Kévin Charmillot, Christian Hedinger, Manuel Babbi, S. Widmer, Jürgen Dengler
Meso-xeric grasslands have declined sharply in Central Europe during the last century. These species-rich habitats are threatened by intensification or abandonment of agricultural use, eutrophication, climate change and landscape fragmentation. However, different studies in various regions of Central Europe are inconsistent in their findings about degree and direction of changes. We thus resurveyed the historical vegetation plots of the alliance Mesobromion in the Swiss Jura Mts. In 2020, we re-sampled 28 quasi-permanent vegetation plots originally recorded in 1980 to quantify potential vegetation change. Frequency of individual species, species diversity, 11 ecological indicator values and four functional traits, as well as the presence of diagnostic species of phytosociological alliances, were analysed. Further, a habitat classification and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) were also performed. Species richness, indicator values for light availability and temperature, seed dispersal by animals and seed persistence had significantly decreased by 2020. Conversely, ecological indicator values for nutrient availability and soil moisture as well as community-weighted means for seed mass and canopy height had significantly increased. There were significantly fewer ruderal species, stresstolerators, therophytes and herbaceous chamaephytes in 2020. In contrast, highly competitive species and hemicryptophytes had increased. Together, these findings indicate an increase in productivity over time. There were fewer specialized species in 2020 than in 1980, indicating a homogenization of the vegetation and a shift towards nutrient-rich pastures and meadows. The shift towards a later successional stage might indicate reduced grazing disturbance. Most of these sites are currently not included in an agri-environmental scheme. Partial differences of our findings from those reported elsewhere in Central Europe highlight the importance of regionally adapted conservation strategies in order to stop biodiversity loss in meso-xeric grasslands.
{"title":"Vegetation change in meso-xeric grasslands of the Swiss Jura Mts. over 40 years","authors":"Kévin Charmillot, Christian Hedinger, Manuel Babbi, S. Widmer, Jürgen Dengler","doi":"10.21256/ZHAW-23430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21256/ZHAW-23430","url":null,"abstract":"Meso-xeric grasslands have declined sharply in Central Europe during the last century. These species-rich habitats are threatened by intensification or abandonment of agricultural use, eutrophication, climate change and landscape fragmentation. However, different studies in various regions of Central Europe are inconsistent in their findings about degree and direction of changes. We thus resurveyed the historical vegetation plots of the alliance Mesobromion in the Swiss Jura Mts. In 2020, we re-sampled 28 quasi-permanent vegetation plots originally recorded in 1980 to quantify potential vegetation change. Frequency of individual species, species diversity, 11 ecological indicator values and four functional traits, as well as the presence of diagnostic species of phytosociological alliances, were analysed. Further, a habitat classification and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) were also performed. Species richness, indicator values for light availability and temperature, seed dispersal by animals and seed persistence had significantly decreased by 2020. Conversely, ecological indicator values for nutrient availability and soil moisture as well as community-weighted means for seed mass and canopy height had significantly increased. There were significantly fewer ruderal species, stresstolerators, therophytes and herbaceous chamaephytes in 2020. In contrast, highly competitive species and hemicryptophytes had increased. Together, these findings indicate an increase in productivity over time. There were fewer specialized species in 2020 than in 1980, indicating a homogenization of the vegetation and a shift towards nutrient-rich pastures and meadows. The shift towards a later successional stage might indicate reduced grazing disturbance. Most of these sites are currently not included in an agri-environmental scheme. Partial differences of our findings from those reported elsewhere in Central Europe highlight the importance of regionally adapted conservation strategies in order to stop biodiversity loss in meso-xeric grasslands.","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46859299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia Kummli, S. Widmer, M. Wilhelm, Jürgen Dengler, R. Billeter
Many studies have demonstrated significant alterations in the species composition of grasslands in Central Europe over the past decades due to multiple drivers of anthropogenic environmental change. Most such studies deal with dry, acidic, wet or alpine grassland types, while little is known about changes in mesic grasslands, particularly in urban areas. To investigate the effects of anthropogenic environmental change on such grasslands, we resurveyed a selection of plots in the city of Zurich (Switzerland) approximately 25 years after their original recording. First, we checked whether 241 extensively used mesic grasslands (belonging to the Arrhenatheretalia elatioris) in the city were still grasslands, and whether their management had changed. Then we resurveyed a representative subset of 30 quasi-permanent plots of 50 m2. We tested whether biodiversity metrics, mean ecological indicator values, community weighted means (CWMs) of functional traits or the presence of individual vascular plant species had changed. We found that 15% of the original grasslands had been lost due to changes in land use during this period. Of the remaining grasslands, most of the former meadows were still mown, while many of the former pastures had been transformed into meadows. Measures of alpha diversity had not changed significantly for the 30 plots. However, species composition now indicated nutrient poorer, less base-rich and less ruderal site conditions, while CWMs of specific leaf area (SLA) had decreased and that of seed mass increased. In stands that were managed by mowing in both periods there was practically no change, while there was a pronounced change in those that had been transformed from grazing to mowing. In general, five species showed a significant increase and 16 species a significant decrease in frequency, with no obvious ecological difference between winners and losers. Alien species were rare in both periods and showed hardly any trend, except Veronica persica, which became rarer. In conclusion, more extensively used grasslands have survived to date than would be anticipated in such a rapidly growing city as Zurich. Their quality has hardly changed during the past Manuscript received 09 May 2021, accepted 07 August 2021 Published online 31 October 2021 Co-ordinating Editor: Valentin Klaus 424 quarter century, and if changes occurred, they are rather attributable to the intentional change of management from grazing to mowing. The relatively good ecological state of these urban grasslands might be due to a lower agricultural land use pressure than outside urban areas, as well as a constant management of many of these grasslands with a conservation focus. By maintaining these grasslands in their current state, they may have the potential to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in urban areas.
许多研究表明，由于人为环境变化的多种驱动因素，中欧草原的物种组成在过去几十年中发生了重大变化。大多数此类研究涉及干旱、酸性、潮湿或高山草原类型，而对中生草原的变化知之甚少，尤其是在城市地区。为了调查人为环境变化对这些草原的影响，我们在苏黎世市（瑞士）的一些地块原始记录大约25年后重新进行了调查。首先，我们检查了该市241片广泛使用的梅斯草原（属于阿氏草原）是否仍然是草原，以及它们的管理是否发生了变化。然后，我们重新测量了30块50平方米的准永久地块的代表性子集。我们测试了生物多样性指标、平均生态指标值、功能性状的群落加权平均值（CWM）或单个维管植物物种的存在是否发生了变化。我们发现，由于这一时期土地利用的变化，15%的原始草原已经消失。在剩下的草原中，大部分以前的草地仍然被割草，而许多以前的牧场已经变成了草地。30个地块的阿尔法多样性指标没有显著变化。然而，物种组成现在表明营养较差，富碱较少，场地条件较差，而比叶面积（SLA）的CWM降低，种子质量的CWM增加。在这两个时期都通过割草管理的林分中，几乎没有变化，而那些从放牧转变为割草的林分则发生了明显变化。总体而言，5个物种的频率显著增加，16个物种的出现频率显著减少，赢家和输家之间没有明显的生态差异。外来物种在这两个时期都很罕见，几乎没有任何趋势，除了越来越罕见的波斯维罗妮卡。总之，迄今为止，在苏黎世这样一个快速发展的城市，使用范围更广的草原比预期的要大。在过去的手稿中，它们的质量几乎没有变化，2021年5月9日收到，2021年8月7日接受。2021年10月31日在线发布。协调编辑：Valentin Klaus 424四分之一世纪，如果发生了变化，则可归因于管理从放牧到割草的有意变化。这些城市草原相对良好的生态状态可能是由于农业用地压力低于城市以外地区，以及对许多草原的持续管理和保护。通过保持这些草原的现状，它们可能有潜力为保护城市地区的生物多样性做出贡献。
{"title":"Vegetation changes in urban grasslands over 25 years in the city of Zurich, Switzerland","authors":"Julia Kummli, S. Widmer, M. Wilhelm, Jürgen Dengler, R. Billeter","doi":"10.21256/ZHAW-23429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21256/ZHAW-23429","url":null,"abstract":"Many studies have demonstrated significant alterations in the species composition of grasslands in Central Europe over the past decades due to multiple drivers of anthropogenic environmental change. Most such studies deal with dry, acidic, wet or alpine grassland types, while little is known about changes in mesic grasslands, particularly in urban areas. To investigate the effects of anthropogenic environmental change on such grasslands, we resurveyed a selection of plots in the city of Zurich (Switzerland) approximately 25 years after their original recording. First, we checked whether 241 extensively used mesic grasslands (belonging to the Arrhenatheretalia elatioris) in the city were still grasslands, and whether their management had changed. Then we resurveyed a representative subset of 30 quasi-permanent plots of 50 m2. We tested whether biodiversity metrics, mean ecological indicator values, community weighted means (CWMs) of functional traits or the presence of individual vascular plant species had changed. We found that 15% of the original grasslands had been lost due to changes in land use during this period. Of the remaining grasslands, most of the former meadows were still mown, while many of the former pastures had been transformed into meadows. Measures of alpha diversity had not changed significantly for the 30 plots. However, species composition now indicated nutrient poorer, less base-rich and less ruderal site conditions, while CWMs of specific leaf area (SLA) had decreased and that of seed mass increased. In stands that were managed by mowing in both periods there was practically no change, while there was a pronounced change in those that had been transformed from grazing to mowing. In general, five species showed a significant increase and 16 species a significant decrease in frequency, with no obvious ecological difference between winners and losers. Alien species were rare in both periods and showed hardly any trend, except Veronica persica, which became rarer. In conclusion, more extensively used grasslands have survived to date than would be anticipated in such a rapidly growing city as Zurich. Their quality has hardly changed during the past Manuscript received 09 May 2021, accepted 07 August 2021 Published online 31 October 2021 Co-ordinating Editor: Valentin Klaus 424 quarter century, and if changes occurred, they are rather attributable to the intentional change of management from grazing to mowing. The relatively good ecological state of these urban grasslands might be due to a lower agricultural land use pressure than outside urban areas, as well as a constant management of many of these grasslands with a conservation focus. By maintaining these grasslands in their current state, they may have the potential to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in urban areas.","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48264477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Boch, T. Becker, Balasz Deák, Jürgen Dengler, V. Wagner
1WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, Zürcherstr. 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; 2Regional and Environmental Sciences/Geobotany, University of Trier, Behringstr. 21, 54296 Trier, Germany; 3MTA-ÖK Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány út 2-4, Vácrátót, 2163, Hungary; 4Vegetation Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR), Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Grüentalstr. 14, 8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland; 5Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), Plant Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; 6German Centre for Integrated Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, DeutscherPlatz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany;7Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada *Corresponding author, e-mail: steffen.boch@wsl.ch
{"title":"Traditional land use, management and biodiversity of European semi-natural grasslands : editorial to the 15th EDGG Special Feature","authors":"S. Boch, T. Becker, Balasz Deák, Jürgen Dengler, V. Wagner","doi":"10.14471/2020.40.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2020.40.026","url":null,"abstract":"1WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, Zürcherstr. 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; 2Regional and Environmental Sciences/Geobotany, University of Trier, Behringstr. 21, 54296 Trier, Germany; 3MTA-ÖK Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány út 2-4, Vácrátót, 2163, Hungary; 4Vegetation Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR), Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Grüentalstr. 14, 8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland; 5Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), Plant Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; 6German Centre for Integrated Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, DeutscherPlatz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany;7Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada *Corresponding author, e-mail: steffen.boch@wsl.ch","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48989478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimal site conditions for dry grasslands of high conservation value in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland","authors":"M. Büchler, R. Billeter, Jürgen Dengler","doi":"10.14471/2020.40.021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2020.40.021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42684303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stefan Widmer, M. Riesen, B. Krüsi, J. Dengler, Regula Billeter
{"title":"Wenn Gämsen Schafe ersetzen : Fallstudie zu den Auswirkungen auf die Diversität von alpinen Rasen","authors":"Stefan Widmer, M. Riesen, B. Krüsi, J. Dengler, Regula Billeter","doi":"10.14471/2020.40.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2020.40.013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47443707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Janišová, N. Bauer, J. Csiky, Jürgen Dengler, T. Hlásny, C. Hobohm, I. Škodová, T. Willner
{"title":"Broad-scale diversity patterns of Central European Carex humilis steppes","authors":"M. Janišová, N. Bauer, J. Csiky, Jürgen Dengler, T. Hlásny, C. Hobohm, I. Škodová, T. Willner","doi":"10.14471/2020.40.018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2020.40.018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49550905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Keller, Manuel Babbi, S. Widmer, Jamyra Gehler, S. Hausmann, C. Berg, F. Landucci, Patrick Schwager, Kateřina Šumberová, Jürgen Dengler
Nuphar pumila is a glacial relict, which is nowadays rare throughout Europe and red-listed in most European regions. In Switzerland only three autochthonous populations and one population of the hybrid with N. lutea (N. ×spenneriana) have survived to date, one of them in the canton of Zurich. To protect this species regionally, the canton of Zurich has commissioned the ex situ propagation of speci-mens, which then had been introduced to 37 water bodies in protected areas, including one known former site. Since only about 10% of these introductions had been successful, there was a wish to identify causes of this lack of success. To this end, we compared the vegetation and physical-chemical parameters of the four natural sites in Switzerland with the successful and unsuccessful introduction sites. Additionally, for a subset of sites, we assessed diatom genus composition as a proxy of water quality. Moreover, we derived vegetation plots of N. pumila and N. lutea from across Europe from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) to compare their site conditions, using mean ecological indicator values and bioclimatic variables of the localities. We found that inside Switzerland the main differences were between the natural sites and all introduction sites, while successful and unsuccessful introduction sites hardly differed in the determined parameters. Natural sites had cooler water with lower magnesi-um content, and according to mean ecological indicator values, also lower nutrient status. The diatom data, though limited in amount, point into the same direction. The EVA data demonstrate that stands of N. pumila are mainly more oligotrophic, but also cooler and more acidic than those of N. lutea. We could not find any factor that explains the success vs. lack of success of plantations of N. pumila in multiple sites in the canton of Zurich, but our results rather indicate that due to the relatively warm climate, the high atmogenic nitrogen input and the predominantly base-rich bedrock, the sites in the canton are generally not particularly well suited for N. pumila. We consider it therefore more promising to protect and possibly (re-)introduce N. pumila in other cantons with higher elevation, base-poor bedrock and lower atmogenic nitrogen input.
{"title":"Determination of habitat requirements of the glacial relict Nuphar pumila as basis for successful (re-)introductions","authors":"S. Keller, Manuel Babbi, S. Widmer, Jamyra Gehler, S. Hausmann, C. Berg, F. Landucci, Patrick Schwager, Kateřina Šumberová, Jürgen Dengler","doi":"10.14471/2020.40.022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2020.40.022","url":null,"abstract":"Nuphar pumila is a glacial relict, which is nowadays rare throughout Europe and red-listed in most European regions. In Switzerland only three autochthonous populations and one population of the hybrid with N. lutea (N. ×spenneriana) have survived to date, one of them in the canton of Zurich. To protect this species regionally, the canton of Zurich has commissioned the ex situ propagation of speci-mens, which then had been introduced to 37 water bodies in protected areas, including one known former site. Since only about 10% of these introductions had been successful, there was a wish to identify causes of this lack of success. To this end, we compared the vegetation and physical-chemical parameters of the four natural sites in Switzerland with the successful and unsuccessful introduction sites. Additionally, for a subset of sites, we assessed diatom genus composition as a proxy of water quality. Moreover, we derived vegetation plots of N. pumila and N. lutea from across Europe from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) to compare their site conditions, using mean ecological indicator values and bioclimatic variables of the localities. We found that inside Switzerland the main differences were between the natural sites and all introduction sites, while successful and unsuccessful introduction sites hardly differed in the determined parameters. Natural sites had cooler water with lower magnesi-um content, and according to mean ecological indicator values, also lower nutrient status. The diatom data, though limited in amount, point into the same direction. The EVA data demonstrate that stands of N. pumila are mainly more oligotrophic, but also cooler and more acidic than those of N. lutea. We could not find any factor that explains the success vs. lack of success of plantations of N. pumila in multiple sites in the canton of Zurich, but our results rather indicate that due to the relatively warm climate, the high atmogenic nitrogen input and the predominantly base-rich bedrock, the sites in the canton are generally not particularly well suited for N. pumila. We consider it therefore more promising to protect and possibly (re-)introduce N. pumila in other cantons with higher elevation, base-poor bedrock and lower atmogenic nitrogen input.","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41714395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Świerszcz, M. Nobis, Grzegorz Swacha, Z. Kącki, I. Dembicz, K. Waindzoch, S. Nowak, A. Nowak
{"title":"Pseudosteppes and related grassland vegetation in the Pamir-Alai and western Tian Shan Mts : the borderland of the Irano-Turanian and Euro-Siberian regions","authors":"S. Świerszcz, M. Nobis, Grzegorz Swacha, Z. Kącki, I. Dembicz, K. Waindzoch, S. Nowak, A. Nowak","doi":"10.21256/ZHAW-21150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21256/ZHAW-21150","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41353739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antike Siedlungen, P. Dayneko, Ivan I. Moysiyenko, I. Dembicz, M. Zachwatowicz, B. Sudnik-Wójcikowska
Agricultural intensification in the last century resulted in a significant loss and fragmentation of steppe habitats. As a result, steppes are scattered and rarely preserved in highly transformed landscapes. Steppe patches have often remained on sites with cultural importance, such as ancient burial mounds (kurgans), old cemeteries or ancient settlements (earthworks). Thus, not only natural but also cultural objects could show a high conservation value. We hypothesised that ancient settlements (3rd – 2nd century BC) may act as steppe habitat islands, equally important as e.g. burial mounds for steppe plant protection. The aim of this study was to examine the local and landscape factors affecting vascular plants’ richness patterns in ancient settlements and to check the importance of such ancient settlements for nature conservation. We asked the following questions: 1) How high is the species richness of vascular plants on ancient settlements? 2) Do ancient settlements have a nature conservation value comparable to other steppe enclaves of the studied zone? 3) Which factors are the most important for the species richness and species composition in ancient settlements? We analysed total richness and its separate categories as dependent variables in simple regressions against seven environmental variables such as ancient settlement’s area, microhabitat variety index, afforestation degree, steppe cover in 1 km buffer around an ancient settlement, distance to the closest settlements, area of settlements in 1 km buffer around an ancient settlement and mean annual precipitation. In 18 studied ancient settlements located in the Lower Dnipro basin (Southern Ukraine), we recorded a considerable number of native (396 species, 75.6%), steppe (239 species, 45.6%) and non-synanthropic plants (225 species, 42.9%), which indicated a good state of preservation of the steppe on these objects. The microhabitat variety index, as a measure of habitat heterogeneity, appeared to be the most significant positive predictor of total species richness, followed by ancient settlement’s area, afforestation degree and steppe cover around the ancient settlements. The same factors were significant for the richness of non-synanthropic plants. Distance to settlements was a significant negative predictor for established alien species richness. Our study confirmed that ancient settlements are valuable enclaves of steppe flora, surprisingly species-rich and of relatively Manuscript received 15 March 2020, accepted 29 May 2020 Co-ordinating Editor: Balázs Deák 460 high ratio of steppe and non-synanthropic plants compared to the flora of nature reserves and kurgans. Our results could help to better plan active protection of plant diversity on ancient settlements, e.g. through steppe restoration around the ancient settlements, maintenance of small-scale disturbance and microhabitat diversity (pastures, mown areas, burnt areas, loess or limestone extraction sites etc.) and limiting affor
{"title":"Ancient settlements in Southern Ukraine : how do local and landscape factors shape vascular plant diversity patterns in the last remnants of grass steppe vegetation?","authors":"Antike Siedlungen, P. Dayneko, Ivan I. Moysiyenko, I. Dembicz, M. Zachwatowicz, B. Sudnik-Wójcikowska","doi":"10.21256/ZHAW-21149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21256/ZHAW-21149","url":null,"abstract":"Agricultural intensification in the last century resulted in a significant loss and fragmentation of steppe habitats. As a result, steppes are scattered and rarely preserved in highly transformed landscapes. Steppe patches have often remained on sites with cultural importance, such as ancient burial mounds (kurgans), old cemeteries or ancient settlements (earthworks). Thus, not only natural but also cultural objects could show a high conservation value. We hypothesised that ancient settlements (3rd – 2nd century BC) may act as steppe habitat islands, equally important as e.g. burial mounds for steppe plant protection. The aim of this study was to examine the local and landscape factors affecting vascular plants’ richness patterns in ancient settlements and to check the importance of such ancient settlements for nature conservation. We asked the following questions: 1) How high is the species richness of vascular plants on ancient settlements? 2) Do ancient settlements have a nature conservation value comparable to other steppe enclaves of the studied zone? 3) Which factors are the most important for the species richness and species composition in ancient settlements? We analysed total richness and its separate categories as dependent variables in simple regressions against seven environmental variables such as ancient settlement’s area, microhabitat variety index, afforestation degree, steppe cover in 1 km buffer around an ancient settlement, distance to the closest settlements, area of settlements in 1 km buffer around an ancient settlement and mean annual precipitation. In 18 studied ancient settlements located in the Lower Dnipro basin (Southern Ukraine), we recorded a considerable number of native (396 species, 75.6%), steppe (239 species, 45.6%) and non-synanthropic plants (225 species, 42.9%), which indicated a good state of preservation of the steppe on these objects. The microhabitat variety index, as a measure of habitat heterogeneity, appeared to be the most significant positive predictor of total species richness, followed by ancient settlement’s area, afforestation degree and steppe cover around the ancient settlements. The same factors were significant for the richness of non-synanthropic plants. Distance to settlements was a significant negative predictor for established alien species richness. Our study confirmed that ancient settlements are valuable enclaves of steppe flora, surprisingly species-rich and of relatively Manuscript received 15 March 2020, accepted 29 May 2020 Co-ordinating Editor: Balázs Deák 460 high ratio of steppe and non-synanthropic plants compared to the flora of nature reserves and kurgans. Our results could help to better plan active protection of plant diversity on ancient settlements, e.g. through steppe restoration around the ancient settlements, maintenance of small-scale disturbance and microhabitat diversity (pastures, mown areas, burnt areas, loess or limestone extraction sites etc.) and limiting affor","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42684096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) is widespread in Europe from sea level to the timberline and reaches its most northern range in N-Norway at 71 °N. Sorbus aucupariaoccurs on acid, dry to moist and mesotrophic to oligotrophic soils. The species often grows in secondary forests together with Alnus viridis, Sambucus racemosa, Betula pendula, Frangula alnus and some Salix spp. In most climax forests mountain ash grows only in the shrub layer. In the subalpine belt, the tree is present in green alder scrub and European larch-Swiss stone pine forests. On some N-exposed mountain slopes of the S-Alps, small mountain ash forests with green alder build the upper forest limit above 1500 m. In this study, ecological and phytosociological aspects of this particular forest community along a N-S-transect from the Swiss Central Alps (Grisons) to the South Alps (Ticino/ N-Italy) were investigated. We consider site conditions, local spread, rejuvenation, tree age structure, infestation and phytosociological aspects of S. aucuparia. The occurrence of A. viridis in the N-S-transect and the role of S. aucupariain the secondary and climax forests have been investigated. While in the green alder scrub (Alnetum viridis) of the North single mountain ash trees are present, alder-mountain ash forests have been found at the S-Alpine sites with S. aucupariacovers 25–80%. Here, the Alnetum viridis is absent, and A.viridis is element of the mountain ash forests. In the montane and lower subalpine zone, S. aucupariawill often be replaced later by beech or other climax trees. Above the upper beech limit, we consider the green alder-mountain ash forests as climax forests. At the driest forest sites, grass species are pre-dominant – mainly Calamagrostis spp. and Avenella flexuosa. Based on the earlier provisional phytosociological name of S-Alpine green alder-mountain ash forests, we suggest the name Alno viridi-Sorbetum aucupariae Hari, Leisinger et Zysset 1993 – according to the first description by HARI et al. (1993). Based on our vegetation records of green alder-mountain ash forests, we propose a new sub-association Alno viridi-Sorbetum aucupariae calamagrostietosum subass. nov.
{"title":"Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) forests of the Central and Southern Alps (Grisons and Ticino, Switzerland – Prov. Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, N-Italy): Plant ecological and phytosociological aspects","authors":"C. Burga, S. Bührer, F. Klötzli","doi":"10.14471/2019.39.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14471/2019.39.016","url":null,"abstract":"Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) is widespread in Europe from sea level to the timberline and reaches its most northern range in N-Norway at 71 °N. Sorbus aucupariaoccurs on acid, dry to moist and mesotrophic to oligotrophic soils. The species often grows in secondary forests together with Alnus viridis, Sambucus racemosa, Betula pendula, Frangula alnus and some Salix spp. In most climax forests mountain ash grows only in the shrub layer. In the subalpine belt, the tree is present in green alder scrub and European larch-Swiss stone pine forests. On some N-exposed mountain slopes of the S-Alps, small mountain ash forests with green alder build the upper forest limit above 1500 m. In this study, ecological and phytosociological aspects of this particular forest community along a N-S-transect from the Swiss Central Alps (Grisons) to the South Alps (Ticino/ N-Italy) were investigated. We consider site conditions, local spread, rejuvenation, tree age structure, infestation and phytosociological aspects of S. aucuparia. The occurrence of A. viridis in the N-S-transect and the role of S. aucupariain the secondary and climax forests have been investigated. While in the green alder scrub (Alnetum viridis) of the North single mountain ash trees are present, alder-mountain ash forests have been found at the S-Alpine sites with S. aucupariacovers 25–80%. Here, the Alnetum viridis is absent, and A.viridis is element of the mountain ash forests. In the montane and lower subalpine zone, S. aucupariawill often be replaced later by beech or other climax trees. Above the upper beech limit, we consider the green alder-mountain ash forests as climax forests. At the driest forest sites, grass species are pre-dominant – mainly Calamagrostis spp. and Avenella flexuosa. Based on the earlier provisional phytosociological name of S-Alpine green alder-mountain ash forests, we suggest the name Alno viridi-Sorbetum aucupariae Hari, Leisinger et Zysset 1993 – according to the first description by HARI et al. (1993). Based on our vegetation records of green alder-mountain ash forests, we propose a new sub-association Alno viridi-Sorbetum aucupariae calamagrostietosum subass. nov.","PeriodicalId":48870,"journal":{"name":"Tuexenia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66680996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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