Marshland vegetation of the class Phagmito-Magnocaricetea in Croatia

Abstract

The marshland vegetation of the class Phragmito-Magnocaricetea in Croatia is presented in a single place for the first time. All the available releves from the literature have been assembled and supplemented with the results of field research. Thirty-three communities have been established, shown in a synoptic table drawn up on the basis of 486 releves. The communities are understood according to the traditional syntaxonomic system based on the dominant or diagnostic species. For the purposes of comparison, the marshland vegetation is classified using numerical methods as well. The results obtained show that most clusters correspond to specific associations, but do not confirm the division into vegetation alliances and orders. The marshland communities with the most releves in the dataset, and that therefore can be considered the most widespread in Croatia, are: Phragmitetum australis, Caricetum gracilis, and Galio palustris-Caricetum ripariae. The marshland vegetation is also analysed from the standpoint of nature conservation. In the dataset studied, 59 taxa from the Red Book of Vascular Flora of Croatia are identified as threatened, the 15 most endangered marshland communities are separated, and 10 neophytes and one neophyte association are registered. The diversity of marshland vegetation, and of the associated plant species, is considerably higher in inland Croatia than along the Adriatic coast, which is probably a result of the geological bedrock, climate and, in some places, halophile conditions.