Morphometric analysis of Arabidopsis arenosa (L.) Law. on the waste heap Maximilián in Špania Dolina (Starohorské vrchy Mts.)

The aim of work was to determine of differences in morphometric traits of the model species Arabidopsis arenosa (L.) Law. on the heap and neighbour site on the basic of research realized in growing season 2011 on the heap Maximilián in Špania Dolina. We focused on plant height, width of rosette of leaves, width and length of lowest stem leaf, number of seed per one silique, weight of roots and weight of overground parts. The results were subjected of statistical analysis with the assistance of a Student t-test, idicators of variability and central values.The results show statistically significant difference at height level of confidence for each of the average of measured traits.The results support the hypothesis about influence of heavy metals on the whole habitus of plant and its evolution

Taxonomic revision of roses (Rosa L.) of selected areas in buffer zone of the Low Tatras National Park (Slovakia)

The paper presents results of preliminary research carried out in 2011 in the area of two Protected Sites – CHA Jakub, CHA Kopec and Nature Reserve PR Mackov bok in the buffer zone of the Low Tatras National Park. Six native species and one native hybrid of roses were found there (1 from the Pimpinellifoliae section and 6 from the Caninae section) and their 13 varieties. The most numerous among them are Rosa canina var. dumalis Baker and R. × subcanina (H. Christ) R. Keller. Such great diversity of species and varieties insuch a small area (only 20.2 ha) proves considerable floristic richness, and occurrence of habitats preferred by roses

Analyses of floristic composition of the abandoned Cu-dump field Piesky (Staré Hory Mountains, Slovakia)

The Cu-dump field Piesky is an important historical abandoned mining area in the region of central Europe, well known for the high content of heavy metals in its soil, especially copper, the content of which varies from 933.40 to 1485.40 mg kg⁻¹. Floristic and phytosociological research was carried out here during the vegetation seasons in 2011–2014. Altogether a total of 156 taxa of vascular plants were found. The most common species were <i>Acetosella vulgaris</i>, <i>Agrostis</i> <i>capillaris</i>, <i>A</i>. <i>stolonifera</i>, <i>Arabidopsis arenosa</i> and <i>Festuca rubra</i>, which were important constituents of all mine heaps in central Slovakia. We examined a total of 11 phytosociological relevés at various sites, which were selected to capture the variability of plant communities throughout topographical and ecological variability, various successional stages and impacts from humans. They were classified into five habitats: initial successional stages, grasslands, forest stands, wetland and feeding grounds for wild animals. <br><br> Each site was evaluated in terms of its species richness, index of diversity and the representation of metallophytic, alien invasive species, synanthrophytes and native non-apophytes. This representation is based on species number and abundance, and their ratios to all taxa abundance and species richness are reflected by several indicators, which we have called indexes of metallophytization, synanthropization and naturalness of the vegetation (community) composition. In addition, indexes of invasive alien taxa and native non-apophytes proportion were used. Furthermore, each of the 11 sites was characterized by its basic topographic properties and climatic and edaphic variables, using the phytoindication approach based on the Ellenberg indicator values. The correlation analysis has uncovered several important and significant associations between some of these indicators and the climatic and edaphic variables. The negative correlations between the number of native non-apophytes and temperature (and between their relative abundances in the individual habitats and light) partially confirm that on mine heaps the numbers of synanthrophytes retreat into climax forest stands. Other correlations confirm that synanthropisation of the vegetation at a site is also higher in more eutrophic and less acidic soils for mine heaps. <br><br> The species richness was highest in the grasslands and wetland and lowest in the initial succession stages, while beta diversity decreased in an opposite direction. Most synanthrophytes were found on grasslands, attracted by higher amount of nutrients in the soil, brought by sewage sludge from water treatment plants during partial recultivation of this mine heap in the years 2000 and 2010. The idea behind it was to support and accelerate the succession, however the use of the sludge may not have been the best option. Despite strict control of its chemical content, a high input of nutrients inevitably increases numbers of synanthrophytes in the vegetation cover. Finally, planting deciduous trees on young mine heaps as a method of directed succession is a better option than planting coniferous ones. The latter trees create acidic litter, increasing heavy metal mobility in the soil. We have found the dump heap Piesky to be a very suitable locality for studying processes of primary and directed succession in extreme environments and their impacts on the floristic composition of vegetation

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