Numeric syntaxonomical analysis of communities of the Molinia caerulea complex in Southwestern of Ukraine

The aims of the paper are: i) to establish the coenotic affinity of each species of the Molinia caerulea complex in the southwest of Ukraine, ii) to present the results of a comparative analysis of the syntaxa in which include Molinia, iii) to explain possible reasons for the expansion of Molinia caerulea in the studied area. The study area ranges from the basins of the Upper Prut River to the Upper Siret River in Ukraine. To determine the coenotical affinity of the studied species, 134 relevés were analysed. The data analysis was carried out using the Modified TWINSPAN algorithm provided by the JUICE software. Ecological features of the communities were analyzed by means of a DCA-ordination and phytoindication assessment. It was revealed that in the studied region the species of the Molinia caerulea complex are characterized by a relatively wide coenotic and ecological range and that they can be attributed to different communities of 4 vegetation classes: Molinio-Arrhenatheretea (Polygono bistortae-Trisetion flavescentis, Molinion cearuleae, Arrhenatherion elatioris alliances), Festuco-Brometea (Bromion erecti alliance), Mulgedio-Aconitetea (Calamagrostion villosae alliance), Oxycocco-Sphagnetea (Sphagnion magellanici alliance). This paper presents the results of the floristic composition analyses outlines some ecological peculiarities and discusses the conservational values of the identified syntaxa.

The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) in 2016-2017

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The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) in 2015-2016

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The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) in 2019–2020

This report summarizes the activities and achievements of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) from July 2019 to December 2020. During this period, Covid-19 allowed only one live event, the 14th EDGG Field Workshop to the alpine vegetation of Switzerland, organised ad hoc as a replacement for the cancelled Field Workshop in the Ukrainian steppes. The cancelled Eurasian Grassland Conference in Spain found a partial replacement in “Talk Grasslands!”, a series of online talks during winter 2020/2021. EDGG’s own diamond open access periodical, Palaearctic Grasslands, is a novel combination of scientific journal, photo magazine and member newsletter. With five issues during the reporting time it contributed much to EDGG’s attractiveness. EDGG edited four Special Features in international journals (Tuexenia, Hacquetia, Flora) and contributed 13 chapters on grasslands and shrublands of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm to the Encyclopedia of the world’s biomes. EDGG’s vegetation-plot database GrassPlot with multi-scale and multi-taxon diversity data of grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic is now integrated into the EDGG website with the GrassPlot Diversity Explorer

Formalized classification of semi-dry grasslands in central and eastern Europe

European semi-dry grasslands are among the most species-rich vegetation types in the northern hemisphere and form an important part of the habitat mosaics in the forest-steppe zone. However. there is no comprehensive evaluation of the variation in their composition and the phytosocio-logical classification of these grasslands. For the syntaxonomic revision, we used a dataset of 34,173 vegetation plot records (releves) from central and eastern Europe. which were assigned to the class Fesiuco-Bromeiea using the diagnostic species listed in the EuroVegChecklist. To determine the diagnostic species of the orders, we used a TWINSPAN classification of the whole dataset. Of the total dataset, 15,449 releves were assigned to the order Brachypodietalia pinnati. which corresponds to semi-dry grasslands. This subset was again classified using TWINSPAN. Formal definitions of the following alliances were established: Mesobromion erecti, Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati (incl. Fragario-Trifolion montani. Agrosiio-Avenulion schellianae, Scabioso ochroleucae-Poion angustifoliae and Adonido vernalis-Stipion iirsae), Scorzonerion villosae and Chrysopogono-Danshonion. Another alliance, Armerion elongatae (=Koelerio-Phleion phleoidis p.p.). is transitional towards the class Koelerio-Corynephoreiea and its status needs further evaluation. We also established formal definitions of all of the associations of Mesobromion and Cirsio-Brachypodion within the area studied. Associations were identified using (i) a TWINSPAN classification of the whole order, (ii) TWINSPAN classifications of regionally restricted data sets (usually all Brachypodietalia plots in one country) and (iii) existing national classification schemes. All formal definitions were written in the expert system language of the JUICE program. To obtain a more complete picture of the floristic similarities and gradients. we performed a DCA ordination of the associations. Our results revealed that meadow steppes in the forest-steppe zone in eastern Europe are very similar to semi-dry grasslands in central Europe

GrassPlot v. 2.00 – first update on the database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

Abstract: GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phyto- coenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems

Xeric grasslands of the inner-alpine dry valleys of Austria - new insights into syntaxonomy, diversity and ecology

Aims: We studied the syntaxonomic position, biodiversity, ecological features, nature conservation value and current status of dry grasslands investigated by Josias Braun-Blanquet more than 60 years ago. Study area: Inner-alpine valleys of Austria. Methods: We sampled 67 plots of 10 m2, following the standardized EDGG methodology. We subjected our plots to an unsupervised classification with the modified TWINSPAN algorithm and interpreted the branches of the dendrogram syntaxonomically. Biodiversity, structural and ecological characteristics of the resulting vegetation units at association and order level were compared by ANOVAs. Results: All the examined grasslands belong to the class Festuco-Brometea. From ten distinguished clusters, we could assign four clusters to validly published associations, while the remaining six clusters were named tentatively. We classified them into three orders: Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (Armerio elongatae-Potentilletum arenariae, Phleo phleoidis-Pulsatilletum nigricantis, Medicago minima-Melica ciliata community, Koelerio pyramidatae-Teucrietum montani), Festucetalia valesiacae (Sempervivum tectorum-Festuca valesiaca community); Brachypodietalia pinnati (Astragalo onobrychidis-Brometum erecti, Agrostis capillaris-Avenula adsurgens community, Anthericum ramosum-Brachypodium pinnatum community, Ranunculus bulbosus-Festuca rubra community, Carduus defloratus-Brachypodium pinnatum community). Conclusions: The ten distinguished dry grassland communities of the Austrian inner-alpine valleys differ in their ecological affinities as well as their vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen diversity. We point out their high nature conservation importance, as each of them presents a unique habitat of high value

Testing macroecological abundance patterns: The relationship between local abundance and range size, range position and climatic suitability among European vascular plants

Aim: A fundamental question in macroecology centres around understanding the relationship between species' local abundance and their distribution in geographical and climatic space (i.e. the multi‐dimensional climatic space or climatic niche). Here, we tested three macroecological hypotheses that link local abundance to the following range properties: (a) the abundance-range size relationship, (b) the abundance-range centre relationship and (c) the abundance-suitability relationship. Location: Europe. Taxon: Vascular plants. Methods: Distribution range maps were extracted from the Chorological Database Halle to derive information on the range and niche sizes of 517 European vascular plant species. To estimate local abundance, we assessed samples from 744,513 vegetation plots in the European Vegetation Archive, where local species' abundance is available as plant cover per plot. We then calculated the 'centrality', that is, the distance between the location of the abundance observation and each species' range centre in geographical and climatic space. The climatic suitability of plot locations was estimated using coarse‐grain species distribution models (SDMs). The relationships between centrality or climatic suitability with abundance was tested using linear models and quantile regression. We summarized the overall trend across species' regression slopes from linear models and quantile regression using a meta‐analytical approach. Results: We did not detect any positive relationships between a species' mean local abundance and the size of its geographical range or climatic niche. Contrasting yet significant correlations were detected between abundance and centrality or climatic suitability among species. Main conclusions: Our results do not provide unequivocal support for any of the relationships tested, demonstrating that determining properties of species' distributions at large grains and extents might be of limited use for predicting local abundance, including current SDM approaches. We conclude that environmental factors influencing individual performance and local abundance are likely to differ from those factors driving plant species' distribution at coarse resolution and broad geographical extents

Mapping species richness of plant families in European vegetation

Aims: Biodiversity is traditionally studied mostly at the species level, but biogeographical and macroecological studies at higher taxonomic levels can provide valuable insights into the evolutionary processes at large spatial scales. Our aim was to assess the representation of vascular plant families within different vegetation formations across Europe. Location: Europe. Methods: We used a data set of 816,005 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA). For each plot, we calculated the relative species richness of each plant family as the number of species belonging to that family divided by the total number of species. We mapped the relative species richness, averaged across all plots in 50 km × 50 km grid cells, for each family and broad habitat groups: forests, grasslands, scrub and wetlands. We also calculated the absolute species richness and the Shannon diversity index for each family. Results: We produced 522 maps of mean relative species richness for a total of 152 vascular plant families occurring in forests, grasslands, scrub and wetlands. We found distinct spatial patterns for many combinations of families and habitat groups. The resulting series of 522 maps is freely available, both as images and GIS layers. Conclusions: The distinct spatial patterns revealed in the maps suggest that the relative species richness of plant families at the community level reflects the evolutionary history of individual families. We believe that the maps and associated data can inspire further biogeographical and macroecological studies and strengthen the ongoing integration of phylogenetic, functional and taxonomic diversity concepts.MV, IA, JPC, ZL, IK, AJ and MC were funded by the Czech Science Foundation, programme EXPRO (project no. 19-28491X); JDi by the Czech Science Foundation (18-02773S); IB and JAC by the Basque Government (IT936-16); AČ by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS, P1-0236); AK by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (project no. 2020.01/0140); JŠ by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV 16-0431); KV by the National Science Fund (Contract DCOST 01/7/19.10.2018)