Conservation Threats Research Articles

The alien and invasive plant species that may be a future conservation threat to the Lesotho Afro-alpine Drakensberg area

In this study, we documented and compared similarities of the alien plant species richness between South Africa represented by three provinces: Free State (FS), Eastern Cape (EC), and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and Lesotho—an important water source area for southern Africa. We tested the prediction that alien plant species in Lesotho are a subset of South Africa’s species partly because of the short geographical distances between the provinces and Lesotho, and environmental similarity. Overall, 7124 records containing 1040 individual alien plant species belonging to 147 families were documented. South Africa had significantly greater alien plant species records than Lesotho. Of 147 plant families, 44 were represented in both countries, and 101 families did not occur in Lesotho. Against the study prediction, the Geraniaceae and Orobanchaceae families occurred in Lesotho but not in three provinces. KwaZulu-Natal had a significantly greater number of species than Lesotho but not the other provinces, and 49% of species in three provinces originated from the Americas (i.e. South and North), Europe, and Asia. A similar pattern was observed in Lesotho. Woody and herbaceous alien plants, habitat transformers, dominated three provinces, while herbaceous species dominated Lesotho. The 62% of 1040 alien species were not listed in the South African national regulations, indicating their negative impacts are also unknown in the study region. Plant nurseries were a dominant species dispersal pathway in South Africa, while home gardens were prominent in Lesotho. We conclude that invasive plant species constitute a future threat to the Lesotho Drakensberg highlands water catchments and recommend prioritising their management and improving cross-border biosecurity between Lesotho and South Africa.

Application of the MENTOR model to advance One Health by promoting bat conservation and reducing zoonotic spillover risk

For few taxonomic groups do conservation efforts have such a disproportionate impact on biodiversity and human well-being as they do with bats. Bats face significant conservation challenges that affect their long-term viability, inhibit their ecosystem functions and services, and increase zoonotic spillover risks. Protecting bat populations and their habitats ultimately reduces these conservation threats, helps prevent pandemics, and supports essential ecosystem services. MENTOR-Bat is a fellowship program focused on strengthening technical research, and leadership capacity in the Global South to promote healthy environments where bats and humans can coexist with reduced risks of pathogen transmission. Co-designed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Bat Conservation International (BCI), MENTOR-Bat mirrors the One Health framework by featuring a transdisciplinary team of three mentors and nine fellows from Cameroon, Colombia, and Indonesia. Fellows and mentors receive academic and field-based training on bat ecology and conservation, One Health, human dimensions of conservation, behavior change, strategic communications, international policy, adaptive management, project planning, conservation leadership, and public health. Fellows will then design and implement team pilot projects to advance One Health and bat conservation in their respective countries. Program evaluation of MENTOR-Bat is based on Kirkpatrick’s Hierarchy and focuses on measuring the development of established One Health core competences. By incorporating One Health and conservation within its activities, MENTOR-Bat can become a valuable programmatic template for transdisciplinary programming advancing evidence-based strategies for improving the well-being of bats, humans, and the environment.

A new species of Bonnetia Mart. (Bonnetiaceae) from the Pantepui of South America.

Bonnetia is the most representative genus of the Pantepui woody flora and is among the groups with the greatest endemism in the local flora. The genus has 28 currently recognized species in tropical America, 26 of them endemic to the Pantepui. Here we describe Bonnetiaayangannensis from the summit of Mount Ayanganna tepui in Guyana, providing a morphological description, illustrations, distribution maps, characterization of micromorphology under scanning electron microscopy and leaf venation, comments comparing the new species with closely related species, and a key for the identification of the species of Bonnetia occurring in Guyana. With its restricted distribution threatened by climate change, Bonnetiaayangannensis is assessed in the conservation threat category of Critically Endangered. Its description raises the number of endemic species of Bonnetia in the Pantepui to 27.

Endemic Prunus species in the high Himalayas, Eastern Nepal, seeking conservation

Prunus species play an important role in preserving the Nepal's unique identity; such as three endemic species of Prunus, Prunus topkegolensis, Prunus jajarkotensis, and Prunus taplejungnica, represent the country's local area. An ecological and social survey of P. topkegolensis and P. taplejungnica was conducted. To analyze these species' regeneration status and population structures, the density of seedlings, saplings, and adult trees were compared, and created a diameter size class diagram. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the average values of seedlings, saplings, and adult trees between two species. To determine the ethnobotanical importance of a species, the relative frequency of citation (RFC) was calculated for various use categories. We classified both species as trees as the average diameter at breast height (DBH) of P. topkegolensis was 19.55 ± 14.66 cm with an average height 5.05 ± 2.28 m, while that of P. taplejungnica was 14.5 ± 7.93 cm with an average height of 4.89 ± 1.66 m. P. topkegolensis had an average 32 ± 31 adult trees, 16 ± 15 saplings, and 21 ± 18 seedlings per 0.1 ha, while P. taplejungnica had 12 ± 5 adult trees, 2 saplings, and 6 ± 4 seedlings per 0.1 ha. The number of seedlings and saplings at the plot level differed significantly between species (W = 75.5, p- = 0.05, and W = 84, p = 0.01, respectively). Both had humped-shaped diameter at breast height size class distribution. However, P. taplejungnica had a more apparent hump-shaped diameter at breast height distribution than P. topkegolensis, indicating that P. taplejungnica has more unsustainable regeneration issues. P. taplejungnica was locally recognized as a separate species from P. rufa, whereas P. topkegolensis was not. P. topkegolensis have seven different use categories, with wood and fuel wood being the most frequently cited, with RFC value 1. Rapid vulnerability assessment (RVA) showed both species are having high conservation threats. In situ conservation measures are suggested to address the issue of poor regeneration and disturbances.

Population monitoring and conservation implications of intra- and interspecific nest occupation rates in swallows.

With the exception of a few groups of birds, such as large raptors and colonial seabirds, direct counts of nests cannot be conducted over very large areas for most of the abundant and widely distributed species, and thus indirect methods are used to estimate their relative abundances and population sizes. However, many species of the Family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins) build their mud nests in discrete, predictable and accessible sites, which are reused across years. Therefore, the direct count of active nests could constitute a reliable method for estimating breeding population sizes and their changes at large spatial and temporal scales. We illustrate the feasibility of this monitoring approach through a single year survey of >2700 nests of three coexisting Old-World species, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), the red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica), and the crag martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris), distributed across Portugal and Spain. Our results revealed changes in the use of nesting substrates and increases in interspecific nest usurpation rates over recent decades. While 56% of the nests of C. daurica were located in rocks five decades ago, almost 100% are nowadays located in anthropogenic substrates such as bridges, road culverts, and abandoned buildings, which could have favored the range expansion of this species. Nest occupation rates were surprisingly low (12% in C. daurica, 21% in H. rustica, and 37% in P. rupestris), and the proportion of abandoned nesting sites was very high (65% in C. daurica, 50% in H. rustica, and 27% in P. rupestris). Abandonment rates reflect the population decline reported for H. rustica. Notably, the usurpation of nests of C. daurica by house sparrows Passer domesticus, which is the main cause of breeding failure, has increased from 2.4% in 1976-1979 to 34.7% of the nests nowadays. The long-term monitoring of nests may constitute a reliable and affordable method, with the help of citizen science, for assessing changes in breeding population sizes and conservation threats of these and other mud-nest building hirundines worldwide.

Ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing the Summer habitat use of Bos gaurus and its conservation threats in Chitwan National Park, Nepal.

Gaur (Bos gaurus) is listed as a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red List of threatened species due to the rapid population decline caused by human pressures in their habitats. To develop successful conservation plans, it is essential to understand the relationship between Gaur and their habitats. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing Gaur habitat use and identify and rank conservation threats in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Using line transect surveys, we recorded Gaur's presence via direct sightings and indirect signs (dung, footprints, horns) over an area of 176 km2 in July and August 2022. We used binary logistic regression models to determine the collected ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing the occurrence of Gaur and the relative whole-site threat ranking method to rank conservation threats. The results revealed that the probability of Gaur occurrence increases with moderate to high canopy cover, riverine and Shorea robusta dominated forests, and nearest distance to road/path/firelines, while decreasing with the presence of predators. Uncontrolled fire, invasive species, human disturbances, and climate change were ranked as the most prevailing threats to Gaur in our study area. Conservation managers should implement effective habitat management interventions, such as construction of waterhole, firelines maintenance, grassland management, and control of invasive species in the potential habitats, to safeguard and maintain the sustainability of Gaur populations and associated herbivores. Future studies should consider larger geographical settings and multiple seasons, and habitat suitability assessments should be conducted to determine current and future suitable habitat refugia for Gaur and other threatened wildlife species at the landscape level.

Conservation threats from tourism land grabs and greenwash

We report a new threat to conservation, namely land grabs by large tourism developers inside public protected areas. Locally, these tourism land grabs damage national parks through building footprints and access corridors, bringing habitat fragmentation, noise, light, roadkill, fire risk, and invasive plant and animal species and pathogens. They also create negative impacts on social equity and regional economies. The global tourism industry now perceives private development in public national parks as a mechanism to profit from land speculation, rather than merely monopoly provision of visitor services. Investment funds now use tourism, often with socialwashing components, as a political lever for land grabs. International “nature positive” marketing by tourism industry associations and multilateral tourism advocacy organisations is greenwash: it lacks substance, and aims to coopt conservation organisations.

Temporal and oceanographic factors differentially affect two size classes of white shark at a Southern California aggregation site

Ontogenetic habitat shifts are a common feature of many marine species, including sharks, which face conservation threats when their distributions overlap with human resource extraction and habitat modification. White sharks Carcharodon carcharias, for example, exhibit a distinctly coastal phase as juveniles, with a limited distribution compared to the basin-scale range of adults. Using an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV), we studied a coastal aggregation site within a Southern California Bight nursery area to determine how fine-scale temporal and oceanographic factors affect white sharks at different developmental stages. White shark density, as measured via UAV, was highly variable across time of day and day of year, with modest variation across years. Typically, more sharks were observed in the late afternoon hours. Sharks, especially those <3 m total length, were observed more often during periods of colder seafloor temperatures, potentially reflecting avoidance of these colder, deeper waters by more cold-intolerant smaller white sharks. Alternate models incorporating sea surface temperature showed a very small but significant association between surface temperatures and <3 m total length white sharks for the months we surveyed, but no such association for larger sharks. There were no or only modest effects of visibility, swell height, chl a levels, sea state, and tidal height on UAV-observed shark density. Understanding how temporal patterns and oceanographic predictors of density change over time as well as how shark ontogeny interacts with these factors can help us to better understand how this species uses coastal habitats and predict when they may be more likely to share marine space with humans.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF SPOTTED (CLEMMYS GUTTATA) AND PAINTED (CHRYSEMYS PICTA) TURTLES IN CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A, WITH DETECTION OF A NOVEL ADENOVIRUS.

Freshwater turtles face numerous anthropogenic threats worldwide. Health assessments are a key component of chelonian population assessment and monitoring but are under reported in many species. The purpose of this study was to characterize the health of spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata; n = 30) and painted turtles (Chrysemys picta; n = 24) at Camp Edwards, a military base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, using physical examinations, hematology, plasma heavy metal analyses, and pathogen surveillance via PCR. Spotted turtles had a high prevalence of carapace (n = 27, 90%) and plastron (n = 14, 46.7%) lesions, and a previously undescribed adenovirus was detected in three animals (proposed as Clemmys adenovirus-1). Female painted turtles had lower plasma copper (p = 0.012) and higher strontium (p = 0.0003) than males, and appeared to be in a similar plane of health to previous reports. This initial health assessment effort provides useful baseline data for future comparison in these species. Conservation efforts on Camp Edwards should incorporate continued health surveillance of these populations to identify intervention opportunities and determine the conservation threats, if any, of the novel adenovirus.

Stakeholder Engagement as a Core Component of Recreational Marine Fisheries Research, Education, and Conservation

Effective modern conservation depends on active stakeholder participation. Although stakeholder engagement is increasing, the extent of this engagement and the successful application of outcomes to science and management varies regionally and among types of fisheries. A collaborative model that emphasizes knowledge coproduction with stakeholders better identifies research needs and conservation threats, and influences research and policy outcomes. Stakeholder integration can be facilitated by nongovernment organizations, such as boundary organizations. Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is a science‐based, conservation organization founded in 1998 by recreational fishers and fishing guides that focuses on marine recreational fisheries in the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic Ocean. The Trust engages fishers directly, incorporating their knowledge and perspectives to identify conservation concerns, shape research, contribute to data collection, and disseminate information, and work with resource managers and scientific researchers to address conservation and management needs. This approach is demonstrated in case studies that show integration of recreational fishers in science, assessment of conservation threats, and application of findings to management for the recreational flats fishery in the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic Ocean, in the context of broader efforts of stakeholder collaboration toward actionable science to inform management.

Host species and age‐specific variation on Hepatozoon prevalence and its effect on body condition in two Neotropical crocodiles

Many populations of species belonging to the order Crocodilia are threatened due to illegal trafficking, indiscriminate hunting, and habitat loss and degradation affecting crocodilian health and parasitic load. Although several studies have revealed that crocodiles, caimans, and alligators are frequently infected by Hepatozoon spp., the results from studies exploring the costs of these apicomplexan parasites on the health of their reptilian hosts are still scarce and with inconclusive results. Here, we molecularly assessed the prevalence and genetic diversity of Hepatozoon spp. to explore their possible influence on body condition in captive individuals of two species of Neotropical crocodilians with conservation threats, the spectacled caiman Caiman crocodilus and the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus. Fourteen percent of spectacled caimans were infected by H. caimani, whereas no American crocodiles showed infection. The prevalence of Hepatozoon in spectacled alligators varied along age, where subadult individuals were the most frequently parasitized. Surprisingly, the body condition of infected individuals was significantly higher than body condition of uninfected spectacled caimans, which suggests greater negative effects of the infection in individuals of poor quality. Also, the body condition of subadult individuals was significantly higher than body condition of juveniles of both alligator species, likely reflecting differences in the occupancy of habitats with higher resource abundance, or variations in the nutritional values of the diet between these age classes. These outcomes provide valuable information on disease ecology for developing conservation strategies and the management conservation of wildlife populations of these species.

Stalking a non-native species on social media: Updating the distribution of Paysandisia archon (Burmeister, 1879) in Croatia through citizen science

In Europe, the palm borer moth, Paysandisia archon (Burmeister, 1879) is a non-native species which was introduced in the early 2000s. Since then, the moth has rapidly spread across the Mediterranean parts of Europe and started causing damage to both native and non-native palm trees. The first record for Croatia dates to 2011 when the moth was recorded in Split and Zadar. Since then, the spread of the species has not been documented in the scientific literature but being an unusual and invasive species, its expansions was reported across a wide array of internet sources, including social media. To comprehensively understand the current distribution of P. archon in Croatia, we systematically compiled data from citizen science platforms, social media, websites, and both published and personal observations. Our findings reveal a total of 112 records spanning most of the Mediterranean parts of Croatia, indicating a rapid and expansive distribution of the species. The caterpillars of this species develop within palms causing them to rot and eventually dry which causes economic and aesthetic losses. Severe economic damage in the horticultural sectors has been previously reported in countries like France and Italy, while in the western Mediterranean, it poses a conservation threat to native palm populations. Further monitoring and damage assessments should be carried out to understand to the full the impact of this non-native species in Croatia.

Effects of artificial light on foraging behavior of the Pacific Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys agilis)

Abstract Artificial light at night is increasingly recognized as a cause of habitat degradation, and as a conservation threat to wildlife species. We studied the behavioral response of Pacific kangaroo rats (Dipodomys agilis) to natural and artificial light in coastal sage scrub in southern California, United States. We used digital trail cameras to monitor visits to seed trays in shrub and open, intershrub microhabitats. Under natural-light conditions, kangaroo rats were more active on full- than new-moon nights, and concentrated foraging beneath shrubs. Surprisingly, kangaroo rats frequently interacted with other rodents in seed trays. Near to an artificial light source, kangaroo rats removed fewer seeds, had fewer foraging bouts, and spent less time in trays—especially in brightly lit open microhabitats—compared to distances farther from the light. Differences between the first and second nights of trials during both experiments suggested that kangaroo rats learned locations of resource-rich seed trays and modified their behavior accordingly. Our results are similar to recent studies showing that artificial light depresses foraging activity of rodents in the areas of highest illumination, and adds to evidence of the need to mitigate impacts of urban lighting in fragments of coastal sage scrub, especially along the urban–wildland interface.

Distribution records of Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis pelops) from the Bheri River Basin in western Nepal

The Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis) population in Nepal is one of the least studied mammals. It is legally protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973; however, its population status, distribution and conservation threats are ill-documented. The species is thought to have a disjunct distribution having limited information about its occurrence in mid-western and far-western Nepal. This study surveyed the Assamese macaques in the Bheri River Basin of western Nepal and recorded their distribution in the basin for the first time. A total of 117 individuals were observed belonging to six different troops with an average troop size of 19.5 individuals. The elevational range of the distribution ranged between 1132 m and 1840 m asl. The Assamese macaque individuals from the Bheri River Basin are much darker and bear longer relative tail lengths than those of eastern and central Nepal. Further explorations and a detailed assessment of conservation threats in western Nepal are warranted.

Initial assessment of the peatlands of the upper-Ucayali Valley, Central Peruvian Amazon: Basic analysis of geographic products & predictors

We present an assessment of the tropical peatlands in the upper-Ucayali Valley in central Peru—an Amazonian region that has been largely ignored in ecological and wetlands research. We focused on groundtruthing and identifying the strongest landscape-level predictors of peat depth. The 2015 product from the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) appears to be a sufficient proxy, primarily due to its inclusion of the aguajal category, identified as bosque inundable de palmeras (Bi-pal) or palm swamp, which are typically associated with Amazonian peatlands. Aberrations in the MINAM product are also present in attempted updates addressing aguajales, wetlands, and conservation threats, regardless of the varied geographic methodologies employed by previous studies. Our analysis of the CIFOR Global Wetlands Map lends credence to these methodologies, although our results are inconsistent with the depth predictions contained within the product. The predictive strength of factors contained with the MIANM classification is explored, most notably contact segments indicative of transitions from high-terrace terra firma forests (bosque de terraza alta) directly to low-lying inundated and wetland zones. The potential of factors related to elevation (slope, rise, steepness) is likewise questioned based on their performance in multiple linear regression analyses. Future studies are needed to enhance our understanding of the hydrogeologic settings and associated geochemical attributes of palm swamps and peatlands in The Amazon.

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The present study aimed to report and provids an account of the population status, nesting behavior, and conservation threats faced by the Critically Endangered white-rumped Vultures-Gyps bengalensis (Gmelin, 1788) (Aves, Accipitriformes, Accipitridae) in Baairukhhar village, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India in the month of April 2023. In the current study, the nesting and roosting sites were systematically surveyed, and a total population of 98 to 102 white-rumped vultures were recorded. For roosting purposes, the white-rumped vultures preferred high-canopy trees, including sacred fig Ficus religiosa L., 1753 and Teak-Tectona grandis L. f., 1782 in the area. A total of 12 nests of white-rumped vultures were observed, all of which were located on high canopy F. religiosa trees with an 800 meter radius within and around the Baairukhhar Village outskirts. The presence of this critically endangered species in an anthropocentric area could have adverse effects on their breeding success and lead to a decline in the population within the landscape.

The Causes and Consequences of Public Misunderstanding of Shark Conservation.

Sharks and their relatives face serious conservation challenges. In addition to more effective implementation of regulations already on the books, they need more and stronger conservation and management policies to prevent the extinction of many species, which would have associated negative ecological and economic consequences. Many members of the public are aware of and concerned by shark conservation challenges, but there is widespread misunderstanding of the threats to sharks and the available policy solutions to address those threats. Such misunderstanding has been spread by both well-intentioned but uninformed shark enthusiasts (i.e., people who care and want to help but have limited or incorrect knowledge of key facts and evidence) and also by extremist activist organizations (i.e., those far outside of mainstream norms). Specifically, many members of the public incorrectly believe that the practice of shark finning (and associated demand for shark fins) is the largest or only threat to sharks. In general, the public is far less familiar with widely used and effective tools such as sustainable fisheries management as a solution to shark conservation threats. Many members of the public incorrectly believe that banning the 1% of the global shark fin trade that is the most sustainable will be a major victory for shark conservation. Many members of the public are heavily influenced by information from uninformed extremists rather than from experts. These misunderstandings result in suboptimal policy outcomes, and even conflict between stakeholder groups that ostensibly share goals or desired outcomes. This perspective summarizes a decade of work attempting to understand the causes and consequences of widespread misunderstanding about shark conservation threats and solutions, mapping each along the Science-Policy Interface. It also proposes solutions focusing on sharing our hard-earned expertise with the interested public in an accessible format.

Encounter with Leopardus jacobita (Carnivora: Felidae) in Sajama National Park, Bolivia that reinforces studies on diet and conservation threats

Leopardus jacobita (Andean mountain cat) is one of the rarest and most understudied felids. Field sightings of this species are few, with most knowledge of this species coming from camera traps and fecal samples. In this observation, we saw how anthropogenic influences, in this case domestic dogs, are a threat to the species persistence, even in protected areas. In addition, we were able to witness the Andean mountain cat successfully kill a Lagidium viscacia (Mountain Viscacha) (Rodentia: Chinchillidae), which is highlighted to be a major prey item for the cat.

Unveiling Social Dynamics in People's Perception of Raptors to Guide Effective Conservation Strategies

Ethnoscientific approaches offer valuable tools for exploring human–nature relationships, making them useful for developing effective conservation strategies. Raptors, which are birds of prey, face significant conservation threats worldwide, with human persecution being a leading factor in their population decline. Urgent conservation strategies are needed, particularly in regions of high raptor diversity like the tropical Andes. In this study, we employed semistructured questionnaires and logistic models to investigate how demographic factors, economic activity, and traditional knowledge shape people's perceptions of raptors in rural communities of the Ecuadorian Andes. These communities have historically experienced poverty and inequality, and our approach takes into account their local realities to provide conservation recommendations. Our findings reveal that traditional ecological knowledge provides a broad understanding of human–raptor relations, and that raptors are viewed as both providers of ecosystem services and disservices. Additionally, social demographics, such as gender and educational level, can influence people's perception of raptors. Based on these results, we can promote conservation actions from a local to global level. Ethnoecological approaches offer diverse conservation opportunities that can vary based on different local contexts. In addition to conventional measures such as environmental education programs, poultry management, and landscape preservation, it is essential to consider the political ecology of specific sites, particularly in regions of the Global South where poverty and inequality are closely intertwined with social and environmental injustices. As such, policy making to alleviate poverty and inequality in rural communities in Ecuador and other Andean countries; and science decolonization to make conservation more inclusive are crucial for human well-being and successful and lasting conservation actions for raptors and biodiversity.

Relicts of Threatened Biodiversity: Similarities and Differences among the 7230 EU Habitat Plant Communities on Montane Plateaus of Central Apennines, Italy.

The habitats protected by the European Union (EU) include most peat vegetation, such as mires, swamp mires, fens, and peat bogs-all belonging to the classes Oxycocco-Sphagnetea and Scheuchzerio-Caricetea fuscae and carrying the Habitat Codes 71xx and 72xx. These types of vegetation are typical of cold and cool temperate climates, while they become rarer in Southern Europe where Mediterranean influences prevail, representing relic fragments of the past glacial climatic conditions there. Because of their limited extension and the increasing warmth and drought due to climate change, they are seriously threatened. Even if many studies were performed, their richness and distribution across Europe are still not well-understood, and only a few examples are known from the Central and Southern Apennines to date. In order to provide the syntaxonomical classification of the alkaline fens referable to the EU Habitat 7230 found on the mountain plateaus of the Central Apennines, we analyzed their species structure and flora composition, together with their chorological and ecological characteristics. We also evaluated their conservation status, pressures, and threats. The alkaline fens of the Central Apennines are found to be poorer in diagnostic species when compared to similar communities of Central and Northern Europe. However, they are rich in the species of the surrounding meadows and pastures. Among them, the new subassociation Caricetum davallianae caricetosum hostianae is described.