Disturbances, such as the snow pressure incident of 11 November 1996, which claimed 11% of the healthy trees, or the activities of ungulates, which for decades have attained densities of 40 animals per 100 ha during the summer month, have only marginally affected the past development of the mountain pine (Pinus montana) stand studied. Likewise, wild ungulates - at least at current density levels - will also not be able to affect significantly the future successional development, neither by browsing nor by creating vegetation-free germination sites. In the absence of major disturbance, the mountain pine stand of 1998 attaining a height of 13 m, with 10% larch in the tree layer, will likely evolve over the next 150 years into a main stand of similar height, but with Swiss stone pine and mountain pine being more or less equal in importance, the main stand will be surpassed by about 60 holdover larch trees per hectare, attaining between 30 and 35 m in height, and up to 450 years in age. ln the 5 m tall secondary stand, two out of three stems will be Swiss stone pines, in the lower shrub layer (21−130 cm) three out of four.
The successional development of the stand studied can be innuenced substantially only by factors and incident that affect the relative competitiveness between the four tree species, mountain pine, larch, Swiss stone pine, and spruce. Among such factors are diseases, for instance, the ones induced by parasitic fungi. In the studied stand, however, availability of light in the lower shrub layer appears to be the crucial factor. Availability of light depends mainly on the evolutionary stage of the stand: it may, however, be altered substantially also by major abiotic disturbances such as wind throw, avalanches or wildfire. The ungulate present in the area - mainly red deer and chamois - can significantly affect forest succession only under very special circumstances.

Störungen wie das Schneedruckereignis vom 11. November 1996, welchem 11% der gesunden Bäume zum Opfer fielen, oder die Aktivitäten der Huftiere, welche seit Jahrzehnten in den Sommermonaten eine Dichte von 40 Tieren pro 100 ha erreichen, haben die bisherige Entwicklung des untersuchten Bergföhrenbestandes (Pinus montana) nur marginal beeinflusst. Auch den künftigen Sukzessionsverlauf wird das Wild - zumindest in seiner heutigen Dichte - weder durch Verbiss noch durch das Schaffen von vegetationsfreien Keimstellen wesentlich verändern können. Falls keine grösseren Störungen auftreten, wird sich der 13 m hohe Bergföhrenbestand von 1998 mit 10% Lärchen in der Baumschicht in den nächsten 150 Jahren zu einem mehrstufigen Bestand entwickeln, wobei der ähnliche hohe Hauptbestand aber zu etwa gleichen Teilen aus Arven und Bergföhren bestehen wird. Dieser wird pro Hektare von rund 60 etwa 30 bis 35 m hohen und bis 450 Jahren alten Lärchenüberhältern überragt. Im 5 m hohen Nebenbestand wird der Anteil der Arven dann zwei Drittel, in der Strauchschicht (21−130 cm) rund drei Viertel betragen. [...]