EN
This study aims at determining whether the inverse relation between wood quantity per unit river area and channel width, recognised in streams of small and medium width, typifies also wide mountain rivers. This is done by comparing wood distribution for Finzbach and Kamienica Streams, 14 and 9 m in width on average, and the Czarny Dunajec River with mean width of 52 m. In both streams, the values of total wood storage were unrelated to channel width, whereas the increase in channel width was reflected in a pronounced decline in specific wood storage. In the wide Czarny Dunajec, a marked trend of increasing total wood storage with the increase in river width was observed. The width-related variation in total wood storage in the river was so high that it overcame the influence of increasing channel area on calculated values of specific wood storage, and this parameter also increased with increasing river width. The contrasting patterns of wood storage observed in the watercourses point to different mechanisms governing wood retention in the channels narrower and wider than the height of trees growing on their banks.