Florističke značajke pašnjaka na obiteljskim poljoprivrednim gospodarstvima u Istri

Vascular pasture flora was investigated at localities of 6 family-owned farms that raise sheep, situated from south to north of the Istrian Peninsula, Croatia. During the research in 2003, a total of 291 plant taxa (268 species and 23 subspecies) were found. The taxa belonged to 182 genera and 44 families. The most dominant families are: Compositae (14.78%) and Gramineae (14.78%), followed by Leguminosae (11.34%) and Labiatae (9.97%). According to analysis of life forms, the most numerous are Hemicryptophyta (49.83%) and Therophyta (27.15%).Vaskularna flora pašnjaka istraživana je na lokalitetima 6 obiteljskih gospodarstva koja imaju ovčarsku proizvodnju i smještena su od juga do sjevera istarskog poluotoka. Tijekom istraživanja 2003. godine ustanovljena je 291 biljna vrsta (268 vrsta i 23 podvrste) u okviru 182 roda i 44 porodice. Većina je biljaka pripadala skupinama Compositae (14.78%) i Gramineae (14.78%), slijedile su Leguminosae (11.34%) i Labiatae (9.97%). U spektru životnih oblika prevladavali su hemikriptofiti (49.83%) i terofiti (27.15%)

Tall grass invasion after grassland abandonment influences the availability of palatable plants for wild herbivores: insight into the conservation of the Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata.

Invasion of the tall grass Brachypodium genuense was observed in an area of the central Apennines (Italy) where the population size of Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) was in strong decline. Since this dominant tall grass threatens biodiversity and forage quality, our hypothesis was that B. genuense abundance influenced that of palatable species for the chamois, depending on their functional traits and distribution patterns. Our sampling design used plots of 10 9 10 m and 1 9 1 m to investigate the plant community level and finescale interactions. We analyzed data using correlation, generalized linear models, and redundancy analyses. We found that B. genuense can reach high abundance values on the deepest soils. Its high cover value influences plant community composition by competitive exclusion of subordinate species and suppression of functional features because of temporal or spatial niche overlap. This leads to low cover of palatable species at a fine scale, and to poor pasture quality for chamois at a wider scale. Therefore, we postulated that B. genuense invasion, enhanced by longterm grazing cessation, may reduce the availability of palatable plants for Apennine chamois, especially below the potential timberline (1900–2000 m a.s.l.). The high abundance of B. genuense may amplify the effect of other negative factors, such as competition with red deer (Cervus elaphus) and climate change, in restricting the suitable habitat of the Apennine chamois to the higher sectors of the central Apennines. Thus, we suggested that B. genuense spread should be monitored carefully and plans to control its invasion should be implemented

Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

Aims: Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m2 and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results: Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions: The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology