Aims
Vegetation classification consistent with the Braun‐Blanquet approach is widely used in Europe for applied vegetation science, conservation planning and land management. During the long history ...of syntaxonomy, many concepts and names of vegetation units have been proposed, but there has been no single classification system integrating these units. Here we (1) present a comprehensive, hierarchical, syntaxonomic system of alliances, orders and classes of Braun‐Blanquet syntaxonomy for vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen, and algal communities of Europe; (2) briefly characterize in ecological and geographic terms accepted syntaxonomic concepts; (3) link available synonyms to these accepted concepts; and (4) provide a list of diagnostic species for all classes.
Location
European mainland, Greenland, Arctic archipelagos (including Iceland, Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya), Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, Caucasus, Cyprus.
Methods
We evaluated approximately 10 000 bibliographic sources to create a comprehensive list of previously proposed syntaxonomic units. These units were evaluated by experts for their floristic and ecological distinctness, clarity of geographic distribution and compliance with the nomenclature code. Accepted units were compiled into three systems of classes, orders and alliances (EuroVegChecklist, EVC) for communities dominated by vascular plants (EVC1), bryophytes and lichens (EVC2) and algae (EVC3).
Results
EVC1 includes 109 classes, 300 orders and 1108 alliances; EVC2 includes 27 classes, 53 orders and 137 alliances, and EVC3 includes 13 classes, 24 orders and 53 alliances. In total 13 448 taxa were assigned as indicator species to classes of EVC1, 2087 to classes of EVC2 and 368 to classes of EVC3. Accepted syntaxonomic concepts are summarized in a series of appendices, and detailed information on each is accessible through the software tool EuroVegBrowser.
Conclusions
This paper features the first comprehensive and critical account of European syntaxa and synthesizes more than 100 yr of classification effort by European phytosociologists. It aims to document and stabilize the concepts and nomenclature of syntaxa for practical uses, such as calibration of habitat classification used by the European Union, standardization of terminology for environmental assessment, management and conservation of nature areas, landscape planning and education. The presented classification systems provide a baseline for future development and revision of European syntaxonomy.
This is the first comprehensive and critical account of the hierarchical syntaxonomic system of communities of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and algae in Europe, synthesizing more than 100 years of research in classification of vegetation. It aims at documenting standardization of concepts and terminology of syntaxa and informing calibration of habitat classifications for environmental assessment, nature management, conservation, landscape planning, and education.
In the present paper a phytosociological study on the dry grassland communities identified in the western sector of the Murgia Plateau (Murgia delle Gravine) and in the Lucanian badlands territory is ...presented. Forty vegetation releves were carried out using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological approach. Two new associations characterized by a therophytic dominance, namely
Lysimachio foeminae-Atractylidetum cancellatae
and
Campanulo erini-Micromerietum microphyllae
, are described and discussed from a syntaxonomic and biogeographic viewpoint. In addition, new phytosociological data concerning the
Petrosedum ochroleucum
communities developed on limestone outcrops, the perennial
Hyparrhenia hirta
steppe-like grasslands of the low-altitude areas of the Murgia hills and the small-size
Brachypodium distachyum
therophytic communities are presented.
In the summer of 2021, enormous wildfires in the Mediterranean eliminated huge areas of mainly coniferous forest, destroyed adjacent settlements and claimed the lives of many people. The fires ...indicate effects of climate change and expose consequences of rural demographic changes, deficits in regional and touristic development planning and shortcomings in forest policy. This forum article highlights the dimensions of the problem, calls for a paradigm shift and shows solutions. Land abandonment, woody plant encroachment and non-reflective afforestation are leading to increasing amounts of combustible biomass. To prevent disastrous fires in future, fundamental changes in tree species composition, forest structure and management are essential. Plantations of reseeding pines are to be substituted by spacious or periodically open woodlands of long-lived trees with resprouting capacity such as Mediterranean oaks. Biomass-reducing practices including wood-pasture have to be revived in rural and peri-urban areas. Exemplary fire-resistant multifunctional oak woodlands occur throughout the Mediterranean. Urgent and medium-term measures in the burnt areas include promoting natural ecosystem regeneration, developing regionalized seed banks and nurseries to support native genetic resources, fostering vegetation mosaics of groves and multiple-use open and coppice woodland maintained by traditional practices, and in general forest management aiming at fuel biomass reduction and a policy counteracting land abandonment.
This study deals with the analysis of seedling fitness in three
Quercus cerris
wood stands, namely Selva di Castiglione (SC), Bosco della Ficora (BF) and Bosco di San Leo (BSL), developed in ...different lithological and physiographic conditions and subjected to different forestry practices. A phytosociological study was carried out for analysing the coenological features of the forest stands and to classify these latter from a syntaxonomic point of view. The Pignatti-Ellenberg index (PEi) was calculated on the matrix composed of the phytosociological relevés in order to highlight possible ecological differences or gradients among stands. The phenotypic parameters considered were the stem and root length and the leaf area, whereas the plant functional traits (PFTs) were specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf thickness (Lth) and chlorophyll content (CHL). The results showed that seedlings coming from different sampling sites exhibited similar values in all the phenotypic parameters. Instead, statistically significant differences were observed in the PFTs. The results suggested that the different adaptation strategies implemented by the seedlings are to be related to the physical environment of the sampling sites and to the different forest structures. The Selva di Castiglione forest stand (SC) exhibited better growth conditions for seedlings testified by higher values of SLA and CHL and lower values of LDMC and Lth. These were interpreted as greater investment in carbon production aimed at rapid development and renewal of the seedling rather than carbon storage aimed at ensuring leaf longevity.
The two alliances
Xerobromion
and
Mesobromion
derive from the change of rank of two suballiances of the
Bromion
Koch 1926 (
Xerobromenion
and
Mesobromenion
). Zoller (1954a) recognized that those ...suballiances could not belong to the same alliance (i.e.
Bromion
) and treated them as two separate alliances, although some doubts can be raised that he did not clearly adopted them at the rank of alliance. Zoller’s work having been overlooked, other authors proposed subsequently to rise the
Xerobromenion
and
Mesobromenion
to the rank of alliances. Accordingly, the alliances
Xerobromion
and
Mesobromion
are often cited with author citations other than Zoller 1954. The present paper requests a binding decision on the valid publication of the names
Xerobromion
and
Mesobromion
in Zoller (1954a).
Abbreviations
: EVC = EuroVegChecklist; ICPN = International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature.
Abstract
Studying the population-genetic and phylogeographic structures of a representative species of a particular geographical region can not only provide us with information regarding its ...evolutionary history, but also improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes underlying the patterns of species diversity in that area. By analysing eight highly polymorphic microsatellite loci and two chloroplast DNA regions, we have investigated the influence of Pleistocene climate fluctuations on the evolutionary history of
Salvia officinalis
L. (common sage). The populations with the highest genetic diversity were located in the central parts of the Balkan distribution range. A large group of closely related haplotypes was distributed throughout the Balkans and the central Apennines, while the private lineage occupied the southern Apennines. In addition, two highly differentiated lineages were scattered only over the Balkans. The results suggest that a single refugium of the studied species from the last glacial period was located in the central part of the range in the Balkans. Numerous microrefugia, probably spanning several glaciation cycles, were scattered across the Balkans, while colonisation of the Apennines from the Balkans occurred at least on two occasions.
A phytosociological study on the most extensive dry grassland communities of the coastal limestone massif of the Ausoni-Aurunci mountains (southern Latium, central Italy) is here presented. Violo ...pseudogracilis-Koelerietum splendentis ass. nova is restricted to the montane belt of the Aurunci mountains where it is dynamically related to the mesophilous Ostrya carpinifolia or Fagus sylvatica woodlands. Helichryso italici-Brometum erecti ass. nova is found within the upper hilly and submontane belt of both the Ausoni mountains (typical aspect) and the Aurunci mountains (subassociation saturejetosum montanae), where it is dynamically related with termophilous Ostrya carpinifolia woods and mesophilous Quercus ilex woods. Helichryso-Brometum is differentiated from Violo-Koelerietum in that it has a higher incidence of the steno-Mediterranean therophytic component. As far as the higher rank syntaxa are concerned, in this study the following changes were made in accordance with the rules of ICPN: the name Phleo ambigui-Bromion erecti Biondi et al. 1995 was considered invalid due to the invalidity of its nomenclatural type Asperulo purpureae-Brometum erecti. In contrast, the validity of the old name Cytiso spinescentis-Bromion erecti Bonin 1978 was demonstrated and its nomenclatural type, Lavandulo-Asphodelinetum luteae Bonin 1978, was lectotypified. Thus Cytiso spinescenti-Bromion erecti Bonin 1978 henceforth substitutes Phleo ambigui-Bromion erecti (nom. inval.) as the syntaxonomical reference for the endemic alliance of the hilly and montane limestone dry grasslands of the central and southern Apennines. Cytiso-Bromion is here divided into two suballiances: Sideritidenion italicae Biondi et al. 1995, Phleo ambigui-Bromenion erecti Biondi et al. ex Di Pietro suball. nov. Cytiso-Bromion belong to the new suborder Festuco circummediterraneae-Seslerienalia nitidae (Ubaldi 2003) stat. nov. and to the order Artemisio albae-Brometalia erecti Ubaldi ex Mucina & Dengler 2009. New and updated packages of characteristic and differential species for both Cytiso spinescenti-Bromion erecti and its related suballiances are proposed. Furthermore the validity of the name Astragaletum calabrici Giacomini & Gentile ex Bonin 1978, was proved and the association lectotypified. This association, which was previously included in Cytiso-Bromion erecti, is moved into Koelerio brutiae-Astragalion calabrici. Finally some interesting coenological and syndynamical similarities with Scorzonero-Chrysopogonetalia western Dalmatia submediterranean dry pastures are discussed.
Fitocenološka raziskava predstavlja najbolj razširjene združbe suhih travišč obalnega masiva pogorja Ausoni-Aurunci (južni Lazio, osrednja Italija). Violo pseudogracilis-Koelerietum splendentis ass. nova je razširjena samo v montanskem pasu gorovja Aurunci, kjer je v dinamični povezavi z mezofilnimi gozdovi črnega gabra (Ostrya carpinifolia) in gozdovi bukve (Fagus sylvatica). Helichryso italici-Brometum erecti ass. nova najdemo na zgornjem delu gričevnatega in v podgorskem pasu tako gorovja Ausoni (tipični aspekt) in gorovja Aurunci (subasociacija saturejetosum montanae), kjer se dinamično navezuje na termofilne gozdove črnega gabra in mezofilne gozdove črničevja (Quercus ilex). Večji delež stenomediteranskega terofitskega elementa razlikuje asociacijo Helichryso-Brometum od asociacije Violo-Koelerietum. Glede višjih sintaksonov, smo v tem prispevku naredili naslednje spremembe v skladu z mednarodnim kodeksom fitocenološke nomenklature; poimenovanje Phleo ambugui-Bromion erecti Biondi et al. 1995 obravnavamo kot neveljavno, ker je neveljaven nomenklatorni tip Asperulo purpureae-Brometum erecti. Za razliko pa je prikazana veljavnost starega poimenovanja Cytiso spinescentis-Bromion erecti Bonin 1978, izbran je tudi nomenklaturni tip in sicer Lavandulo-Asphodeletum luteae Bonin 1978 kot lektotip. Tako poimenovanje Cytiso spinescentis-Bromion erecti Bonin 1979 od sedaj zamenjuje Phleo ambigui-Bromion erecti (nom. inval.) kot sintaksonomska oznaka za endemično zvezo suhih travišč na apnencu, ki se pojavlja v gričevnatem in gorskem pasu v osrednjih in južnih Apeninih. Zveza Cytiso-Bromion je razdeljena v dve podzvezi: Sideritidenion italicae Biondi et al. 1995 in Phleo ambigui-Bromenion erecti Biondi et al. ex Di Pietro suball. nova. Zvezo Cytiso-Bromenion uvrščamo v nov podred Festuco-Seslerienalia nitidae Ubaldi 2003 statt. nov. in red Artemisio albae-Brometalia erecti Ubaldi ex Mucina & Dengler 2009. Nove in posodobljene so tudi skupine značilnih in razlikovalnih vrst tako za zvezo Cytiso spinescenti-Bromion erecti in podrejeni podzvezi. Poleg tega pa se je poimenovanje asociacije Astragaletum calabrici Giacomini & Gentile ex Bonin 1978 izkazalo za pravilno in je bila asociacija lektotipificirana. Ta asociacija, ki je bila vključena v zvezo Cytiso-Bromion erecti, je bila premeščena v Koelerio brutiae-Astragalion calabrici. Na koncu smo obravnavali nekateri zanimive cenološke in sindinamske podobnosti z redom Scorzonero-Chrysopogonetalia, kamor uvrščamo suhe submediteranske pašnike v zahodni Dalmaciji.
New Italian data on the distribution of Annex I Habitats are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 8 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 27 new cells are added in the EEA 10 ...km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Apulia, Campania, Calabria, Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria, Sardinia, and Sicily.
In this paper the results of a study on the composition and the distribution of the plant communities in three coastal areas of southern Apulia are presented. A total of about 180 vegetation relevés ...were performed following the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method. Vegetation data were analysed using both classification (UPGMA, similarity ratio) and ordination methods (including Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA). The relevés are distributed in the following classes: Molinio-Arrhenateretea, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Juncetea maritimi, Sarcocornietea fruticosae, Saginetea maritimae, Thero-Salicornietea, Helianthemetea guttati. Detailed information about structure and zoning of the detected plant communities are here provided. Two new associations, belonging to the Alkanno-Maresion nanae alliance (microphytic ephemeral plant communities growing on sandy soils, Helianthemetea guttati class) have been described here, both in the “Torre Guaceto” site. The area of “Le Cesine” showed the highest total number of plant communities, while the “Saline di Punta della Contessa” site revealed the largest number of Sarcocornietea fruticosae plant communities.
Questions: What are the syntaxonomic and synchorological patterns of the xerothermic chasmophytic vegetation in the central part of the Mediterranean Basin? What are the diagnostic species of the ...high-rank syntaxa of Asplenietalia glandulosi, Onosmetalia frutescentis and Centaureo dalmaticae-Campanuletalia pyramidalis? Location: Mediterranean coastal and subcoastal areas of southern France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and of mainland Greece. Methods: The data set of 1,261 published relevés was analysed using hierarchical clustering (Flexible Beta method), involving a series of data transformations. Indicator species analysis was used to select the best dendrogram solution and identify diagnostic taxa of the main clusters. The dendrogram was interpreted from a syntaxonomic point of view, using nomenclatural type relevés as a basis. The NMDS ordination was performed in order to visualize the floristic relationships among associations and high-rank syntaxa. MRPP was used to test for differences among alliances. Results: The classification revealed four main clusters of relevés representing the chasmophytic vegetation of southern France, Sardinia and the northwestern part of Italy (Asplenienalia glandulosi/Asplenietalia glandulosi), the southwestern part of Italy and Malta (Tinguarrenalia siculae/Asplenietalia glandulosi), the Adriatic Basin area (Centaureo dalmaticae-Campanuletalia pyramidalis) and the southern Balkans (Onosmetalia frutescentis). The NMDS ordination confirmed the overall pattern, while MRPP showed significant differences among the alliances of the above-mentioned orders and suborders. The lists of diagnostic taxa of the high-rank syntaxa were revised according to a supra-national perspective. Conclusions: The new syntaxonomic scheme provides a comprehensive overview of the chasmophytic vegetation of the central part of the Mediterranean Basin. This scheme mostly matches the recently published EuroVegChecklist, but also exhibits important novelties concerning the syntaxonomic position of some alliances (Dianthion rupicolae, Centaureion pentadactyli, Arenarion bertolonii and Caro-Aurinion), and the floristic and chorological relationships among high-rank syntaxa, with new revised sets of diagnostic taxa. This revision might be useful for further small-scale phytosociological studies.
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