Salza Palpurina

Relict occurrences of boreal brown-moss quaking rich fens in the Carpathians and adjacent territories

Quaking rich fens dominated by boreal semi-aquatic brown-mosses such as Scorpidium scorpioides and Calliergon trifarium are extremely rare in the Carpathians. These fens harbour endangered species persisting at few localities in the region. However, their phytosociological classification has not been sufficiently solved yet, because they lack Sphagnum species as well as calcicole species characteristic for the Caricion davallianae alliance. A recent pan-European synthesis on fen vegetation suggests that these fens belong to the Stygio-Caricion limosae alliance (boreal rich fen vegetation). The isolated occurrence of this alliance southward of the boreal zone and outside the Alps is rather exceptional and might represent a relict from an early post-glacial period. In this study, we compared phytosociological data for the Stygio-Caricion limosae alliance between Northern Europe and the Carpathians plus adjacent regions (the Bohemian Massif, the Dinaric Alps) using NMDS and cluster analysis. We found that the species composition of brown-moss quaking rich fens in Central and Southeastern Europe corresponds well with that in Northern Europe, confirming their assignment to Stygio-Caricion limosae. We further reconstructed the potential past distribution of the alliance in Czech Republic and Slovakia using available floristic and macrofossil data. Macrofossil data suggest that this vegetation type had been much more common in Central Europe and that today it persists only in ancient fens, showing the long-term stability of environmental conditions. The main causes of its present-day rarity are Middle-Holocene woodland phases in fens and recent water table decreases caused by anthropogenic deterioration of the water regime in the landscape.

Bryophytes on river gravel bars in the Balkan mountains: new records and insights into ecology

Abstract: Kalníková, V., Palpurina, S., Peterka, T., Kubešová, S., Plesková, Z. & Sabovljević, M. 2017. Bryophytes on river gravel bars in the Balkan mountains: new records and insights into ecology. — Herzogia 30: 370 –386. Gravel bars are a heterogeneous habitat on the border between the aquatic and terrestrial environments that can maintain a high diversity of bryophyte species. However, the bryoflora of river gravel bar habitats has rarely been explored, particularly in Southeastern Europe. We therefore carried out a two-year field survey on river gravel bars in selected mountains and foothills in the Balkan Peninsula, recording all bryophytes in 4×4 or 3×5 m plots. In total, we sampled 59 vegetation plots on 30 streams and rivers and recorded 85 bryophyte taxa. Here we report Bryum klinggraeffii (a new species for the floras of Albania, Montenegro and Serbia) and five data-deficient or vulnerable species. We found several drought-tolerant bryophytes on gravel bars, e.g. Barbula convoluta, Ceratodon purpureus and Tortella tortuosa, as well as typical hygrophilous species, e.g. Cinclidotus aquaticus, Fontinalis antipyretica and Platyhypnidium riparioides. The most common species in this transitional habitat were Brachythecium rivulare, Bryum argenteum, Oxyrrhynchium hians, Barbula unguiculata, Ceratodon purpureus and Bryum caespiticium. Dentrended correspondence analysis ordination technique identified the complex gradient of moisture and light conditions as the main environmental factor for bryophyte communities on the studied gravel bars.

Meesia triquetra, a New Relict Moss for the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract: Peterka, T., Plesková, T., Palpurina, S., Kalníková, V., Lazarević, P. M. & Hájek, M. 2016. Meesia triquetra, a new relict moss for the Republic of Macedonia. — Herzogia 29: 66–71. Meesia triquetra is a circumpolar boreo-arctic moss species typical for well preserved fens, and is rare in southern Europe. During field research on mire vegetation in the Balkan Peninsula, a population of Meesia triquetra was found at the Begovo pole wetland in the Jakupica Mountains. It is the first record of this species for the Republic of Macedonia. A description of the locality, ecological conditions and vegetation is presented. The moss grows here in the sedge-moss vegetation similar to temperate fens of the alliance Caricion davallianae. The vegetation with Meesia triquetra in Begovo pole was evaluated in the context of fen vegetation more generally in the Balkans using detrended correspondence analysis. The study site appeared to be similar to other Balkan calcium-rich brown-moss fens without calcium carbonate precipitation. This habitat resembles the optimum habitat of the species in central and northern Europe.

The type of nutrient limitation affects the plant species richness–productivity relationship: evidence from dry grasslands across Eurasia

The species richness-productivity relationship is one of the most debated patterns in ecology. Species coexistence theory suggests that it could be tightly linked to the type of nutrient limitation (no limitation, single-nutrient limitation, colimitation by several nutrients). Yet, the effects of nutrient limitation on the species richness-productivity relationship have been rarely studied at the regional and continental scales. Combining the predictions of the humped-back model and the niche dimension hypothesis, we hypothesized that an increase in plant species richness with the number of different limiting nutrients is detectable only at higher productivity levels, at which competition for nutrients is more intense. Therefore, we expected the shape of the diversity-productivity relationship to differ between sites colimited by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), sites limited by a single nutrient (either N or P), and sites not limited by any of these nutrients. To test this hypothesis, we used species richness data collected in 10 m x 10 m plots at 694 temperate dry grassland sites across eight regions in northern Eurasia. Productivity ranged from 10 to similar to 500 g/m(2) of above-ground standing biomass. The type of nutrient limitation was identified by critical nutrient ratios alone and their combination with critical nutrient concentrations measured in the plant tissue. Relationships were analysed using generalized linear and mixed-effect models. In line with our expectations, species richness of Eurasian temperate dry grasslands increased more steeply and peaked higher under higher productivity levels at N&P-colimited sites. When nutrient limitation was assessed by both ratios and concentrations, species richness at N&P-colimited sites continued to increase monotonically until the maximum productivity sampled in this study. In contrast, at sites with a single-nutrient limitation or no limitation, the peak in species richness was lower and occurred at a lower productivity of about 300-400 g/m(2). Synthesis. We provide the first evidence that the species richness-productivity relationship may depend on the type of nutrient limitation as predicted by the species coexistence theory. To generalize these findings, the role of nutrient limitation needs to be tested in other ecosystems, including more productive plant communities.