clearance since the [[Late Middle Ages]] and subsequent industrial pollution reduced the stands.<ref name="Barz" />

Many arctic-alpine and [[alpine plant|alpine]] [[vascular plant]]s have a [[disjunct distribution]] being notably absent from the central Sudetes despite suitable habitats. Possibly this is the result a warm period during the [[Holocene]] (last 10,000 years) which wiped out cold-adapted vascular plants in the medium-sized mountains of the central Sudetes where there was no higher ground that could serve as [[Refugium (population biology)|refugia]].<ref name="KwiaKra2016">{{cite journal |last1=Kwiatkowski |first1=Paweł |last2=Krahulec |first2=František |year=2016 |title=Disjunct Distribution Patterns in Vascular Flora of the Sudetes |journal=Ann. Bot. Fennici |volume=53 |issue=1–2 |pages=91–102 |doi=10.5735/085.053.0217|s2cid=86962680}}</ref>{{efn-ua|Not to be confused with a [[glacial refugium]].}} Besides altitude the distribution of some alpine plants is influenced by soil. This is the case of ''[[Aster alpinus]]'' that grows preferentially on [[calcium|calcareous]] ground.<ref name="KwiaKra2016" /> Other alpine plants such as ''[[Cardamine amara]]'', ''[[Epilobium anagallidifolium]]'', ''[[Luzula sudetica]]'' and ''[[Solidago virgaurea]]'' occur beyond their [[altitudinal zonation]] in very humid areas.<ref name="KwiaKra2016" />

[[Peatland]]s are common in the mountains occurring on high plateaus or in valley bottoms. [[Fen]]s occur at slopes.<ref name="Glinaetal2016" />

=== Timber line ===
The higher mountains of the Sudetes lie above the [[Tree line|timber line]] which is made up of Norway spruce.<ref name="trel2008">{{cite journal |last1=Treml |first1=Václav |last2=Jankovská |first2=Vlasta |last3=Libor |first3=Petr |year=2008 |title=Holocene dynamics of the alpine timberline in the High Sudetes |journal=Biologia |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=73–80 |doi=10.2478/s11756-008-0021-3|doi-access=free |bibcode=2008Biolg..63...73T}}</ref><ref name="Krizek2007" /> Spruces in wind-exposed areas display features such as [[flag tree]] disposition of branches, tilted stems and elongated stem cross sections.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wistuba |first1=Małgorzata |last2=Papciak |first2=Tomasz |last3=Malik |first3=Ireneusz |last4=Barnaś |first4=Agnieszka |last5=Polowy |first5=Marta |last6=Pilorz |first6=Wojciech |year=2014 |title=Wzrost dekoncentryczny świerka pospolitego jako efekt oddziaływania dominującego kierunku wiatru (przykład z Hrubégo Jeseníka, Sudety Wschodnie) |trans-title=Eccentric growth of Norway spruce trees as a result of prevailing winds impact (example from Hrubý Jeseník, Eastern Sudetes) |journal=Studia I Materiały CEPL W Rogowie |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=63–73 |language=pl}}</ref> Forest-free areas above the timber line have increased historically by [[deforestation]]<ref name="KwiaKra2016" /> yet lowering of the timber line by human activity is minimal.<ref name="Krizek2007" /> Areas above the timber line appear discontinuously as "islands" in the Sudetes.<ref name="trel2008" /> In the [[Giant Mountains]] the timber line lies at ''c''. 1230&nbsp;m a.s.l. while to the southeast in the [[Hrubý Jeseník]] mountains it lie at ''c''.  1310&nbsp;m a.s.l.<ref name="trel2008" /> Part of the Hrubý Jeseník mountains have been above the timber line for no less than 5000 years.<ref name="trel2008" /> Mountains rise considerably above the timber line, at most 400&nbsp;m, a characteristic that sets the Sudetes apart from other ''[[Mittelgebirge]]'' of [[Central Europe]].<ref name="Migon2008" />