Original paper
Formalised classification of aquatic vegetation in Slovakia
Hrivnák, Richard; Bubíková, Kateřina; Oťaheľová, Helena; Šumberová, Kateřina
Phytocoenologia Band 49 Heft 2 (2019), p. 107 - 133
91 references
published: Mar 29, 2019
published online: Nov 30, 2018
manuscript accepted: Jul 13, 2018
manuscript revision received: May 3, 2018
manuscript revision requested: Apr 16, 2018
manuscript received: Mar 9, 2018
ArtNo. ESP024004902000, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Aims: We studied aquatic vegetation in Slovakia with aims (i) to perform critical revision of recent syntaxonomical classification using the methodological approach called “New Cocktail” and (ii) to analyse floristic, distribution and ecological patterns of the distinguished syntaxa. Methods: We excerpted the published and unpublished phytosociological relevés which were by their authors assigned to the aquatic vegetation classes Lemnetea, Potamogetonetea or Charetea intermediae. Subsequently, we added a dataset composed of relevés of the class Phragmito-Magnocaricetea with presence of at least one aquatic plant species. Altogether 3856 relevés were selected for the final dataset. Seven environmental characteristics (altitude, water depth, bioregion – Carpathian or Pannonian, type of water body – lentic or lotic, origin of water body – natural or artificial, mean annual temperature and annual sum of precipitation) were determined for each relevé. We used “New Cocktail” for classification of the vegetation and Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) for explanation of species composition-environmental conditions relationships. Results: Based on classification process, 2667 relevés (about 69.2%) were classified as non-aquatic vegetation, 58 relevés (about 1.5%) were not classified at all or were classified to more than one vegetation unit, and the rest, 1133 relevés (i.e. about 29.4 %) were classified as aquatic vegetation. Within three classes selected for the analyses (Lemnetea, Potamogetonetea and Charetea intermediae), altogether 8 orders, 9 alliances, and 55 associations were distinguished. CCA revealed a relatively good separation of the seven pre-defined alliances in the ordination space. The first axis is related to bioregion and mean annual temperature, while the second axis shows the relationship to water depth. Bioregion was the most frequent environmental factor explaining species variability across the alliances of the aquatic vegetation, followed by temperature and water depth. Conclusion: Based on “new Cocktail” approach, we produced clear syntaxonomical classification of aquatic vegetation in Slovakia with a low number of non-classified or multiply classified relevés. Dedication: This paper is dedicated to the memory of RNDr. Slavomil Hejný, CSc. (21.6.1924 – 22.6.2001) and RNDr. Štěpán Husák, CSc. (31.12.1939 – 25.10.2014) Taxonomic references: Marhold & Hindák (1998) for plant species; Mucina et al. (2016) for phytosociological classes, orders and alliances, and Chytrý (2011) for associations. Abbreviations: CCA = Canonical correspondence analysis; ICPN = International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (Weber et al. 2000).
Keywords
Central Europe • distribution • ecology • formal definition • macrophyte • New Cocktail • Pannonian region • plant community • Western Carpathians