Veranderingen in de vegetatie van de Herenbossen in Hulshout sinds 1980 : zijn effecten van verdroging, verzuring en vermesting merkbaar?

In the ‘Herenbossen’, an alluvial forest of 62 ha in the northern part of Belgium, 111 vegetation plots of 196 m2 were described in 1980 and in 2004. Changes in the herbaceous vegetation were examined on the community-, plot- and species-level. Some changes can be explained by the difference in methodology, but the effect of changing environmental conditions is also noticeable. In 24 years the forest vegetation is influenced by eutrophication, desiccation, acidification, disturbance and increasing darkness.