2.1 Study sites:
The Carpathian Mountains constitute one of Europe’s most pristine
forested ecoregions, where fragments of primary forest remain protected
from harvesting by complex montane topography. The ecoregion is broadly
classified as cool-humid, with mean mid-altitude (1000 m a.s.l.) annual
temperatures of 4.5°C and precipitation of 1100mm over the past half a
century (Spinoni et al. 2015). Quantifying forest dynamics in the
Carpathians is a primary objective of the REMOTE (REsearch MOntane
Temperate) Forest network, an expanding dendroecological forest
inventory project. The REMOTE inventory was initialized in 2010 as an
effort to locate stands of primary forests in both protected areas and
isolated unprotected localities throughout the mountain range. Sites
were defined with the assistance of park managers and other local
experts (www.remoteforests.org; Svoboda et al. 2014).