COINCIDENCES BETWEEN DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL ZONES AND GROWTH FORMS OF CEMBRAN PINE (PINUS-CEMBRA L) IN SUB-ALPINE HABITATS OF THE CENTRAL ALPS

The 'forgotten' depots of the European Nutcracker (Nucifraga c. caryoc atactes) often 'lead' to the development of tufts of Pinus cembra. In many cases the other individuals of such tufts are not suppressed by t he fittest one, rather there is an intraspecific coexistence up to the senescent stage of the trees. There are fusions of separate trunks, a nd so frequently the individual history of older trees can only be rec onstructed by studying sutures, crown structures or trunk cross sectio ns. Different types of trunk fusions are worked out. By means of trans ect counting the occurrence of these 'multiple trunk trees' is documen ted quantitatively in different landscape ecological zones of the Enga din region (the Grisons, Switzerland). The data base is 3024 counted m icrosites of Pinus cembra individuals arising from seeds, including 52 72 living individuals. These 'multiple trunk trees' significantly play an important role in the landscape ecological zones of recent glacier recession and at the alpine timberline. Their growth forms have a hig her biomechanical stability.