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Syntaxonomic revision of the Pannonian grasslands of Austria : 1. Introduction and general overview
(2013)
The Pannonian part of Austria is a diverse landscape situated in the transition zone between the Alps, the Bohemian Massif and the Carpathian Basin. Although the grasslands of this region have been investigated in many botanical and vegetation studies, their phytosociological classification has remained confusing. With this paper, we start a series aiming at a developement of a revised, consistent system of the Austrian Pannonian grasslands. Here we present a general overview focusing on the higher syntaxonomic units. We define grasslands as all types of meadows, pastures, fens and primary steppes. We selected all available relevés of Pannonian grasslands from the Austrian Vegetation Database. Additional unpub-lished data were included from the Danube National Park and the Biosphere Reserve Vienna Woods. To account for the comparatively low number of relevés from the northern part of the Pannonian region of Austria (Weinviertel), we included also data from southern Moravia (Czech Republic). This set of 3384 relevés was classified using TWINSPAN. Relevés that were considered as misclassified at the alliance level according to the summarised cover of diagnostic species were manually re-arranged, and the data-set specific fidelity of species to alliances was calculated using the phi coefficient. The first TWINSPAN division largely corresponded to the traditional border between the classes Festuco-Brometea and Molinio-Arrhenatheretea. The conventional alliance concepts were generally well supported. As an exception, the distinction between Diantho-Seslerion and Bromo-Festucion pallentis was not reproduced at all. Therefore, we unite all rocky grasslands on calcareous soils in a single alliance Seslerio-Festucion pallentis. We also advocate the inclusion of all basiphilous semi-dry grasslands of the study area within a single alliance Cirsio-Brachypodion. Each of the corresponding TWINSPAN clusters showed a clear prevalence of Cirsio-Brachypodion species. Moreover, two separate alliances of semi-dry grasslands would have almost no regional character species.
Many current approaches to the formal definition of vegetation units have the disadvantage of leaving a large amount of relevés unclassified. In this paper I propose a new method for the unambiguous assignment of relevés, which is based on the summarised cover value of diagnostic species. In the first step, a relevé is assigned to the class with the highest cover score. For this purpose, the character and differential species of the class as well as the character species of all subordinated syntaxa are considered diagnostic. Once the class has been determined, the assignment proceeds successively to the lower ranks. This method, which may be called “summarised percentage cover approach”, uses solely the diagnostic species of syntaxa for the assignment of relevés to vegetation units, making additional formal definitions unnecessary. As a test data set, I used 487 relevés of fringe vegetation and grasslands of nutrient-poor sites sampled in the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald), Austria. All relevés were provisorily classified at alliances level, mostly following the assignment of the original authors. TWINSPAN and DCA were applied to evaluate this preliminary classification. Diagnostic species for both the alliance and the class level were identified using the total cover value ratio as fidelity measure. The subjective classification was largely confirmed by the numerical methods. On basis of the summarised cover of Trifolio-Geranietea and Festuco-Brometea species, between 64% (Geranion sanguinei) and 99% (Seslerio-Festucion pallentis) of the relevés were reassigned to the same class as in the original classification. The fact that a considerable amount of relevés originally classified as Geranion sanguinei was reassigned to grasslands reflects the problems in delimiting fringe communities rather than a poor performance of the assignment method. The “summarised percentage cover approach” allows not only for the unequivocal assignment of relevés to an existing classification system, but may also help to improve classifications by clarifying the delimitation of higher syntaxa.
As second part of a series focusing on the Pannonian grasslands of Austria, we present a detailed classification of the grasslands of the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald). This region, although geographically belonging to the Alps, has strong floristic affinities to the Pannonian Basin. The eastern slopes of the Vienna Woods are a hotspot of xero-thermophytic vegetation and exhibit the highest vascular plant species richness in Austria at a scale of 3' x 5'. We used the TWINSPAN classification of a large data set reported in the first part of this series as starting point. Relevés that were considered as misclassified at the level of alliances were manually re-arranged. From this table, an excerpt containing only the relevés of the Vienna Woods was used for the present study (1055 plots). We re-classified the relevés preliminary labelled as Arrhenatherion with another TWINSPAN run. Clusters for which no ecological difference could be detected were merged. The final delimitation of associations and subassociations was achieved by adjusting their diagnostic species so as to get units that were most informative in terms of environmental conditions. All re-arrangements were based on the summarised cover of diagnostic species within individual relevés. As a result, the grasslands of the Vienna Woods are classified within 22 associations (plus two subassociations) belonging to ten alliances and four classes. Within the Seslerio-Festucion pallentis, a new association Scorzonero austriacae-Caricetum humilis is described. The semi-dry grasslands of the study area previously classified as Onobrychido-Brometum are de-scribed as new association Filipendulo vulgaris-Brometum erecti and assigned to the Cirsio-Brachypodion. The Anthoxantho-Agrostietum tenuis is reported for Austria for the first time, and its syntaxonomy is discussed within a broader geographical context.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Erfassung und Beschreibung von elf Waldresten im südlich der Donau liegenden Teil des Wiener Beckens. Das Untersuchungsgebiet ist durch von Löss bedeckte Schotterterrassen geprägt. Die Waldreste wurden floristisch erfasst und syntaxonomisch bearbeitet. Zusätzlich wurde in den Franziszäischen Kataster von 1820 Einsicht genommen, um genauere Informationen über die damaligen Nutzungsformen der heutigen Waldflächen zu erhalten. Die Eichen- Hainbuchenwälder wurden in das Polygonato latifolii-Carpinetum, die Eichenwälder großenteils in das Euphorbio angulatae-Quercetum eingereiht. Innerhalb dieser Assoziation wurden vier Ausbildungen ausgewiesen (degradiert, frisch, mäßig trocken und trocken). Eine Aufnahme wurde zum Lithospermo purpurocaerulei-Quercetum pubescentis gestellt. Drei Aufnahmen aus Beständen, die deutlich durch die Robinie überprägt sind, wurden als Balloto-Robinietum klassifiziert. Das Areal dieser Eichen- und Eichen-Hainbuchenwälder ist altes Siedlungsgebiet und wird seit Jahrhunderten (z.T. Jahrtausenden) genutzt, weshalb der Wald nur noch in Form von Fragmenten erhalten ist. Weiters sind neophytische Baumarten wie die Robinie und der Götterbaum ein Problem für den Fortbestand dieser Wälder, da sie die natürliche Artenzusammensetzung der Bestände verändern.
Im Rahmen des Forschungsschwerpunkts „Kulturlandschaft“ wurden 50 kleine Trockenraseninseln im Osten Österreichs pflanzensoziologisch untersucht und mit Vegetationsaufnahmen dokumentiert. Weiters wurde auf allen Flächen die Korngrößen-Zusammensetzung des Bodens bestimmt. Sämtliche Untersuchungsflächen befinden sich auf tertiären oder quartären Sedimenten. Felstrockenrasen wurden nicht berücksichtigt. Die Bestände können folgenden Gesellschaften zugeordnet werden: Polygalo majoris-Brachypodietum, Astragalo austriaci-Festucetum rupicolae, Ranunculo illyrici-Festucetum valesiacae, Poo angustifoliae-Festucetum valesiacae, Potentillo arenariae-Festucetum pseudovinae und Fumano-Stipetum eriocaulis. Artenzusammensetzung, geographische Verteilung und Böden der Einheiten werden beschrieben. Im Anschluss werden einige Probleme der syntaxonomischen Gliederung der westpannonischen Trockenrasen diskutiert.