Floristic Site Research Articles

Inventory of Rubiaceae species in Mt. Pao Range, Ilocos Norte, Northwestern Luzon, Philippines

Abstract. Batuyong MAR, Calaramo MA, Alejandro GJD. 2021. Inventory of Rubiaceae species in Mt. Pao Range, Ilocos Norte, Northwestern Luzon, Philippines. Biodiversitas 22: 3604-3612. Botanical assessments in the Philippines are mostly conducted on declared Protected Areas (PAs). However, many remaining potentially interesting and largely unexplored floristic sites are not considered PA, one of which is the Mt. Pao Range in the Municipality of Adams, located in Ilocos Norte, Philippines. Among the flowering plant family, Rubiaceae is one with the largest number of endemic species and genera in the Philippines Thus, floristic surveys of Rubiaceae species were conducted, and collections were made from September 2019 to March 2021. A total of 39 species belonging to 13 tribes and 24 genera of the family were recorded. These constitute 7.09% of the total Philippine Rubiaceae. Of these species, 18 are Philippine endemics while two are considered narrow endemic to Mt. Pao. Two endemic genera were also found in the area Antherostele and Kanapia. According to the Updated National List of Threatened Philippine Plants, their conservation status in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 2017-11 found one species assessed as Critically Endangered (Antherostele callophylla). This study contributes to the data on the distribution and occurrence of Philippine Rubiaceae. Moreover, it also highlights the area's importance with the presence of threatened and endemic species as an area of concern for protection and conservation.

Phytodiversity of the Middle Volga region using FD SUR database

The article illustrates FD SUR database, which contains information on the spatial distribution of vascular plant species in Samara and Ulyanovsk regions. The surveyed area is 90,900 km2. The initial data were obtained as a result of studies carried out for the period 2004-2020 by the staff of the Institute of Ecology of the Volga River Basin of the Russian Academy of Sciences and some literary sources. The database contains over 100,000 records for 1935 species from 127 families and 628 genera. We develop a number of areas of flora research using the informational basis of FD SUR. We propose criteria for assessing the sustainability (natural addition) of floras based on the spectrum of family diversity indices. We studied the dependence of the taxonomic parameters of the flora on the number of species on floristic site and determined the values of these parameters for a number of territories of Samara-Ulyanovsk Volga region. We examined the dependence of the species and biomorphological composition of floras on the climatic conditions of the territory: the amount of precipitation and temperatures.

New, Rare and Constant Habitats for Endangered Aquatic Plant Communities: The Importance of Microhabitats for Global biodiversity

Natural water reservoirs are very valuable floristic sites, with springs particularly important for the preservation of floral biodiversity. This paper presents, as a case study, a community of water plants that is new to limnocrene karst springs in Europe: Potametum alpini (Potametea), found in Poland. The paper provides the floristic composition and ecological requirements of this plant association, which is rare and endangered in Europe. According to our knowledge, the habitat data presented here are unique as they are published for the first time for this plant community, and thus it is currently not possible to compare them with data from other authors. Our study confirms the importance of rare microhabitats for global biodiversity. Research on as yet unknown physical and chemical factors limiting the range and development of patches of different plant associations should be conducted intensively, because plant communities, including rare, endangered and protected examples, are an important element of biodiversity at both continental and local scales. All the issues discussed in the paper (rare microhabitats, endangered aquatic plant communities, global biodiversity) are important because they are related to the conservation and management of inland waters.

The Pteridophytes of Adams, Northern Luzon, Philippines and their Ecosystem Services

The Philippines has approximately 1,100 species of lycophytes and ferns, and this represents approximately 9% of the worldwide fern flora. Botanical explorations and local documentations continue to expand the list. Local documentations increase our knowledge on species distribution and conservation status, which are essential in biodiversity conservation. This paper reports on a survey of the pteridophytes of Adams, Ilocos Norte, one of the remaining floristic sites in Luzon Island, Philippines. A series of floristic surveys conducted at selected sites in Adams recorded and vouchered 47 species, 34 genera and 21 families of pteridophytes. Among all these pteridophytes, six are threatened Philippine plant species. These are Platycerium coronarium, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Tectaria psomiocarpa, Psilotum nudum, Blechnum egregium, and Angiopteris evecta. This study contributes to the baseline data on Philippine pteridophytes especially on their distribution, and can serve as reference for biodiversity conservation and restoration efforts as ferns may help in the stabilization of degraded lands and facilitation in plant communities.

Validation of the Greater Hunter Native Vegetation Mapping as it pertains to the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales

SummaryReliable vegetation maps are an important component of any long‐term landscape planning initiatives. A number of approaches are available but one, in particular, pattern recognition (segmentation) combined with modelling from floristic site data, is currently being used to map vegetation across NSW. An independent assessment of this approach based on a review of the Greater Hunter Native Vegetation Mapping (GHM_v4) was undertaken in order to assess its ability to cater for regional, local, strategic and landscape planning. The validation process tested 2151 locations across the Upper Hunter Valley region of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The results suggest that mapping at the coarsest level of NSW vegetation classification, the Formation, is generally poor, with only Dry Sclerophyll Forest and Woodland modelled with some level of reliability. The modelled mapping of individual plant community types (PCTs) was found to be highly inaccurate with only 17% of validation points attributed as ‘correct’ and a further 13% ‘essentially correct’. Therefore, a majority of PCTs were mapped with an accuracy of less than 30%. The results of this validation suggest that the GHM_v4 is of such a low level of accuracy within the upper Hunter as to be inherently unusable for broad‐scale regional and local landscape planning or environmental assessment, including locating compensatory offsets for the loss of native vegetation due to developments. The GHM_v4 methods of pattern recognition of mainly SPOT5 satellite imagery combined with modelling from plot data have not produced reliable vegetation maps of plant community types. Yet this mapping programme is extending across NSW and could be misused for environmental decisions or as a regulation.

Invasive vascular plant species of oxbow lakes in south-western Poland

Abstract Natural water reservoirs are very valuable floristic sites in south-western Poland. Among them, the most important for the preservation of biodiversity of flora are oxbow lakes. The long-term process of human pressure on habitats of this type caused disturbances of their biological balance. Changes in the water regime, industrial development and chemisation of agriculture, especially in the period of the last two hundred years, led to systematic disappearances of localities of many plant species connected with rare habitats and also to the appearance of numerous invasive plant species. They are: Azolla filiculoides, Echinocystis lobata, Erechtites hieraciifolia, Impatiens glandulifera, I. parviflora, Reynoutria japonica, Solidago canadensis, S. gigantea and S. graminifolia. Field works were conducted in years 2005-2012.

Stability structures tropical woody plant diversity more than seasonality: Insights into the ecology of high legume-succulent-plant biodiversity

Phylogenies of legume taxa are ecologically structured along a tropical seasonality gradient, which suggests phylogenetic niche conservatism. This seasonality gradient spans Neotropical wet forests, savannas, and highly seasonal drought-prone woody vegetation known as the succulent biome. Ecological phylogenetic structure was investigated using a community phylogenetic approach. We further analyzed bioclimatic and other independent variables that potentially explained phylogenetic beta diversity among 466 floristic sites that spanned the savanna and succulent biomes in eastern South America. Explanatory variables were selected using variance inflation factors, information criteria, and the ability to explain both species and phylogenetic beta diversity. A model involving annual precipitation suggests that a threshold of <1200mm explains community phylogenetic structure along the savanna–succulent biome transition. Variables involving temperatures or measures of seasonality were notably lacking from top-ranked models. The abundance and diversity of legumes across the tropical seasonality gradient suggest that a high nitrogen metabolism confers an advantage in one of two ways, both of which are related to rapid growth rates. Legumes adapted to the succulent biome may be responding to regular post-dry-season leaf-flush opportunities. Legumes adapted to the savanna biome may be responding to intermittent post-disturbance growing opportunities. A seasonal predominance of leaf flushing by woody plants implicates the role of ecological stability in the succulent biome because of the need to recover the cost of regenerating short-lived leaves. Ecological stability may be the fundamental cause of ecological phylogenetic structure across the tropical seasonality gradient and required for maintaining high levels of both leaf-flushing legume and succulent plant biodiversity.

Predictive mapping of floristic site conditions across mire habitats: Evaluating data requirements

As conservation of sensitive habitats is a high priority issue in European environmental policy, there is considerable interest in mapping and monitoring specific habitats of high conservation value. In this study, we discuss the potential of the Swiss mire monitoring program to monitor small area habitats in sufficient detail. The monitoring scheme combines nationwide probability sampling and predictive habitat mapping based on a field data sample. Thus, it is designed to identify spatiotemporal changes at the stand level and to derive hard statistics for the sub-national level. For feasibility reasons, the thematic focus is on semi-quantitative mean indicator values derived from vegetation records. These measures provide robust estimates of essential floristic site conditions. Regression models based on CIR aerial photographs are applied to continuously map respective measures across the sample mires. The present study explores the required investment of data for model-based mapping. Exemplary mapping r...