Formalized classification of the class Montio-Cardaminetea in Europe: towards a consistent typology of spring vegetation

Tomáš Peterka 1 , Petra Hájková 1 2 , Martin Jiroušek 1 3 , Dirk Hinterlang 4 , Milan Chytrý 1 , Liene Aunina 5 , Judit Deme 6 , Melinda Lyons 7 , Hallie Seiler 8 , Harald Zechmeister 9 , Iva Apostolova 10 , Carl Beierkuhnlein 11 , Melanie Bischof 8 , Claudia Biţă-Nicolae 12 , Lisa Brancaleoni 13 , Renata Ćušterevska 14 , Jürgen Dengler 8 15 , Yakiv Didukh 16 , Daniel Dítě 17 , Lyubov Felbaba-Klushyna 18 , Emmanuel Garbolino 19 , Renato Gerdol 13 , Svitlana Iemelianova 1 16 , Florian Jansen 20 , Riikka Juutinen 21 , Jasmina Kamberović 22 , Jutta Kapfer 23 , Barbora Klímová 1 , Ilona Knollová 1 , Tiina H. M. Kolari 24 , Predrag Lazarević 25 , Ringa Luostarinen 26 , Eva Mikulášková 1 , Đorđije Milanović 27 , Luca Miserere 28 , Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund 29 , José A. Molina 30 , Aaron Pérez-Haase 31 , Alessandro Petraglia 32 , Marta Puglisi 33 , Eszter Ruprecht 34 , Eva Šmerdová 1 , Daniel Spitale 35 , Marcello Tomaselli 32 , Kiril Vassilev 10 & Michal Hájek 1

Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ- 61137 Brno, Czech Republic
  2. Department of Paleoecology, Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Lidická 25/27, CZ-60200 Brno, Czech Republic
  3. Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of AgriSciences,Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, CZ-61300 Brno, Czech Republic
  4. Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz NRW, Leibnizstraße 10, D-45659 Recklinghausen, Germany
  5. Institute of Biology, University of Latvia, Jelgavas Street 1, LV-1004 Riga, Latvia
  6. Department of Ecology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary
  7. Environment and Planning, School of Architecture, Building and Environment, Technological University Dublin, Bolton St, IE-D01 K822 Dublin, Ireland
  8. Vegetation Ecology Research Group, Institute of Natural Resource Science (IUNR), Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Grüentalstr. 14, CH-8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland
  9. Division Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, AT-1030 Vienna, Austria
  10. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Gagarin Street 2, BG-1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
  11. Chair of Biogeography, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Geographical Institute Bayreuth, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
  12. Department of Ecology & Nature Conservation, Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Splaiul Independentei 296, RO-060031 Bucharest, Romania
  13. Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este 32, IT-44121 Ferrara, Italy
  14. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Goce Delcev 9, MK-1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
  15. Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany
  16. M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Tereshchenkivska st. 2, UA-01601 Kyiv, Ukraine
  17. Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-84523 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
  18. Faculty of Biology, Uzhgorod National University, Voloshyna str. 32, UA-88018 Uzhgorod, Ukraine
  19. Climpact Data Science (CDS), Nova Sophia – Regus Nova, rue Albert Caquot 291, CS 40095, FR-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
  20. Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 6, D-18059 Rostock, Germany
  21. Ounasvaarantie 6 C 2, FI-96400 Rovaniemi, Finland
  22. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Tuzla, Urfeta Vejzagića 4, BA-75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  23. Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Holtvegen 66, NO-9016 Tromsø, Norway
  24. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland
  25. Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden “Jevremovac”, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Takovska 43, RS-11000 Belgrade, Serbia
  26. Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Kauppakatu 40 B, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland
  27. Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka, Stepe Stepanovića 75A, BA-78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  28. Via Melchiorre Voli 14, IT-10135 Torino, Italy
  29. Section for Biodiversity, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, C. F.Møllers Allé 6-8, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
  30. Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Complutense University of Madrid, c. José Antonio Novais 12, ES-28040 Madrid, Spain
  31. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and Institute of Research in Biodiversity (IRBio), University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, ES-08028 Barcelona, Spain
  32. Department of Chemistry, Life Science and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze 11/a, IT-43124 Parma, Italy
  33. Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Section of Vegetal Biology, University of Catania, via A. Longo 19, IT-95125 Catania, Italy
  34. Faculty of Biology and Geology, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  35. BMT Biomonitoring Team, via Stenico 2, IT-38095 Tre Ville, Italy

Published: 29 September 2023 , https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2023.347

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Abstract

The class Montio-Cardaminetea includes vegetation of springs with constant water flow. These habitats, which function as islands for highly specialized and sensitive biota, are endangered by ongoing landscape and climatic changes. Although a harmonized classification into vegetation units is necessary for effective habitat conservation, there is currently no synthetic classification of the class Montio-Cardaminetea. Here a large set of vegetation-plot records was obtained from national and private databases. The aim was to validate the EuroVegChecklist classification scheme, search for additional ecologically meaningful vegetation types and develop an automatic system for classifying new plots from Europe. We formally defined the cores of eight of the ten EuroVegChecklist alliances: Caricion remotae, Cratoneurion commutati, Lycopodo europaei-Cratoneurion commutati, Epilobio nutantis-Montion, Koenigio- Microjuncion, Mniobryo-Epilobion hornemanii, Philonotidion seriatae (Cardamino-Montion) and Swertio perennis-Anisothecion squarrosi, which were also reproduced by unsupervised classifications. Both unsupervised and semi-supervised classifications further suggested two alliances not previously recognized in the EuroVegChecklist: Anthelion julaceae (liverwort- dominated subalpine to alpine springs in highly oceanic regions in Britain) and Cratoneuro filicini-Calthion laetae (mesotrophic herb-rich subalpine and alpine springs). The unsupervised classifications mainly reflected the base saturation gradient, distinguishing between calcareous and non-calcareous springs. Therefore, it is suggested the order Montio-Cardaminetalia, which is broadly delimited in the EuroVegChecklist, be divided into two separate orders and the following three orders should be distinguished within the class Montio-Cardaminetea: Cardamino-Chrysosplenietalia (non-calcareous forest springs; Caricion remotae), Cardamino-Cratoneuretalia (calcareous springs; Cratoneurion commutati, Lycopodo europaei-Cratoneurion commutati) and Montio-Cardaminetalia (non-calcareous non-forest springs; all other alliances).

Keywords

azonal habitat, expert classification system, phytosociology, plant community, supervised vegetation classification, unsupervised classification, vegetation survey, wetlands

How to cite

Peterka T., Hájková P., Jiroušek M., Hinterlang D., Chytrý M., Aunina L., Deme J., Lyons M., Seiler H., Zechmeister H., Apostolova I., Beierkuhnlein C., Bischof M., Biţă-Nicolae C., Brancaleoni L., Ćušterevska R., Dengler J., Didukh Ya., Dítě D., Felbaba-Klushyna L., Garbolino E., Gerdol R., Iemelianova S., Jansen F., Juutinen R., Kamberović J., Kapfer J., Klímová B., Knollová I., Kolari T. H. M., Lazarević P., Luostarinen R., Mikulášková E., Milanović Đ., Miserere L., Moeslund J. E., Molina J. A., Pérez-Haase A., Petraglia A., Puglisi M., Ruprecht E., Šmerdová E., Spitale D., Tomaselli M., Vassilev K. & Hájek M. (2023) Formalized classification of the class Montio-Cardaminetea in Europe: towards a consistent typology of spring vegetation. – Preslia 95: 347–383, https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2023.347