Floristic Analyses of the Corsican Flora: Distribution in Ecological Compartments (Vegetation Belts, Habitats and Substrates)

Abstract

This article analyzes partial data published in the "Flora Corsica" in order to characterize the Corsican vascular flora. These analyses focus on different aspects of the flora such as species richness, taxonomic distribution, abundance and life-forms at different vegetation belts, habitats and substrates. The results are compared with other geographic regions, particularly from the European Mediterranean and adjacent areas. The decrease of species richness with an increase of altitude as well as the sharp decrease of Fabaceae has been confirmed. Regarding the biological spectrum, the decrease of the therophytes with an increase of altitude is obvious and compensated by the increase of the hemicryptophytes. On Corsica several peculiarities have been highlighted in the different ecological compartments: 1. the littoral and the cryo-oromediterranean belts appear to be very different from the others in many features; 2. the rocky habitats are shown to be especially important for the diversity of families such as Poaceae and Caryophyllaceae; 3. calcareous areas are shown to be extremely important for the alpha diversity as well as for the restricted range taxa. Finally, the specificity of the flora growing on the ultramafic outcrops is confirmed and emphazised.

Flora richness of a military area: discovery of a remarkable station of Serapias neglecta in Corsica

“…The airbase is located in the coastal and thermomediterranean belts. These belts are rich in plant species, particularly the thermomediterranean belt ( Schlüssel et al 2014 ).…”

“…The Corsican landscapes vary with massifs exceeding 2300 m of altitude ( Jeanmonod and Gamisans 2007 ) with certain hotspots ( Vogt-Schilb et al 2016 , Schatz 2017 ). The Corsican flora is well-known notably thanks to Jeanmonod and Gamisans (2007) and the various analyses carried out from this flora ( Jeanmonod et al 2009 , Schlüssel et al 2014 , Jeanmonod et al 2015 ). Corsican flora is composed of 2238 indigenous taxa, with 302 sub-endemic taxa.…”

Importance et caractéristiques des taxons cyrno-continentaux, et analyse de leur absence hors de Corse

“…Six groupes chorologiques ont été distingués en fonction de la position de la Corse au sein de l'aire de distribution générale de ces taxons (Fig. 1, selon Jalas & Suominen, 1972-1994Bolos & Vigo, 1984-2001Hand, 2001) ( Jeanmonod & Gamisans, 2013) ainsi que ceux des diverses analyses menées sur cette flore ( Jeanmonod et al, 2011a( Jeanmonod et al, , 2011bSchlüssel et al, 2014)…”

“…La Corse a fait l' objet de nombreuses recherches en botanique et notamment d'analyses très complètes sur sa flore. Ces études ont relevé divers aspects de l' originalité de sa flore notamment en comparaison de celle des autres grandes îles méditerranéennes ( Jeanmonod et al, 2011a( Jeanmonod et al, , 2011bSchlüssel et al, 2014). Son endémisme en plantes vasculaires a notamment été étudié sous plusieurs aspects (Contandriopoulos, 1981;Médail & Verlaque, 1997;Jeanmonod et al, 2015).…”