Management Regimes within Syntaxa of Semi-Natural Grasslands in West Bulgaria

Abstract

This study focuses on mesic and xeric grasslands of mostly secondary origin, and that are influenced by human activity. Mesic grasslands are traditionally used for hay-making, and xeric ones for pastures. Over the last 20 years, livestock farming in Bulgaria has significantly declined so that less grass is needed. Many types of grasslands are no longer used and lots of abandoned fields can be found nowadays in Bulgaria. The analyses in this study are based on 868 relevés collected on xeric and mesic grasslands according to the methodological approach of BraunBlanquet. As a result, five alliances within two classes are recognized: the class Festuco-Brometea, represented by three alliances, namely Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati, Chrysopogono-Danthonion calycinae and Festucion valesiacae, and the class Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, represented by two alliances, namely Arrhenatherion elatioris and Cynosurion cristati. The majority of the managed grasslands are situated in close proximity to settlements. Most of the abandoned areas (30%) are found within Cirsio-Brachypodion alliance. These grasslands are characterized by the highest values of total cover of vegetation. They are located in the most distant and least accessible areas. If use is not resumed, all the abandoned grasslands will be under threat of extinction in the near future. At the same time, many arable lands have been abandoned and turned into grasslands by the processes of secondary succession. Keywords: classification, grazing, mowing, ordination, species diversity, syntaxonomy, vegetation. IzvlečekV raziskavi smo se osredotočili na mezična in kserična travišča večinoma sekundarnega nastanka, ki so pod vplivom človekovih aktivnosti. Mezična travišča se tradicionalno uporabljajo za seno, kserična pa kot pašniki. V Bolgariji je živinoreja v zadnjih 20 letih močno upadla in je potreba po krmi manjša. S številnimi tipi travišč ne gospodarijo več in danes je v Bolgariji moč najti številne opuščene površine. V analizi smo zbrali 868 vegetacijskih popisov kseričnih in mezičnih travišč, narejenih z Braun-Blanquetovo metodo. Uvrstili smo jih v pet zvez in dva razreda: razred Festuco-Brometea, ki ga predstavljajo tri zveze Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati, Chrysopogono-Danthonion calycinae in Festucion valesiacae in razred Molinio-Arrhenatheretea z dvema zvezama Arrhenatherion elatioris in Cynosurion cristati. Večina vzdrževanih travišč se nahaja v bližini naselij. Večino opuščenih površin (30%) uvrščamo v zvezo Cirsio-Brachypodion in za te travnike je značilno, da imajo največjo skupno pokrovno vrednost in se nahajajo v najbolj oddaljenih, težko dostopnih območjih. Če jih ne bomo ponovno začeli uporabljati, bodo v bližnji prihodnosti izginili. Obenem se opuščajo tudi številne obdelovalne površine, ki se spreminjajo v travnike v procesu sekundarne sukcesije.

Drivers of plant diversity in Bulgarian dry grasslands vary across spatial scales and functional‐taxonomic groups

“…Despite their high diversity with many unique vegetation types (Tzonev et al, 2009), Bulgarian grasslands have only recently received more attention (Velev & Vassilev, 2014;Palpurina et al, 2015). However, neither diversity patterns of different taxonomic and functional vascular plant groups (but see Palpurina et al, 2015), nor diversity patterns across different spatial scales (including beta-diversity) have previously been studied in Bulgarian grasslands.…”

Changes in the area of permanent grassland and its implications for the provision of bioenergy: Slovakia as a case study

“…In Slovakia, although the largest areas of abandoned grasslands are found in upland and mountainous regions, the rate of abandonment (approximately 30%-40%) is also similar in lowlands and in hilly regions. In Bulgaria, most of the abandoned permanent grasslands are located in the most distant and least accessible areas (Velev & Kirilov, 2014) and a similar situation has been observed in Romania where adverse road access and market access have had more significant effects on land abandonment than the effect of terrain (M} uller, Kuemmerle, Rusu, & Griffits, 2009 reported that considerably higher yields are likely on some types of semi-natural grassland on more fertile sites and wet meadows. In some localities therefore, the potential harvestable yield of biomass for energy production may be greater than the minimum values applied here.…”

“…The present study has focused on Slovakia as a case study, but there are parallels with changes in other countries. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, there have been similar institutional and economic shocks that have resulted in low profitability of ruminant livestock production (Baumann et al., ; Ruprecht, Szabó, Enyedi, & Dengler, ) and to reduced demand for grassland in agriculture (Velev & Kirilov, ). Compared with 1990, in 2013, the cattle numbers had fallen by 67%, 42%, 50% and 70% in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, resulting in a considerable decline in the area of cultivated and utilized grassland.…”

The Link Between Habitats and Carbon Accumulation from Natural Forest Regrowth in Borino Municipality (Southern Bulgaria)

“…When it comes to habitat and phytocoenological studies in Bulgaria, a well-deserved place among them are the investigations of several authors [e.g., 19,20]. And these studies [21,22] add more data. There are other important studies that grab the attention for their role in Bulgaria, regarding mountain regions, their forest cover and carbon sequestration [e.g., 9,15].…”