NP Low Tatras (SK)

The Nízke Tatry Mts. National Park (NAPANT) was established in 1978 as the third national park in Slovakia. The territory of NAPANT covers an area of 72,842 ha (180,000 acres) with a buffer zone of 110,162 ha (272,000 acres) what makes it the largest national park in Slovakia.

Geology

The Low Tatras Mts. has a complex geological composition. The Ďumbier part (the western part) of the main ridge consists of Paleozoic erupted and transformed rocks such as granite and granodiorite of the Prašivá and Ďumbier type, migmatite, gneiss, mica schist, philite and amphibolite.

The Kráľova Hoľa part (the eastern part) of the main ridge and its southern slopes are also formed from erupted and transformed rocks. In contrast to Ďumbier part, metamorphosed rocks (e.g. philite, mica schist, gneiss and paragneiss) prevail here. The northern part has a markedly complex composition consisting of sedimentary rocks (schist, quartzite, limestone and dolomite, marl or marly limestone) and melaphyre of volcanic origin.

Climate

Five climate-geographical types can be distinguished within the area of the Nízke Tatry Mts. National Park considering the large range of altitude from the lowest to the highest point (i. e. from 360 m (1,180 feet) a. s. l. near the town of Banská Bystrica to 2,043 m (6,702 feet) a.s.l. at the peak of Mt. Ďumbier). The alpine parts of the range lying above the upper timber line (1,500 m (5,000 feet) a.s.l.) are the coldest and most humid with a mean January temperature of -7 ºC to -8 ºC (in July 7 ºC to 11,5 ºC). The basin parts of the national park are characterized by slightly dry to humid climate with significant temperature inversion (the mean temperature in January is -3,5 ºC to -6 ºC and in July 14,5 ºC to 18 ºC).

Values of the mean annual precipitation reach more than 1400 mm for mountain parts (on the Mt. Chopok more than 1600 mm) and, on the other hand, less than 900 mm in lower positions.

Snow cover in alpine parts lasts 130 days long, while the landscape in the valleys is covered by snow for about 60 days. In shaded glacier kettles of the northern part of Mt. Ďumbier snow cover can be found even more than 200 days a year and sometimes it stays until the half of July. Big amounts of snow in the alpine parts is one of the preconditions for avalanches (up to 654 avalanche slopes are classified in Nízke Tatry Mts.).

Hydrology

The area of Nízke Tatry Mts. is considered to be an important water source of Slovakia. The Nízke Tatry Mts. constitute a barrier between the basin of the Váh river (and its tributary Čierny Váh river) in the north and that of the Hron river in the south. Only a small part of eastern slopes of Mt. Kráľova Hoľa is drained by Hnilec river.

A large part of Nízke Tatry Mts. was declared Water Protected Area in order to protect water as a valuable and essential liquid. A number of important mineral springs rise in areas with deep geological shifts. Close to the most important of them  in the villages of Korytnica and Liptovský Ján, there are (or once were) spa resorts.

    Plants and trees

In lower and middle levels of the national park natural forests with predominance of fir, spruce, beech, sycamore maple and another deciduous trees had grown but these forests were later converted to spruce monocultures on large areas, especially in the northern and eastern part. The herbal undergrowth includes species such as Oxalis acetosella, Dentaria bulbifera, Mercurialis perennis and Allium ursinum. In higher altitudes natural spruce forests with Dryopteris filix-mas, Athyrium filix-femina, Adenostyles alliariae and another species were preserved. In subalpine belt, there grow Acetosa arifolia, Dryopteris dilatata and Luzula sylvatica together with mugo pine (Pinus mugo). The highest parts of the main ridge of Nízke Tatry Mts. extend to alpine vegetation zone. From among trees species, only small and flattened willows (Salix herbacea, S. retusa) can survive in this zone, as well as small bushes of blueberry Vaccinium gaultherioides.

Rare and protected species of the national park include for example Gentiana clusii, Leontopodium alpinum, Dryas octopetala, Primula auricula, Pulsatilla slavica, etc. On man-made meadows (deforestation, pastures in the spruce belt), Gladiolus imbricatus, orchids (e. g. Gymnadenia conopsea, Orchis mascula) and Gentiana verna can be found. Still rarer wetlands offer refuges for Primula farinosa, Pinguicula vulgaris, Drosera rotundifolia and Menyanthes trifoliata. Endemic and relict species which deserve specific attention include Cyclamen fatrense, Delphinium oxysepalum, Dianthus nitidus, Hesperis slovaca and Saxifraga wahlenbergii.

Original forest communities

Forests cover approximately 80% of area of Nízke Tatry Mts. National Park and 65% of its buffer zone. Mostly natural forests were altered by human activity. Perhaps the most striking intervention was extensive deforestation especially during Wallachian colonization. This created secondary meadows, pastures and alpine meadows that are called here “hole” and were exploited as pastures for several centuries. In last decades forest is coming back to its habitat through natural succession.

People deforested also lower positions, which were exploited for agriculture and urbanization. Thus, a majority of forests in lower positions was destructed, especially mixed forests with beech, ash, maple, elm, linden and oak. The remaining forests were strongly altered by modern forest management. The composition of tree species was changed in favor of spruce, pine and larch to the prejudice of other tree species. However, some natural, often primeval forests remained in mainly poorly accessible localities.

Fauna

Perhaps the best known protected butterfly in Nízke Tatry Mts. is the mountain Apollo (Parnassius apollo) which is bound to limestone rocks. This species is endangered due to loss of habitat as well as illegal collection. Natural forest stands are still home to several invertebrate species which are confined to primeval forest associations with large amounts of dead wood.

  From amphibians you can find newts (Triturus montandoni, T. alpestris), from reptiles adder (Vipera berus), common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) and  slow worm (Anguis fragilis).

Within the frame of Slovakia the Nízke Tatry Mts. are important refuge for several birds such as golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), lesser spotted eagle (Aquila pomarina), hazel grouse (Bonasa bonasia), capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), Eurasian pygmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum), boreal owl (Aegolius funereus), European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), three-toed woodpecker (Pi- coides tridactylus) and black stork (Ciconia nigra).

Thanks to the large expanse of the Nízke Tatry Mts. National Park, its low level of urbanization and high level of woodiness, this area represents suitable biotope for populations of large carnivores such as brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolf (Canis lupus) and lynx (Lynx lynx). The southeastern part of the national park is home to the rare wild cat (Felis silvestris). The Nízke Tatry Mts. glacial relicts include alpine marmot (Marmota marmota). Between 1969 and 1976 chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra subsp. tatrica) was introduced here and today its population reaches 100-120 individuals.

The caves that are concentrated into the limestone parts of national park provide shelters for numerous colonies of bats as well as rare endemic troglobiont invertebrates of Tertiary origin.