Zuzana Plesková

Formalized classification of European fen vegetation at the alliance level

Phytosociological classification of fen vegetation (Scheuchzerio palustris-Caricetea fuscae class) differs among European countries. Here we propose a unified vegetation classification of European fens at the alliance level, provide unequivocal assignment rules for individual vegetation plots, identify diagnostic species of fen alliances, and map their distribution. 29 049 vegetation-plot records of fenswere selected fromdatabases using a list of specialist fen species. Formal definitions of alliances were created using the presence, absence and abundance of Cocktail-based species groups and indicator species. DCA visualized the similarities among the alliances in an ordination space. The ISOPAM classification algorithm was applied to regional subsets with homogeneous plot size to check whether the classification based on formal definitions matches the results of unsupervised classifications. The following alliances were defined: Caricion viridulo-trinervis (sub-halophytic Atlantic dune-slack fens), Caricion davallianae (temperate calcareous fens), Caricion atrofusco-saxatilis (arcto-alpine calcareous fens), Stygio-Caricion limosae (boreal topogenic brown-moss fens), Sphagno warnstorfii-Tomentypnion nitentis (Sphagnumbrown-moss rich fens), Saxifrago-Tomentypnion (continental to boreo-continental nitrogen-limited brown-moss rich fens), Narthecion scardici (alpine fens with Balkan endemics), Caricion stantis (arctic brown-moss rich fens), Anagallido tenellae-Juncion bulbosi (Ibero-Atlantic moderately rich fens), Drepanocladion exannulati (arcto-borealalpine non-calcareous fens), Caricion fuscae (temperate moderately rich fens), Sphagno-Caricion canescentis (poor fens) and Scheuchzerion palustris (dystrophic hollows). The main variation in the species composition of European fens reflected site chemistry (pH, mineral richness) and sorted the plots from calcareous and extremely rich fens, through rich andmoderately rich fens, to poor fens and dystrophic hollows.

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.

Long-lasting imprint of former glassworks on vegetation pattern in an extremely species-rich grassland: a battle of species pools on mesic soils

Increasing evidence suggests that past human activities have irreversibly changed soil properties and biodiversity patterns. In the White Carpathian Mts (Central-Eastern Europe), a mosaic of hyper-species-rich and species-rich patches have developed in a regularly mown dry grassland in the area of a glassworks abandoned in the eighteenth century. We tested whether and how anthropogenically changed soils affected the distribution of extraordinary species richness. Using magnetometry we detected former furnaces, workspace, waste deposit and unaffected surrounding grasslands and compared their vegetation and environmental conditions. Archaeological features, especially furnaces and waste deposits, showed a higher pH, higher soil concentrations of exchangeable phosphorus, manganese, lead and calcium, and higher productivity. Surrounding grassland showed higher iron and sodium concentrations in the soil, higher N:P ratio in the biomass and higher species richness. Moisture was uniformly lower in soils on archaeological features, where non-trivially a more ‘mesic’ vegetation in terms of European habitat classification occurred. Plant compositional variation was best explained by water-extractable phosphorus. Because nutrient-richer patches were not moister as common elsewhere, and because species richness was only poorly accounted for by productivity, the occurrence of a species-poor ‘mesic’ vegetation on archaeological features was evidently caused by a long-lasting phosphorus oversupply which favours a comparatively small species pool of rather recently arriving species. On the contrary, surrounding phosphorus-poorer grasslands still contain the ancient species pool whose extraordinary size determines the exceptional species richness of grasslands in the study region. Its maintenance or restoration demands a persistent phosphorus deficiency.

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.

Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides, a New Bryophyte Species for Montenegro

Abstract: Peterka, T., Kalníková, V. & Plesková, Z. 2017. Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides, a new bryophyte species for Montenegro. – Herzogia 30: 496–500. Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides is an European boreo-temperate species confined to extremely rich fens and other calcareous wetlands. The species belongs to endangered wetland biota; many localities across Europe have recently disappeared. Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides is rare on the Balkan Peninsula. Here we report the species as new for Montenegro. The moss was found on the plateau Jezerska Površ at the eastern edge of the Durmitor Mts. Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides grows here in moss-sedge vegetation of the Caricion davallianae alliance.