The present study examined a sub-Mediterranean pastoral system in the central Apennines (Italy) with a long history of\ud grazing, where winter cold stress is alternated with summer drought stress. The research goals were to ascertain whether\ud different floristic structures correspond to different stress conditions (xeric and semimesic), and whether peculiar functional\ud plant traits (such as avoidance and tolerance mechanisms) respond to stress/disturbance intensities, and understand how\ud vegetation reacts to changeable livestock pressure (through floristic and plant trait variations). Cluster analysis indicated that\ud separate communities develop under different stress intensities. Other analyses highlighted how avoidance strategies predominate within the pastoral system. Observations of grazed and ungrazed patches conducted in 10-m transects revealed spiny cushion formation in semimesic grassland, where a brief period of overgrazing occurs in late summer, causing variations in plant community structure. All these results confirm the importance of historical grazing and current land use, showing how small disturbances and stress variations cause ecosystem responses. Best practices for management were identified. In xeric conditions, it is advisable that the intensity of disturbance be lessened, while in semimesic grassland overgrazing should be forbidden during the dry period, because it could facilitate the development of spiny patches, and subsequent spread of Brachypodium rupestre

BackgroundThe paper presents the first ethnobotanical application of Ellenberg indicator values, which are widely used in European plant ecology. The aim of the study was to find out if Ellenberg values (indicating habitat preferences) differ for wild food and medicinal plants used in north-eastern Istria (Croatia). We used Ellenberg-Pignatti values (the version of Ellenberg values used in this part of Europe).MethodsFifty semi-structured interviews were carried out among local key informants, asking which wild food and medicinal plants they used.ResultsThe mean number of food and medicinal plants mentioned per interview was 30. Altogether, 121 species were recorded as food or medicine used or previously used in the study area. Thirty-one species are used exclusively as food or everyday drink, 50 species are used exclusively as medicine and 40 species are used for both food and medicine. There were no significant differences between Ellenberg values for food and medicinal plants, apart from the Nitrogen indicator value – the plants used exclusively as food had a significantly higher index than those used in medicine. This probably stems from the fact that plants with soft fleshy shoots are attractive as food and they are more likely to come from nitrogen-rich ruderal habitats.ConclusionsFood plants and medicinal plants are collected from a variety of habitats and no clear difference between the two categories of plants was detected, however further testing of Ellenberg values in ethnobotanical studies could be interesting.

Abstract. Carici humilis-Centaureetum rupestris association is one of the most widespread types of pasture in Istria and of great environmental and economic interest. The research aims were to test if forage quantity, nutritive value and functional composition (grasses and grass-like, legumes, and forbs percentage) of these pastures change significantly in relation to: time of the growing season, management type (low use intensity grazing/grazing abandonment) and topographic variables. During 2008, phytomass samples were collected in grazed and ungrazed pastures of Ćićarija (Croatia), in May, June, and September. Their composition in dry matter, ash, crude protein (CP), neutral and acid detergent fiber (NDF, ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were determined and net energy for lactation (NEL) and yield NEL were calculated. These variables followed a double trend, linked to the phenological phases of grasslands and to a land use/topographic gradient. Yield, yield NEL, dry matter, NDF, ADF and ADL increased during the growing season, while CP, NEL and IVDMD decreased. Yield, yield NEL, grasses and forbs, ash, and IVDMD were tied to the ungrazed pastures spread on the slopes, while ADF, ADL and dry matter had stronger correlation with grazed grasslands spread on the flat lands.

This paper is first inventarisation of threatened and invasive vascular plants on the rocky grasslands situated on northern slopes of mountain Matokit and abandoned arable land in vicinity of town of Vrgorac. These sites represent a new site for the Croatian flora. This research was conducted in year 2010 and 2011. We found 11 species of threatened vascular plants that by the Red Book (Nikolić and Topić [14]) and Flora Croatica Database (Nikolić [13]) and 15 invasive species, according to preliminary list of invasive alien species (IAS) in Croatia (Boršić et al. [3]). In this paper the habitat of some species, their distribution in Croatia, life forms and floral elements are described. It was found that threatened species occur exclusively on the rocky grassland habitat, except two species: critically endangered (CR) Papaver argemone and endangered (EN) Hibiscus trionum which were recorded on arable land. All inventoried invasive species, were recorded at the abandoned arable land, except the species Robinia pseudoacacia. Tendency for uncontrolled spread showed species Ailanthus altissima and Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Habitats of rocky grassland are on the stage of secondary succession (healing with the forest), and on the arable land the spread of invasive species exist (due to socio-economic changes: abandonment of agriculture and animal husbandry, and depopulation of the population). The results of these studies are contribution to the distribution map of threatened and invasive species in Croatia, and to the conservation of grassland habitat study area, as well as to preventing of the spread of invasive species.

Tehnologija sama  po sebi ne može garantovati uspeh preduzetih projekata, a ljudski faktor ne treba zanemariti jer se digitalna transformacija ne zasniva samo na tehnologiji već i na kreativnosti ljudi koji primenjuju tehnologiju. Sa rastom složenih projekata i sve većim tempom  promena,  organizacijama  su  potrebni  projektni  menadžeri  i  timovi  koji  će  se  baviti digitalnom transformacijom, poremećajima, čestim promenama i dvosmislenostima.