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The present study aimed at exploring the response of herbaceous plant species to soil compaction in forest soils. The research was conducted in central Belgium, in a 4383 ha beech forest. Of the 107 taxa studied, the cover of 65 species (61%) was significantly of soil degradation resulting from forest operations and waterlogging (Kozlowski, 1999; Grigal, 2000; Startsev and McNabb, 2000). Soil compaction is a problem which may rise in the future as a result of in-creasing weight of machinery (Langmaack et al., 2002). to physiological dysfunctions in plants. Often, reduced rackova and Zaujec, 2001; Langmaack et al., 2002; Rosolem et al., 2002). Forest soils, however, differ in many ways from cultivated soils (Fisher and Binkley, 2000) and knowledge is lacking about the relationship between soil compaction and the distribution of most woodland plant species (Lipiec and Hakansson, 2000; Startsev and McNabb, 2000; Brais, 2001; McNabb et al.