Aims : To analyse the syntaxonomy of open, deciduous woodlands at the southern margin of the steppe zone in the colline and montane belts of the Pamir-Alai, western Tian Shan and Iranian Mountains ...(Irano-Turanian region). Study area : Tajikistan (Middle Asia) and Iran (Southwestern Asia). Methods : We prepared two datasets: the first dataset contained 110 relevés from Tajikistan and Iran representing pistachio groves, the second one was a comparative dataset of 1,276 relevés of pistachio groves and floristically related woody and grassland phytocoenoses from the Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean regions. These two datasets were classified separately with the modified TWINSPAN algorithm with pseudospecies cut levels 0%, 2%, 10% and 25%, and total inertia as a measure of cluster heterogeneity. Diagnostic species were identified using the phi coefficient as a fidelity measure. A NMDS ordination was used to explore the relationships between the distinguished groups. Results : We found that Pistacia open woodlands are very distinctive in terms of species composition, including numerous endemics. Our observations in Pamir-Alai, Kopet-Dagh, Zagros, Alborz and other Central and southern mountains of Iran proved that pistachio open woodlands form distinct zonal vegetation of the colline-montane belt. We thus propose a new class Pistacietea verae , with the order Pistacietalia verae and appropriate type alliance Pistacion verae , including two associations: Pistacietum verae and Pistacietum khinjuk . Conclusions : Our research has shown that the Pistacia open woodlands are a distinct vegetation typical of the Irano-Turanian region and due to its specific ecology, phytogeography and unique species composition, should be regarded as a vegetation class Pistacietea verae . It needs further examination and comparison with similar vegetation in the western Irano-Turanian and Hindu Kush regions. Recognizing the unique pistachio open woodlands as a distinct vegetation class in the Irano-Turanian region is crucial for establishing effective conservation strategies in these understudied yet ecologically significant ecosystems, spanning potentially from the Zagros, Alborz and other Central and southern Mountains of Iran to Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Taxonomic reference : Plants of the World Online (POWO 2023), with World Flora Online (WFO 2023) for some problematic cases and Nobis et al. (2020) for Stipa spp. Syntaxonomic references : Mucina et al. (2016) for SE European syntaxa, Nowak et al. (2022a, 2022b) for all other syntaxa. Abbreviations : NMDS = Non-metric multidimensional scaling.
Aim
To analyse the biogeographic patterns of Temperate Deciduous Forests (TDFs) in Western Eurasia based on different life‐forms and forests layers and explore their relationships with the current ...climate, Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate and topography.
Location
Western Eurasia.
Taxon
Vascular plants.
Methods
We delimited nine regions encompassing the variability of TDFs in Western Eurasia and collected 1000 vegetation plots from each. We deconstructed the plant communities into three layers, tree, shrub and floor. We used (i) generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to analyse the influence of current climate, historical climate and topography on species richness by accounting for regional effects and (ii) redundancy analysis (RDA) with variance partitioning to describe the variation in life forms along abiotic gradients. The three forest layers were analysed jointly and separately.
Results
The Balkans, Alps and Carpathians appeared to be the richest in plant species, whereas the British Isles and the Hyrcanian region were the poorest. Annual temperature range and annual mean temperature were the best predictors of species richness for the whole dataset and for the shrub layer. The tree layer richness was mainly explained by the annual temperature range and by elevation, whereas the forest floor richness was more related to the annual temperature range and the annual mean temperature differences between the LGM and current climate. The current climate was the main predictor of the composition of the whole community, the tree layer and the floor layer, while the shrub layer was also influenced by historical climate.
Main conclusions
Our overview of the diversity of temperate deciduous forests in Western Eurasia demonstrates different patterns and drivers across life‐forms and forest layers. While the diversity of trees is mainly linked to current climatic conditions, the shrub layer is also driven by postglacial‐glacial climatic stability, suggesting a different origin from forest trees.
Complex socio-economic, political and demographic factors have driven the increased conversion of Europe's semi-natural grasslands to intensive pastures. This trend is particularly strong in some of ...the most biodiverse regions of the continent, such as Central and Eastern Europe. Intensive grazing is known to decrease species diversity and alter the composition of plant and insect communities. Comparatively little is known, however, about how intensive grazing influences plant functional traits related to pollination and the structure of plant-pollinator interactions. In traditional hay meadows and intensive pastures in Central Europe, we contrasted the taxonomic and functional group diversity and composition, the structure of plant-pollinator interactions and the roles of individual species in networks. We found mostly lower taxonomic and functional diversity of plants and insects in intensive pastures, as well as strong compositional differences among the two grassland management types. Intensive pastures were dominated by a single plant with a specialized flower structure that is only accessible to a few pollinator groups. As a result, intensive pastures have lower diversity and specificity of interactions, higher amount of resource overlap, more uniform interaction strength and lower network modularity. These findings stand in contrast to studies in which plants with more generalized flower traits dominated pastures. Our results thus highlight the importance of the functional traits of dominant species in mediating the consequences of intensive pasture management on plant-pollinator networks. These findings could further contribute to strategies aimed at mitigating the impact of intensive grazing on plant and pollinator communities.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aims
: To complete the syntaxonomic scheme of subalpine forb steppes in the Pamir-Alai Mountains in Tajikistan with some remarks on its environmental predictors.
Study area
: Tajikistan.
Methods
: A ...total of 149 relevés were sampled in 2014 and 2021 using the seven-degree cover-abundance scale of the Braun-Blanquet scheme. These were classified with a modified TWINSPAN algorithm with pseudospecies cut-off levels of 0%, 2%, 5% and 25%, and total inertia as a measure of cluster heterogeneity. Diagnostic species were determined using the
phi
coefficient as a fidelity measure. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to show compositional differences between the distinguished alpine and subalpine grassland units.
Results
: Our classification revealed 12 clusters of alpine and subalpine grassland vegetation in Middle Asia. A total of nine new associations and three communities were distinguished. New vegetation types at potential class rank for Irano-Turanian subalpine and alpine grasslands have been proposed: forb steppes with
Eremogone griffithii
and
Nepeta podostachys
in subalpine and alpine belts and alpine grasslands with
Festuca alaica
and
Festuca kryloviana
for mesic habitats in the alpine belt. The main factors differentiating the species composition were the mean diurnal temperature range, the sum of annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality and the minimum temperature of the coldest month.
Conclusions
: Our study sheds light on the open habitat vegetation in the Pamir-Alai Mountains and has contributed to the consistent hierarchical classification of the vegetation of the eastern Irano-Turanian region. Subalpine and alpine forb steppes are a very interesting and distinct grassland type in Middle Asia. The syntaxonomic position of some of the distinguished communities is still unclear and further research on this type of alpine and subalpine vegetation within the mountains of Middle Asia is needed.
Taxonomic references
: The nomenclature of the vascular plants follows Plants of the World Online (POWO 2023) and problematic taxonomic issues were solved according to The World Flora Online (WFO 2023). Nomenclature of
Stipa
spp. follows Nobis et al. (2020, 2022) and of
Geranium
spp. Cherepanov (1995). The nomenclature of bryophytes follows Ignatov et al. (2006).
Abbreviations
: DCA = Detrended Correspondence Analysis.
A prominent hypothesis in ecology is that larger species ranges are found in more variable climates because species develop broader environmental tolerances, predicting a positive range ...size-temperature variability relationship. However, this overlooks the extreme temperatures that variable climates impose on species, with upper or lower thermal limits more likely to be exceeded. Accordingly, we propose the 'temperature range squeeze' hypothesis, predicting a negative range size-temperature variability relationship. We test these contrasting predictions by relating 88,000 elevation range sizes of vascular plants in 44 mountains to short- and long-term temperature variation. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that species' range size is negatively correlated with diurnal temperature range. Accurate predictions of short-term temperature variation will become increasingly important for extinction risk assessment in the future.
Overgrazing and warming are thought to be responsible for the loss of species diversity, declined ecosystem productivity and soil nutrient availability of degraded grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. ...Mineral elements in soils critically regulate plant individual's growth, performance, reproduction, and survival. However, it is still unclear whether plant species diversity and biomass production can be improved indirectly via the recovery of mineral element availability at topsoils of degraded grasslands, via grazing exclusion by fencing for years.
To answer this question, we measured plant species richness, Shannow-Wiener index, aboveground biomass, and mineral element contents of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Zn, K and P at the top-layer (0 - 10 cm) soils at 15 pairs of fenced vs grazed matched sites from alpine meadows (n = 5), alpine steppes (n = 6), and desert-steppes (n = 4) across North Tibet.
Our results showed that fencing only reduced the Shannon-Wiener index of alpine meadows, and did not alter aboveground biomass, species richness, and soil mineral contents within each grassland type, compared to adjacent open sites grazed by domestic livestock. Aboveground biomass first decreased and then increased along with the gradient of increasing Ca content but did not show any clear relationship with other mineral elements across the three different alpine grassland types. More than 45% of the variance in plant diversity indices and aboveground biomass across North Tibet can be explained by the sum precipitation during plant growing months. Structural equation modelling also confirmed that climatic variables could regulate biomass production directly and indirectly via soil mineral element (Ca) and plant diversity indices.
Overall, the community structure and biomass production of alpine grasslands across North Tibet was weakly affected by fencing, compared to the robst climatic control. Therefore, medium-term livestock exclusion by fencing might have limited contribution to the recovery of ecosystem structure and functions of degraded alpine grasslands.
The paper presents the results of investigations of weed vegetation conducted on root crops in Tajikistan (Middle Asia), one of the world cradles of weed flora. The main research was conducted in the ...Zeravshanian, southern Tajikistan and Hissar-Darvasian geobotanical regions in 2011. The study was based on 107 phytosociological relevés obtained in various geobotanical regions of the country. The collected material probably presents the majority of variations among the weed communities of root cultivations in the Middle Asia. As a result of numerical analyses, 7 associations were distinguished: Convolvulo arvensis-Cyperetum rotundi, Daturo stramonii-Hibiscetum trioni, Setario pumilae-Sorghetum halepensi, Galinsogo-Setarietum, Equiseto arvensi-Xanthietum italici, Portulacetum oleracei and Brassico campestris-Lamietum amplexicauli. The last mentioned is new to science. Additionally, one subassociation has been proposed (Convolvulo arvensis-Cyperetum rotundi kochietosum scopariae). The main discrimination factor for the data set is the floristic structure of the associations. The study shows that root-crop plantations with segetal vegetation may harbor a relatively rich flora. Almost 200 species were found in vegetation plots, including some, which are rare and have not been recorded until now in this part of Middle Asia. However, most of the recorded species are widespread weeds typical for the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian geobotanical provinces.
The interrelationship between metal concentrations in mosses and their surroundings prompts research toward examining their accumulation properties, as it is particularly important for their usage in ...biomonitoring studies that use mosses. In this study, the kinetics of elemental sorption in three moss species (
,
, and
) were investigated under laboratory conditions. Sorption from metal salt solutions was carried out under static conditions with decreasing elemental concentration. Functional groups responsible for binding metal cations to the internal structures of the mosses were also identified. It was shown that the equilibrium state was reached after about 60 min. Under the conditions of the experiment, in the first 10 min of the process, about 70.4-95.3% of metal ions were sorbed from the solution into the moss gametophytes by
(57.1-89.0% by
and 54.1-84.5% by
) with respect to the concentration of this analyte accumulated in the mosses at equilibrium. It can be assumed that the exposure of mosses with little contamination by heavy metals in an urbanized area under active biomonitoring will cause an increase in the concentration of these analytes in proportion to their concentration in atmospheric aerosols. In the case of
and
, the O-H/N-H band was enormously affected by the adsorption process. On the other hand, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis of
after adsorption showed slight changes for most of the bands analyzed. Based on this study, it can be concluded that mosses can be used as, for example, a biomonitor in monitoring of urban ecosystems, but also in the phytoremediation of surface waters.
With this editorial, we introduce the Special Collection “Classification of grasslands and other open vegetation types in the Palaearctic”. In searching the Web of Science for classification papers ...on Palaearctic grasslands, we found 207 studies from 1972–2021, including 106 typical classification works. These studies originated mainly from Europe, with only few from Asia and only one from Northern Africa. While Europe in the 20
th
century already had a strong tradition in regional classification studies, the launch of a common plot database (European Vegetation Archive, EVA) and a continental syntaxonomic reference list (EuroVegChecklist) have spurred the developments there in recent years. We then introduce the seven articles of the Special Collection. Four of them present regional studies of certain vegetation types, namely spring vegetation (
Montio-Cardaminetea
) in Grisons, Switzerland, dry grasslands (
Festuco-Brometea
) of the inneralpine valleys of Austria, montane to subalpine tall-herb vegetation (
Mulgedio-Aconitetea
) in the Sudetes Mts., Poland, and steppe depressions (
Festuco-Brometea
and
Molinio-Arrhentatheretea
) in Southern Ukraine. A new synthesis of the grassland vegetation of Navarre in Spain (all classes, focus on
Festuco-Brometea
), started with an unsupervised classification and translated it into a hierarchical expert system, while another study provided the first synthesis of the tall-herb vegetation (mainly
Ulopteretea prangae
) of Tajikistan. Finally, a study based on the GrassPlot database compared fine-grain beta-diversities across open vegetation types of the Palaearctic.
Abbreviations
: EDGG = Eurasian Dry Grassland Group, EVA = European Vegetation Archive, IAVS = International Association for Vegetation Science, WoS = Web of Science.
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