engleski

Ecological and Phytogeographical differentiation of oak-hornbeam forests in southeastern Europe

The aim of the study was to establish main types of oak-hornbeam (Carpinus betulus and Quercus sp. div) forests on Apeninnes and Balkan peninsulas and southern Alps and their correlations with ecological and phytogeographical gradients in the region. Furthermore, the comparison with the major types recognized in the traditional expert-based classification was done in order to propose systematic classification of the elaborated groups. 1676 relevés of oak-hornbeam forests (alliances Erythronio-Carpinion, Carpinion moesiacum, Physospermo verticillati-Quercion cerris) from the area of Apennines, Balkan peninsula and southern Alps were collected and entered in a Turboveg database. 508 relevés remainig after stratification were classified with a Modified Two Way Indicator Species Analysis which resulted in 4 main phytogeographically interpretable clusters, such as ; 1. southern Apennines, 2. northern- central and central Apennines, 3. central-southern Balkan and 4. north-western Balkan and southern Alps, further divided into subclusters. Pignatti indicator values for relevés of each subcluster were subjected to PCA to show ecological relationship among subclusters and the spectra of geo-elements were calculated to show phytogeographical relationship between them. The diagnostic species combination was calculated by a fidelity measure (phi-coefficient) and presented in a synoptic table. Systematic classification of the elaborated groups is proposed.

ecological; phytogeographical; oak-hornbeam; southeastern Europe

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