Abstract. Sacred forests are an integral component of the mountainous cultural landscape of northern Greece, hypothesized to be the result of both ecological processes and site-specific forest management regimes through strict religious prohibition. These practices acted as constraints on natural forest development by suppressing understory growth, while prohibition of woodcutting has preserved large trees. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative effects of physical site environment and management regimes on the structure and composition of woody plant groups in six such forests. Species rank–abundance curves, dissimilarity indices and cluster analyses were used to assess variation within and amongst the woody plant groups of the sites. Species abundance was found to be highly variable amongst the sites, with notable variation between canopy and understory layers indicating dynamic change in floristics and structure. Cluster analysis revealed four main woody plant groups statistically associated with environmental variables (aspect) and forest management (different forest prohibition regimes, and presence or absence of infrastructure). Our results indicate that tree composition is significantly associated with different prohibition regimes linked to the forests' sacred status, as well as the inherent environmental variation amongst sites. Exploring further the role of traditional management systems in shaping sacred forest structure is a relevant research path for designing effective conservation practices tailored to sacred natural sites facing cultural abandonment.

中文翻译：

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当自然遇见神圣：禁令制度对希腊北部圣林结构和树种组成的影响

摘要。圣林是希腊北部山区文化景观的一个组成部分，据推测是生态过程和特定地点森林管理制度通过严格的宗教禁令产生的结果。这些做法通过抑制林下生长而限制了天然林的发展，而禁止砍伐则保护了大树。本研究的目的是调查物理场地环境和管理制度对六个这样的森林中木本植物群的结构和组成的相对影响。物种等级-丰度曲线、相异指数和聚类分析用于评估地点木本植物群内部和之间的变化。发现物种丰度在这些地点之间变化很大，冠层和林下层之间的显着变化表明植物区系和结构的动态变化。聚类分析揭示了与环境变量（方面）和森林管理（不同的森林禁令制度，以及基础设施的存在与否）在统计上相关的四个主要木本植物群。我们的结果表明，树木组成与与森林神圣地位相关的不同禁令制度以及站点之间固有的环境变化显着相关。进一步探索传统管理系统在塑造神圣森林结构中的作用，是设计针对面临文化遗弃的神圣自然遗址的有效保护实践的相关研究途径。