A novel dataset of permanent plots in extremely species-rich temperate grasslands

Investor logo

Warning

This publication doesn't include Faculty of Economics and Administration. It includes Faculty of Science. Official publication website can be found on muni.cz.
Authors

HÁJEK Michal HÁJKOVÁ Petra ROLEČEK Jan

Year of publication 2020
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Folia Geobotanica
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12224-020-09372-6
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12224-020-09372-6
Keywords diversity hotspot; extreme species richness; forest-steppe; permanent plots; temperate grasslands; White Carpathians
Description The extreme species richness of some temperate grasslands is a globally relevant yet understudied phenomenon. Until now, few records from thoroughly sampled, though not permanently fixed, vegetation plots were available. We therefore established a network of 40 permanent 4 x 4-m(2) plots in species-rich grasslands of the White Carpathians (Czechia), Ukraine, Hungary and Romania. Thirty-one of them form the main dataset comprising plots from discrete forest-steppe grasslands (the Brachypodio-Molinietum association of the Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati alliance), while nine of them forms the local dataset from a single locality in the White Carpathians, whose vegetation lacks most forest-steppe species and is transitional between the Bromion erecti and Arrhenatherion elatioris alliances (the Anthoxantho-Agrostietum and Anthyllido vulnerariae-Trifolietum montani associations). The permanent plots contain a nested subplot of 1 m(2), except for five plots from Ukraine and Romania. Most plots harboured at least 80 vascular plant species per 16 m(2), with the mean richness of 16-m(2) plots was 95.3 species in the main dataset and 84 species in the local dataset. Mean richness of the 1-m(2) subplots, presumably reflecting local environmental conditions and competitive relationships more than that of 16 m(2) plots, did not vary between the two datasets, with a general mean of 57.6 species. Species counts of 16-m(2) plots and 1-m(2) subplots correlated, albeit only moderately, only in the main dataset. The presented datasets may be used for comparative analyses as well as for a future revisiting of the plots and may bring novel insights into the dynamics of extreme species richness.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.