Plant cover of pasture ecosystem located in the vicinity of Muzlja, Serbia

Abstract

The plant cover of the natural pastures located in the vicinity of the town of Mužlja (Serbia - the Vojvodina Province - Banat) is the result of their floristic (140 species, 7 subspecies, 3 varieties and 5 forms), plant geographic (1 endemic species and 2 subendemic species of the Pannonian Plain) and phytocoenological (12 plant communities) characteristics. Out of the 148 listed taxa, in flora of the pastures located in the vicinity of the town of Mužlja (140 species, 7 subspecies and, because of his plant geographic and ecological importance, variety Aster tripolium var. pannonicus), 49 taxa or 33.11% and 99 taxa or 66.89% are characterized by ecological index S+ and S-, respectively. Plant geographic characteristics result from one endemic species of the Pannonian Plain Statice gmelini subsp. hungaricum (Klokov) Soy, and subendemic species of the Pannonian Plain Puccinellia limosa Holmb. and Roripa kerneri Menyh. The registered taxa form stands of 12 plant communities of which Scirpo-Phragmitetum medioeuropaeum and Bolboschoenetum maritimi continentale belong to the vegetation classes Phragmitetea Tx. et Prsg. 1942, Heliotropio-Verbenetum supinae belongs to the vegetation class Isceto-Nanojuncetea Br. - Bl. et Tx. 1943 and Puccinellietum limosae, Pholiuro-Plantaginetum tenuiflorae, Hordeetum histricis, Camphorosmetum annuae, Agrostio- Alopecuretum pratensis, Agrostio-Glycerietum poiformis, Artemisio-Festucetum pseudovinae, Trifolio-Festucetum pseudovinae and Achilleo-Festucetum pseudovinae belong to the vegetation classes Festuco-Puccinellietea Soy 1968. Therefore, based on the representation of 33.11% taxa characterized by ecological index S+ and one Pannonian and two sub-Pannonian floristic elements and domination of phytocoenoses of the class Festuco Puccinellietea Soy 1968, meadow-steppe vegetation of continental saline sites, it was concluded that the studied plant cover of the natural pastures, located in the vicinity of the town of Mužlja, is part of the halobiome of the Pannonian Plain.