Volume 7 (2008): Issue 2 (January 2008)

The paper presents results of a syntaxonomic analysis of the herbaceous phytocoenoses on the salt steppes, meadows and marshes in Southeastern Bulgaria, and along the Southern Black Sea Coast. The halophytic vegetation is distributed mostly in the Tundzha Lowland and the large salt lakes along the Black Sea Coast, where the saline soils occupy large territories. Most syntaxa identified in the paper are well-known and wide-spread in Central and Eastern Europe (Salicornietum prostratae, Suaedetum maritimae, Juncetum maritimae etc.), but there are also some specific vegetation types, which are presented by endemic associations as Petrosimonio brachiatae-Puccinellietum convolutae, Bupleuro tenuissimae-Camphorosmetum monspeliacae. The most widespread one is Diantho pallidiflori-Puccinellietum convolutae. It demonstrates a big variation in the appearance and the dominant structure of the described phytocoenoses. The comparision of the Bulgarian halophytic vegetation with other places in Europe shows its similarities with these vegetation types distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe.

The paper brings numerical classification of 48 new phytosociological relevés of dry grassland vegetation from the Slovenský kras Mts and the Aggteleki-karszt Mts located on the border between Slovakia and Hungary (Central Europe). We performed a comparison of two classification approaches (an unsupervised method - modified TWINSPAN, and a supervised approach - electronic expert system based on formal definitions of associations), which were applied on the same dataset. Four associations were distinguished: Campanulo divergentiformis-Festucetum pallentis Zólyomi (1936) 1966, Poo badensis-Caricetum humilis (Dostál 1933) Soó ex Michálková in Janišová et al. 2007, Alysso heterophylli-Festucetum valesiacae (Dostál 1933) Kliment in Kliment et al. 2000 and Festuco rupicolae-Caricetum humilis Klika 1939. A newly recorded stand of the rare Stipetum tirsae Meusel 1938 association is characterised. What is more, we established a neotype of the Alysso heterophylli-Festucetum valesiacae association.

The following paper reports the results of phytosociological research of tall-herb and tall-herb plant communities within the class Mulgedio-Aconitetea in the subalpine belt of the Krivánska Malá Fatra Mts. The data set of 209 relevés was sampled and analysed using numerical classification and ordination. Major ecological gradients were interpreted using Ellenberg's indicator values and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index. Ten associations within five alliances were distinguished and characterised: Aconitetum firmi, Digitali ambiguae-Calamagrostietum arundinaceae, Helianthemo grandiflorae-Calamagrostietum arundinaceae, Potentillo aurei-Calamagrostietum arundinaceae, Allio victorialis-Calamagrostietum villosae, Festucetum carpaticae, Adenostylo alliariae-Athyrietum alpestris, Aconito firmi-Adenostyletum alliariae, Geranio robertiani-Delphinietum elati and Aconito firmi-Rumicetum alpini. Relationships between the floristic composition of the communities and environmental variables were analysed by canonical correspondence analysis.

Although the issue of classifying Abies alba woodlands has been tackled by many authors, the greatest influence had a trend-setting work of Braun-Blanquet (Braun-Blanquet et al. 1939): he described the suballiance Abieti-Piceenion Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl et al. 1939. Another important conception was created later by Oberdorfer (1957) who later (1962) differentiated suballiances Galio-Abietenion and Vaccinio-Abietenion. The main difference concerns the syntaxonomical approach to Abies woodlands: according to Braun-Blanquet, the presence (or dominance) of Abies alba is not evaluated separately: montane coniferous forests with the relevant character species are classified into the suballiance Abieti-Piceenion, meant as opposite to the subalpine coniferous forests. By contrast, Oberdorfer treated woodlands with the high abundance/dominance of Abies alba and natural absence of Fagus sylvatica as distinct types of syntaxa and divided further the montane Abies woodlands according to their phytocoenotic differences. These two fundamental conceptions were used alternatively by various authors, and not always in accordance with the original authors' intention. Therefore it is important to draw the attention of phytosociologists to differences resulting from the syntaxonomical concept chosen.