HÁJEK, Michal, Petra HÁJKOVÁ, Irina GOIA, Daniel DÍTĚ and Vítězslav PLÁŠEK. Variability and classification of Carpathian calcium-rich fens: breaking the state borders. Preslia. Praha: Česká botanická společnost při AV ČR, 2021, vol. 93, No 3, p. 203-235. ISSN 0032-7786. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2021.203.
Other formats:   BibTeX LaTeX RIS
Basic information
Original name Variability and classification of Carpathian calcium-rich fens: breaking the state borders
Name in Czech Variabilita a klasifikace karpatských vápnitých slatiniš : boření státních hranic
Authors HÁJEK, Michal (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Petra HÁJKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Irina GOIA, Daniel DÍTĚ and Vítězslav PLÁŠEK.
Edition Preslia, Praha, Česká botanická společnost při AV ČR, 2021, 0032-7786.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Article in a journal
Field of Study 10611 Plant sciences, botany
Country of publisher Czech Republic
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Impact factor Impact factor: 2.233
RIV identification code RIV/00216224:14310/21:00119466
Organization unit Faculty of Science
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2021.203
UT WoS 000682920200002
Keywords in English calcareous fens; Caricion davallianae; climate; ecological indicator values; k-means; pH; Poland; Romania; semi-supervised and unsupervised classification; Slovakia; vegetation
Tags rivok
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. Marie Šípková, DiS., učo 437722. Changed: 11/3/2022 08:57.
Abstract
Calcareous and rich fens harbour the unique biodiversity of plants and invertebrates. They are extremely sensitive to landscape changes because of their island nature. In the Carpathians, they are still well-preserved, but their number has substantially decreased. Knowledge about their variability and classification into vegetation units, a baseline for efficient nature conservancy, is still insufficient in the Eastern Carpathians, where phytosociology has used different methodolo-gies than in the Western Carpathians. It has resulted in artificial boundaries in the distribution of vegetation types and low compatibility with modern European habitat classification schemes. Here we gathered a large set of vegetation-plot records, sampled by the unified sampling protocol. The aim was to uncover the principal variation in compositional data, identify resulting clusters with the hitherto reported vegetation units, and create the unified classification system adjusted for the entire Carpathian territory. In line with previous ecological studies, the unsupervised clas-sifications (Twinspan, beta-flexible clustering method) largely mirrored the base saturation gra-dient and distinguished between relict fens and younger fen grasslands. We defined formally the cores of 10 vegetation units well reproduced by unsupervised classifications and used them as prototypes in semi-supervised k-means clustering. The final 10 clusters essentially correspond with phytosociological associations, with five of them being reported for the first time for Roma-nia. These vegetation units were well-separated in the principal coordinate analysis, whose first axis separated relict fens from younger fen grasslands, while the second axis followed the water level gradient largely. Groundwater pH and conductivity contributed to forming significant compositional gradients. Climate (temperature, precipitation, number of hot days above 30 degrees C) and specific edaphic conditions contributed to the diversification of the vegetation types. Our analyses supported the classification of fen grasslands into both the tufa-forming and the peat-forming ones, belonging to different associations and Habitat Directive units, both occurring in all countries including Romania, rather than having a single separate Eastern-Carpathian associa-tion. We provide strong evidence for distinguishing the Sphagno warnstorfii-Tomentypnetalia order and its alliances Sphagno warnstorfii-Tomentypnion nitentis, Stygio-Caricion limosae and Saxifrago hirculi-Tomentypnion in Romania, the latter missing in other Carpathian countries. The final unified classification system will make Carpathian vegetation types of rich and calcareous fens applicable to continental habitat classification schemes.
Links
GA19-01775S, research and development projectName: Současná a budoucí diverzita evropských slatinišť v měnícím se světě
Investor: Czech Science Foundation
GX19-28491X, research and development projectName: Centrum pro evropské vegetační syntézy (CEVS) (Acronym: CEVS)
Investor: Czech Science Foundation
PrintDisplayed: 30/5/2024 00:46