The analysis of plants featured in Baroque artworks on the eastern Adriatic coast has not previously been the subject of an in-depth study. The study of plant iconography in Baroque sacred artworks, ...which are mostly paintings, was carried out in eight churches and monasteries on the Pelješac peninsula in southern Croatia. Taxonomic interpretation of the painted flora on 15 artworks led to the identification of 23 different plant taxa (species or genera) belonging to 17 families. One additional plant was identified only by family taxonomic rank. The number of plants was relatively high, and most species were considered non-native (71%, "exotic" flora) phanerophytes. In terms of geographic origin, the Palaearctic region (Eurasia) and the American continent were identified as the main areas of plant origin.
,
, and
cf.
, were the most common species. We think that the plants were selected for decorative and aesthetic reasons, as well as for their symbolic significance.
The changes in the grassland vegetation that have occurred over the last almost 100 years on the northeastern Adriatic island of Plavnik (Croatia) were studied. For this purpose, 29 phytosociological ...relevés of standard plot size were collected using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological approach and compared with those of 100 years ago. With the aim of defining the differences among the communities and identifying the main environmental gradients, cluster analysis (Ward's method on a Chord distance matrix) and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination were applied. Taxa score-weighted means of the Ellenberg-type indicator values of main environmental variables were used to assess ecological differences among communities, and disturbance-related indicator values were calculated to assess the disturbance regime in shaping plant communities. According to the syntaxonomic framework for the grassland associations, three associations and two subassociations were found. Among them the Festuco valesiacae-Poetum bulbosae ( Poetalia bulbosae, Poetea bulbosae ), the Helichrysetum italici salvietosum officinalis ( Scorzoneretalia villosae, Festuco-Brometea ), and the Hedypnoido rhagadioloidis-Asphodeletum ramosi were proposed as new. The Festuco valesiacae-Poetum bulbosae documents for the first time, based on phytosociological data, the occurrence of the Poetea bulbosae in Croatia. Three associations were considered extinct, possibly as a result of changes in grazing pressure and type.
This paper presents the new association Pimpinello lithophilae-Centaureetum lovricii, described for the halotolerant vegetation of the order Helichrysetalia italici (Crithmo-Staticetea) on the island ...of Vis (southern Croatia). The new association substitutes the Pimpinello lithophilae-Centaureetum issaeae, originally published invalidly because its name was formed from the invalid taxon name ‘Centaurea issaea Lovrić’.
The Centaureo-Portenschlagiellion describes the cliff vegetation of the Southeastern Adriatic. This habitat type harbours many endemic taxa and has a high value for biodiversity conservation. ...Notwithstanding its importance, knowledge of the syntaxonomy of this alliance is still poor. This article aims at revising the synchorological, coenological and floristic relationships of the associations of the Centaureo-Portenschlagiellion. The revision is based on a data set of 103 relevés of Mediterranean xerothermic cliffs from Croatia, Bosnia i Herzegovina and Montenegro. The relevés were clustered by using the Flexible beta method. An indicator species analysis was used to identify the diagnostic taxa of the main clusters of relevés and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination was undertaken to visualize the floristic relationships among them. Results revealed that only seven associations belong to the Centaureo-Portenschlagiellion, whereas the others already described in phytosociological literature were invalidly described or should be treated as syntaxonomic synonyms of the previous ones. Two associations (Inulo-Centaureetum cuspidatae and Portenschlagiello-Campanuletum portenschlagianae) were reduced to the rank of subassociations of the Moltkio-Inuletum verbascifoliae. Two other subassociations were described for the first time. Data provided with this revision may be considered as essential base-line information that should aid in evaluating the state of this vegetation type in the future.
Three individuals of Prangos trifida (Mill.) Herrnst. & Heyn (Apiaceae) were found in Croatia for the first time in 2013. The population has increased in the last ten years and in 2023, 30 ...individuals were found. Prangos trifida grows on the small islet of Zmorašnji Opuh (Puh) in the Kornati National Park (Dalmatia) within the vegetation of salt-sprayed rocky cliffs. The taxonomic status, ecology and origin of the species are briefly discussed.
The paper describes the
alliance and the
association, a new syntaxa localized under the saline or sub-halophilous conditions within the thermo-mediterranean and meso-mediterranean belts of the ...eastern Adriatic coast. The
alliance is considered analogous to the Western Mediterranean
. The
association shows the high ecological amplitude of in terms of moisture. It develops on sandy soils only periodically inundated with sea or brackish waters, as well as on non-flooded areas in south Croatia, Montenegro and NW Albania. In Croatia,
has connections with the halophyte communities of the
and
classes, and the xerophilous ruderal communities of the
class. The habitats are exposed to disturbances and fragmentation.
Phytoplankton and physical-chemical parameters were investigated for the first time in the only natural hyperhaline marine lakes (salinity 40) along Croatia's Adriatic coast, Mala Solina and Velika ...Solina. Two periods were recognized during the one-year investigation: one euhaline-mesotrophic from December to May and one hyperhaline- eutrophic from June to November. Nutrient limitation appears to have been important in defining the lakes' seasonal phytoplankton composition. Phosphate was most likely limiting from October to December, silicate from January to April, and nitrogen from June to September when nitrate was depleted. Diatoms were most abundant in November to January, when temperature and salinity were low and nitrate and ammonium were high. They collapsed in March when silicate was depleted. Amphora, Navicula, and other naviculoid diatoms were the most frequent genera. Nitzschia longissima was the most abundant species. Dinoflagellate dominance began in June in Mala Solina and in March in Velika Solina. It continued while temperature, salinity, phosphate, and silicate were high. Oxyrrhis marina was the most abundant dinoflagellate (3.2 x 10 super(6) cells L super(-1)). Nanophytoplankton was the dominant size fraction. Chroococoid cyanobacteria were most abundant from May to October, reaching 2.9 x 10 super(7) cells L super(-1) in July. Both nanophytoplankton and small microphytoplankton, such as super(Oxyrrhis, Scrippsiella, and Tetraselmis), were most abundant under hyperhaline, N-depleted conditions. Toxic and harmful taxa (e.g. Alexandrium, Dinophysis), expanding in Mediterranean waters, were not recorded in the lakes.
Communities with constant presence of two insular endemic species of genus
(
Ginzb. et Teyber,
Vis.) were studied on the small southeastern Adriatic islands and islets (South Croatia), following the ...Braun-Blanquet approach. From a total of 51 phytosociological relevés, mostly collected in the period from 2020 and 2022, eight associations and three subassociations belonging to seven alliances and six classes were identified.
and
occur in a variety of habitat types (i) in bare or very shallow soils on which halophilous and halotolerant communities of the
and
mostly thrive, (ii) on rocky crevices and cliffs with rupicolous chasmophytic vegetation of the
, (iii) within woody vegetation of the
, maquis of the
and garrigues of the
, and (iv) grasslands of the
. Two associations (
,
) and one subassociation (
) are described for the first time.
Frequent sampling at a fixed South Adriatic station over 1996 was designed to capture the annual cycle of life-history stages of the dominant gelatinous invertebrate zooplankton, which are very ...seldom encountered in the world literature. Two groups of dominant species were distinguished by their periods of most intense reproduction, one in late summer–autumn and the other in late summer–autumn and winter. Of 66 species identified, there were 19 hydromedusae, 14 calycophores, 3 ctenophores, 2 heteropods, 12 pteropods, 8 polychaetes and 8 chaetognaths. Compared with historical data, the numerically dominant species of calycophores, pteropods and polychaetes have changed dramatically. The calycophore Muggiaea atlantica, newly observed in the Adriatic, has replaced its formerly dominant congener M. kochi; the pteropod Creseis virgula has supplanted C. acicula, and the previously very rare Pelagobia longicirrata now is the dominant pelagic polychaete. Faunal changes coincide with—and perhaps partly are owed to—newly documented circulation changes in the Eastern Mediterranean, the proximate source of southern Adriatic water. Thus, using an extended description of Adriatic zooplankton, data presented herein provide baseline information that is essential in the evaluation of biological changes in the Adriatic, which have appeared possible as a consequence of larger-scale oceanographic processes on zooplankton community structure.
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