ABSTRACT DOMINKA, Matej Ján. Soil properties in natural and economic stands of beech and spruce in the Poľany area [thesis]. Technical univezsity in Zvolen. Faculty of Forestry, Department of Natural Enviroment. Tutor: asist. prof. P.Eng. Erika Gömöryová, Ph.D. Zvolen. Professional qualification degree: Bachelor of Science Forestry. Thesis Defense: Zvolen 2020. 74 p.The study deals with soil in the context of nature as a dynamic system of mutual interactions. The main goal of the bachelor thesis was to find out 1/ how the main trees of the stand affect the soil and its properties in relation to the stand age, and 2/ whether the forest management is reflected in changes of soil properties compared to natural, more or less unaffected forest. The research was performed in the Poľana Mts., where soil samples were taken in the Poľana National Park, and in beech and spruce commercial forest, in each forest at 15 localities. In the commercial forest, samples were taken in 3 different age classes - in the youngest, middle-aged and the oldest stands. The basic physico-chemical properties were determined in soil samples taken from the O- and A-horizon. The analysis confirmed the influence of the stand type on the soil properties and made it possible to determine the developmental tendencies of the influence depending on the age of the stand. Most of the changes were found in the top O-horizon. The effect of spruce stand significantly differed from the others, while the effect of beech stand and stand in NPR was very similar. In terms of age, the youngest stands exhibited by the lowest acidity of the surface organic layer, middle-aged stands by the largest weight of the O-horizon, as well as the highest carbon content and C/N ratio. The lowest concentration of basic cations in the surface organic layer was found in the oldest stands.