Tuexenia : Mitteilungen der Floristisch-Soziologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Band 29 (2009)
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We first report from the 5th Dry Grassland Meeting held from 28th to 30st of August 2008 in Kiel, Germany. Then we take stock of the achievements of the German Arbeitsgruppe Trockenrasen and the international Working Group on Dry Grasslands in the Nordic and Baltic Region towards establishment of vegetation databases of dry grasslands in these study regions. At the conference, the European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) was founded as an international platform of dry grassland researchers and conservationists. As networking tools it provides a homepage on the internet, publishes a quarterly electronical bulletin, and will organise the future European Dry Grassland Meetings. In the last part of this contribution, we give a short introduction to the five articles of this Special Feature. Four of them make a major contribution to supra-national classification of Koelerio-Corynephoretea and Festuco- Brometea communities, respectively, by providing syntaxonomic overviews based on comprehensive data from eastern European countries for which only few data have been available until now. The other major focus of the Feature papers is on degradation and restoration of various types of dry grasslands.
This paper presents the results of a study on psammophilous grasslands, conducted during the years 1994-1997 and in 2008 in the Masurian Lake District (NE Poland). The study aimed at the determination of floristic composition, phytosociological diversity and habitat characteristics. Field work resulted in 511 phytosociological releves. Soil samples were taken to determine pH, hydrolytic acidity, sum of basic cations, cation exchange capacity, content of CaC03 and total carbon. In 2008, the presence of communities dominated by grey-hair grass (Corynephorus canescens) in the previously established sites was checked. TWINSPAN was used for hierarchic classification of the association Comiculario aculeatae-Corynephoretum canescentis (syn. Spergulo morisonii-Corynephoretum canescentis). Accordingly, the association is divided into four subtypes (typical subtype, subtype with Cladonia mitis, subtype with Thymus serpyllum and subtype with Festuca ovina) with nine variants. Field observations showed that the communities analyzed have been under strong anthropogenic pressure, causing their degeneration and decrease in area. The most common human uses of psammophilous grassland communities are housing development, road construction, afforestation, sand extraction, wood storage and unauthorized dumping. In contrast to the above types of land use, seasonal use of grasslands for recreation purposes (as sunbathing spots or as sports fields) does not lead to their degeneration and may have a beneficial influence on their maintenance as a component of the local landscape.