Habitat and phytocenosis conditions of the occurrence of Ostericum palustre in the Natura 2000 „Lisi Kąt” site

Abstract

Ostericum palustre Besser is a species protected by the domestic and EU laws. In Poland it occurs in about 150 sites one of which is located in the area covered by Natura 2000 Lisi Kąt. The population existing there, estimated as 35,000 individuals, covers the acreage of 342 ha. The species persists there mostly in over-dried and transformed-by-meadow-management reed beds with the share of Carex acutiformis and C. gracilis, in phytocenoses of Scheuchzerio-Caricetea nigrae with a large share of mosses, in overgrowing patches of the alliances of Molinion as well as sporadically within reed beds with Carex pseudocyperus. Its share in similar phytocenoses coincides with the reports in literature in the region of the Notec Valley. In most cases those are heavily disturbed systems, transitional in nature, which must have been the reason for a relatively high level of species variation. The habitat preferences of Ostericum palustre, determined with Ellenberg's indicator values (L, T), correspond to the values optimal for the species. Soil, on the other hand, can be referred to as slightly acid, average fertile and mostly moist.