The most species-rich plant communities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (with new world records).

Milan Chytrý 1 , Tomáš Dražil 2 , Michal Hájek 1 , Veronika Kalníková 1 , Zdenka Preislerová 1 , Jozef Šibík 3 4 , Karol Ujházy 5 , Irena Axmanová 1 , Dana Bernátová 6 , Drahoš Blanár 7 , Martin Dančák 8 , Pavel Dřevojan 1 , Karel Fajmon 9 10 , Dobromil Galvánek 11 , Petra Hájková 1 12 , Tomáš Herben 13 , Richard Hrivnák 3 , Štěpán Janeček 14 , Monika Janišová 3 , Šárka Jiráská 15 , Ján Kliment 6 , Judita Kochjarová 3 6 , Jan Lepš 16 , Anna Leskovjanská 17 , Kristina Merunková 1 , Jan Mládek 8 , Michal Slezák 18 , Ján Šeffer 19 , Viera Šefferová 19 , Iveta Škodová 3 , Jana Uhlířová 20 , Mariana Ujházyová 21 & Marie Vymazalová 1

Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
  2. Administration of the Slovenský raj National Park, Štefánikovo námestie 9, SK-052 01 Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia
  3. Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23 Bratislava, Slovakia
  4. Department of Forest & Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, 1472 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO-80523 USA
  5. Department of Phytology, Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, Masarykova 24, SK-960 53, Zvolen, Slovakia
  6. Botanical Garden, Comenius University, SK-038 15 Blatnica, Slovakia
  7. Administration of the Muránska planina National Park, J. Kráľa 12, SK-050 01 Revúca, Slovakia
  8. Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 27, CZ-783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic
  9. Czech Union for Nature Conservation, Local Chapter “Bílé Karpaty”, Bartolomějské náměstí 47, CZ-698 01 Veselí nad Moravou, Czech Republic
  10. White Carpathians Protected Landscape Area Authority, Nádražní 318, CZ-763 26 Luhačovice, Czech Republic
  11. Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ďumbierska 1, SK-974 11 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
  12. Department of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Lidická 25/27, CZ-657 20 Brno, Czech Republic
  13. Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic
  14. Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Dukelská 135, CZ-379 82 Třeboň, Czech Republic
  15. Centaurea, Society for Landscape Monitoring and Management, Stolany 53, CZ-538 03 Heřmanův Městec, Czech Republic
  16. Department of Botany, University of South Bohemia, Na Zlaté stoce 1, CZ-370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  17. Štúrovo nábrežie 2366/12, SK052 01 Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia
  18. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Education, Catholic University, Hrabovská cesta 1, SK034 01 Ružomberok, Slovakia
  19. Daphne – Institute of Applied Ecology, Podunajská 24, SK-821 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
  20. Slovak National Museum-Natural History Museum, Vajanského nábr. 2, P.O.Box 13, SK-810 06 Bratislava 16, Slovakia
  21. Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, Masarykova 24, SK-960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia

Published: 20 September 2015

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Abstract

We provide an inventory of the sites and vegetation types in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that contain the highest numbers of vascular plant species in small areas of up to 625 m2. The highest numbers of species were recorded in semi-natural grasslands, in which we report four new world records for fine-scale species richness: 17 species of vascular plants in 0.0044 m2 in a mountain meadow in the Krkonoše Mts, 52 and 63 species in 0.25 and 0.5 m2, respectively, in the Kopanecké lúky meadows in the Slovak Paradise (Slovenský raj), and 109 species in 16 m2 in the Porážky meadows in the White Carpathians (Bílé Karpaty). The previous world record of 43 species in 0.1 m2 was equalled in the Čertoryje meadows in the White Carpathians, however, the previous record referred to shoot presence while the new record considers only the species rooted in the plot. We interpreted and corrected the data from the Czech Republic that Wilson et al. (2012) used to compile a list of world records and provide an updated list. The updated list contains five world records from the Czech Republic and two from Slovakia. The most species-rich grasslands and forests in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are concentrated in regions with base-rich soils in the Western Carpathians, especially in the flysch zone in SE Moravia and the Czech-Slovak borderland, and in limestone and volcanic areas in central Slovakia. The richest types of non-forest vegetation include semi-dry base-rich meadows (Bromion erecti and Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati), base-rich pastures and mesic meadows (Cynosurion cristati and Arrhenatherion elatioris), Nardus stricta grasslands (Violion caninae and Nardo strictae-Agrostion tenuis) and some wet meadows and natural subalpine grasslands. A special type of species-rich herbaceous to open woodland vegetation develops as successional stages on gravel accumulations in Carpathian rivers after severe flooding. The maximum counts of vascular plant species in non-forest vegetation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are 7 species/0.0009 m2, 11/0.0011 m2, 12/0.004 m2, 17/0.0044 m2, 23/0.01 m2, 37/0.04 m2, 43/0.1 m2, 52/0.25 m2, 63/0.5 m2, 82/1 m2, 88/4 m2, 109/16 m2, 116/25 m2, 131/49m2 and 133/100m2. While the maximum counts for plots smaller than 0.5m2 are from various regions and probably mainly depend on appropriate management, the maximum counts for plots larger than 0.5m2 are for two areas only, the south-eastern part of the White Carpathians and Kopanecké lúky meadows, suggesting the importance of regionally specific landscape processes for high species richness at such scales. Czech and Slovak forest vegetation is much poorer than grasslands, reaching maxima of 100, 109 and 118 species in plots of 100, 400 and 500 m2, which are considerably smaller than global maxima for temperate forests. Most of the species-rich sites occur on base-rich soils, in habitats with intermediate values of environmental factors, are subject to low-intensity management or natural disturbance, occur in landscapes with large areas of natural and semi-natural vegetation and probably have a long historical continuity.

Keywords

alpha diversity, base-rich forests, fine-scale species richness, meadows, relevés, semi-natural grasslands, vegetation database, vegetation plots, Western Carpathians, White Carpathians

How to cite

Chytrý M., Dražil T., Hájek M., Kalníková V., Preislerová Z., Šibík J., Ujházy K., Axmanová I., Bernátová D., Blanár D., Dančák M., Dřevojan P., Fajmon K., Galvánek D., Hájková P., Herben T., Hrivnák R., Janeček Š., Janišová M., Jiráská Š., Kliment J., Kochjarová J., Lepš J., Leskovjanská A., Merunková K., Mládek J., Slezák M., Šeffer J., Šefferová V., Škodová I., Uhlířová J., Ujházyová M. & Vymazalová M. (2015) The most species-rich plant communities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (with new world records). – Preslia 87: 217–278