Contribution to the knowledge of Crataego-Prunetea Tüxen 1962 class in Bulgaria

Mantle vegetation includes plant communities dominated mostly by shrubs and occurs in habitats where the typical tree layers meet difficulties to evolve. This study was conducted in three areas of Bulgaria – Western Balkan Range, Western Sredna Gora Mt. and the Fore-Balkan. Numerical classification and ordination were performed by PC-ORD and JUICE software packages. Diagnostic species were determined by calculating the Phi-coefficient. Two associations and one plant community of the Berberidion alliance were recognized – Corno-Ligustretum Horvat ex Trinajstić & Z. Pavletić 1991, Pruno spinosae-Ligustretum vulgaris Tüxen 1952 and Elytrigia repens-Crataegus monogyna community. The latter considered as a successional stage of shrub encroachment into the grasslands. Its species composition is very close to that of the ass. Corno-Ligustretum. The species composition of ass. Pruno-Ligustretum represents a mixture of species characteristic for dry and mesic grasslands, fringe and forest vegetation.The Crataego-Prunetea class is still poorly studied in Bulgaria and much more data from all regions in the country have to be collected

Contribution to the knowledge of Crataego-Prunetea Tüxen 1962 class in Bulgaria

Mantle vegetation includes plant communities dominated mostly by shrubs and occurs in habitats where the typical tree layers meet difficulties to evolve. This study was conducted in three areas of Bulgaria – Western Balkan Range, Western Sredna Gora Mt. and the Fore-Balkan. Numerical classification and ordination were performed by PC-ORD and JUICE software packages. Diagnostic species were determined by calculating the Phi-coefficient. Two associations and one plant community of the Berberidion alliance were recognized – Corno-Ligustretum Horvat ex Trinajstić ---amp--- Z. Pavletić 1991, Pruno spinosae-Ligustretum vulgaris Tüxen 1952 and Elytrigia repens-Crataegus monogyna community. The latter considered as a successional stage of shrub encroachment into the grasslands. Its species composition is very close to that of the ass. Corno-Ligustretum. The species composition of ass. Pruno-Ligustretum represents a mixture of species characteristic for dry and mesic grasslands, fringe and forest vegetation. The Crataego-Prunetea class is still poorly studied in Bulgaria and much more data from all regions in the country have to be collected

Forest habitats of Godech Municipality, Western Bulgaria

The current study aims at revealing the forest habitat diversity of Godech Municipality, according to the EUNIS habitat classification. Initial data was collected from the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Forestry Management Plans. Subsequently, 418 vegetation plots (relevés) and 3422 verification points were collected during the fieldwork seasons of 2019 and 2020. The research territory is situated in Western Bulgaria in close proximity to the country’s border with the Republic of Serbia. Forests cover a total of 144.85 km2. Their phytocoenoses are dominated by Fagus sylvatica L. (59.22 km2), Quercus cerris L. (14.85 km2), Carpinus betulus L. (4.94 km2), Quercus dalechampii Ten. (2.39 km2), Q. frainetto Ten. (2.99 km2). There are plantations with Pinus nigra J. F. Arnold (20.87 km2), P. sylvestris L. (16.06 km2) and Picea abies H. Karst (11.65 km2) also. Forests are experiencing some major threats, such as logging, pollution and fires

Forests of Breznik municipality

The current study aims to uncover the forest habitat diversity of Breznik municipality, following the EUNIS Classification. Initial data was collected from the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Forestry Management Plans. Forest habitat polygons were spatially processed with the use of the ArcGIS 10.8.1 software package. Field studies were performed to add more detailed information to the analysis. The phytocoenoses of the forest habitats are dominated by Quercus dalechampii, Q. frainetto, Fagus sylvatica, Carpinus betulus. Some artificial plantations with Pinus nigra and P. sylvestris were also present, as well as with non-native species, such as Robinia pseudacacia and Quercus rubra. The results of this study could be used for more in-depth research of the Breznik municipality vegetation

Syntaxonomical and ecological diversity of the class Polygono-Poetea annuae in Bulgaria

Class Polygono-Poetea annuae Rivas-Mart. 1975 includes therophyte-rich vegetation on trampled habitats. The study presents the first analysis of the syntaxonomy of this class and its ecology in Bulgaria. One hundred seventy-five relevés from this class were collected and stored in the Balkan Vegetation Database during 2017–2020. Numerical classification (hierarchical divisive) and ordination were performed by JUICE and CANOCO software packages. Diagnostic species were determined by calculating the Phi-coefficient. Four associations, Sclerochloo durae-Polygonetum arenastri, Polygonetum arenastri, Lolio-Polygonetum arenastri and Poëtum annuae, were recognized. Their floristic composition has been shaped mainly by climatic and soil conditions. Sclerochloo durae-Polygonetum arenastri association has been found at lower altitudes, occurring in fully lighted habitats with high radiation, whereas Poëtum annuae has been found at higher altitudes in wetter and cooler areas. On the other hand, stands of Polygonetum arenastri have been found on nutrient-rich soils, whereas communities of Lolio-Polygonetum arenastri were distributed in warmer and nutrient-poor areas. The Polygono-Poetea annuae class is still poorly studied in Bulgaria and much more information from all regions of the country needs to be collected and analyzed

Shrubland habitats in Dragoman municipality: a case study from western Bulgaria

The current research focuses on the investigation of shrubland vegetation in Dragoman municipality. The study is motivated by the willingness of the authors to check the shrubland habitats’ territorial extent and their importance to ecosystem processes, following the increased degree of succession over the last three decades. On the other hand, governmental subsidizing has been common for the last decade, leading to a clearance of lands with shrubs. Shrublands were studied through the application of the Braun-Blanquet approach and were defined by the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) classification. One main habitat type with three subtypes have been defined. Those are the Subcontinental and continental deciduous thickets (F3.24) that covers the largest area, Peri-Pannonic dwarf almond scrub (F3.24122), Moesian oriental hornbeam thickets (F3.2431), Moesian lilac thickets (F3.2432), covering a total area of 52.32 km2. Secondary succession has to be considered among the main reasons for shrubland distribution. The lower number of grazing animals and forest clearings act as boosters for this ecological process. Large areas in Dragoman municipality are characterized also by shallow soils that are unable to sustain forest vegetation, thus giving way to shrubs

Balkan Vegetation Database (BVD) – updated information and current status

The Balkan Vegetation Database (BVD; GIVD ID: EU-00-019) is a regional database, which was established in 2014. It comprises phytosociological relevés covering various vegetation types from nine countries of the Balkan Peninsula (Albania – 153 relevés, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1715, Bulgaria – 12,282, Greece – 465, Croatia – 69, Kosovo – 493, Montenegro – 440, North Macedonia – 13 and Serbia – 2677). Currently, it contains 18,306 relevés (compared to 9.580 in 2016), and most of them (82.8%) are geo-referenced. The database includes both digitized relevés from the literature (65.6%) and unpublished data (34.5%). Plot size is available for 84.7% of all relevés. During the last four years some “header data information” was improved e.g. elevation (now available for 83.4% of all relevés), aspect (67.7%), slope (66%), total cover of vegetation (54.3%), cover of tree, shrub, herb, bryophyte and lichen layers (27.1%, 20.1%, 40.2%, 11.5% and 2.1%), respectively. Data access is either semi-restricted (65.6%) or restricted (34.4%). Most relevés (84.6%) are classified to syntaxa of different levels. The database has been used for numerous studies with various objectives from floristic, vegetation and habitat-related topics, to macroecological studies at the local, regional, national, continental and global levels. During the last four years, BVD data were requested from 111 different projects via the EVA and sPlot databases