Grassland vegetation of Hodrušská hornatina highland in Central Slovakia

Abstract

This paper is focused on the grassland communities in Hodrušská hornatina highland, Central Slovakia. We studied grasslands at 153 sites during the vegetation periods of 2013-2015 and recorded 303 species of vascular plants in the studied localities. The species richness ranged from 16 to 66 taxa per relevé. Data analysis (TWINSPAN, DCA) grouped the relevés into eight clusters. These clusters include five associations from three alliances: Holcetum lanati (Deschampsion cespitosae), Pastinaco sativae-Arrhenatherum elatioris, AlchemilloArrhenatheretum elatioris, Anthoxantho odorati-Agrostietum tenuis (all from Arrhenatherion elatioris) and Onobrychido viciifoliae-Brometum erecti (Bromion erecti). The other three clusters represent the transitional and successional stages of the communities listed above. A brief description of syntaxa is given. At some sites, the threatened, rare or protected taxa of Slovakia occurred as well, one from each of the categories of Critically Endangered and Vulnerable, nine species of the Nearly Threatened and six species from the category of Least Concerned. Ostali trije klastri predstavljajo prehodne in sukcesijske stadije zgoraj omenjenih združb. Predstavili smo kratek opis združb. Na določenih lokacijah uspevajo tudi ogrožene, redke ali zaščitene rastlinske vrste. Ena spada v kategorijo skrajno ogrožene in ranljive vrste, devet med potencialno ogrožene vrste in šest med najmanj ogrožene vrste. Izvleček

Ecological Evaluation of Grassland Vegetation in Hodrušská Hornatina Highland

“…Relevés that could not be assigned directly to associations due their transitional character were classified only to higher syntaxonomical groups -alliances Arrhenatherion elatioris Luquet 1926 and Bromion erecti Koch 1926. A detailed description of all grassland communities occurring in the Hodrušská hornatina highland was published by Klimantová (2017).…”

“…Some of them are characterized by relatively high species diversity. On area of 25 m 2 , we can find more than 60 species (Klimantová, 2017). Such a high number of species is the result of long-term grassland management (mowing and grazing) and different microclimatic conditions.…”

“…The vegetation of the southern foothills of Štiavnické vrchy mountains were summarized by Neuhäusl and Neuhäuslová-Novotná during the years 1964-1965(Ciriaková, Hegedüšová, 2003. In their publications, Ružičková (1986), Ružičková, Halada (2005), , and Klimantová (2017) investigated the meadow and pasture vegetation of the Štiavnické vrchy mountains.…”