Dry grasslands in the Western Carpathians and the northern Pannonian Basin: a numerical classification
Title:
Dry grasslands in the Western Carpathians and the northern Pannonian Basin: a numerical classification Xerotermné trávnaté porasty Západných Karpát a severnej části Panónskej kotliny: numerická klasifikácia
A syntaxonomical revision of dry grasslands of the alliances Bromo pannonici-Festucion pallentis, Festucion valesiacae and Koelerio-Phleion phleoidis (class Festuco-Brometea) in the natural biogeographical region of the Western Carpathians and northern Pannonian Basin is presented. A geographically stratified data set of 2686 relevés from the south-eastern Czech Republic, northeastern Austria, Slovakia and northern Hungary was divided into 25 clusters using a modified TWINSPAN algorithm. The proposed classification simplifies and unifies the previous syntaxonomical systems, which differ in these four countries. Main environmental gradients responsible for variation in species composition of theses grasslands were revealed by detrended correspondence analysis and interpreted using indicator values. The major pattern of variation reflects soil nutrient availability and moisture, which are negatively correlated with soil reaction.