Seseli salsugineum (Apiaceae), a new species from Central Anatolia, Turkey

A new species, Seseli salsugineum A.Duran & Lyskov (Apiaceae), is described from Lake Tuz Gölü area, Central Anatolia, Turkey. The new species is related to S. transcaucasicum and S. libanotis and differs in stem features (up to 200 cm tall and 5‒15 mm ⌀ vs. up to 80 cm tall and up to 6 mm ⌀ or up to 150 cm tall and 10‒20 mm ⌀), stem base pubescence (glabrous vs. densely pubescent or sometimes pubescent), leaf blades pubescence (glabrous with scabrid margin vs. entirely scabrid or glabrous), bracts 0.3‒0.8 mm wide, without membranous margin (vs. 1‒3 mm wide, with membranous margin), umbellules (tight, 5‒12 mm ⌀ vs. not tight 13‒15 mm ⌀ or 5‒6 mm ⌀), stylopodium depressed (not conical), mericarp ridges (finely ridged vs. distinctly ridged), fruit anatomy (vallecular vittae 3 vs. vallecular vittae solitary or 1‒2), habitat (salty marshes and salt steppes vs. grassy meadows, sparse forests, clearings in mountain forests, and subalpine meadows), and distributional range. In addition, S. salsugineum is recognized as a closely related to S. transcaucasicum and S. libanotis species by molecular analysis of nrITS/ETS.

Conifer Establishment and Encroachment on Subalpine Meadows around Mt. Baker, WA, USA

The subalpine ecotone is experiencing significant changes in habitat availability and connectivity as a result of climate change. The conversion of meadow habitats to forests has been observed in many mountainous regions. Rates of conifer encroachment into meadows appears to have increased in the 20th century, but the patterns of conifer establishment seem highly variable over both space and time. To understand how and why these changes vary temporally and spatially in the Pacific Northwest, we collected cross-sections and whorl counts from conifers along four transects in subalpine meadows around Mt. Baker, Washington. We quantified the relationships between temporal patterns of conifer establishment and a suite of climate variables, and between spatial patterns of conifer density and microsite characteristics. Our results show that establishment occurred in pulses throughout the 20th century, with greater establishment on drier sites during periods of greater precipitation, and greater establishment on wetter sites during periods of higher temperatures. We found that April precipitation and September temperature are particularly strongly correlated with establishment rates, suggesting that the best conditions for conifer seedling establishment occur in years with the warmth and soil moisture needed for the growing season to start earlier or last longer. Within individual meadows, conifer seedling establishment was greater on convex surfaces and in areas with a higher percentage of Vaccinium cover. Our findings at Mt. Baker show that periods of conifer establishment occurred somewhat synchronously across multiple mountains in the region, but we also identified distinct spatial and temporal differences linked to local site conditions.

Floristic diversity of Dagestan florocoenotypes

The paper provides information on the floristic diversity of the florocenotypes of Dagestan 43 florocenotypes and 3 types of plant communities in anthropogenically altered habitats which are combined into three groups have been identified. It is registered that the most floristically rich florocoenotypes in the lowlands and in the zone of low foothills are shrub steppes (498 species), xerophilous forests and light forests of the Mediterranean type (462), forbs dry steppes of foothills (431) and herbcereal dry meadows of foothills (334), and in the mountain areas: polyurus vegetation (499 species), steppe after forest meadows (381), mixed deciduous forests (362), subalpine meadows (312) and xerophytic lithophyton with 310 species. Floristically poor florocenotypes are aquatic vegetation of mountain lakes with 14 species, vegetation of water bodies (53 species), precaspian floodplains (67) and precaspian curtain meadows (78 species). During the analysis of the floristic similarity, the florocoenotypes were combined into several clades, which we conditionally distinguished into the following groups: desert, hydrophytic, mesophytic, steppe, and arid.

Physical-geographical characteristics of Lemkivshchyna

The article presents the physical-geographical characteristics of the Lemkos’ ethnic territory, the farthest western ethnographic group of Ukrainians who have long inhabited the slopes of the Carpathians Eastern Beskids. Lemkivshchyna is located on both slopes of the Carpathian Beskids between the Borzhava and San rivers in the east and Poprad and Dunajec in the west, located in three countries. The total area is about 9 000 km2. Lemkivschyna occupies the largest area within the mountainous part of South-Eastern Poland (48 %), less in the mountainous part of north-eastern Slovakia (41 %), the least in the Trans¬carpathian region of Ukraine (11 %). Most of the territory of Lemkivshchyna is located in the Carpathian lowlands of the Eastern Beskids. Only some peaks have a height of more than 1 000 m. The highest peak is Tarnitsa (1 346 m a.s.l.) on the Bukovo Berdo ridge. Lemkivshchyna is located in the temperate climate zone of Europe, which is formed under the influence of the western transfer of the Atlantic air masses. In addition, the climatic characteristics are influenced by the terrain, altitude, exposure of the slopes, the direction of extension of the mountain valleys. The territory of Lemkivshchyna lies on the Main European Watershed. The rivers that originate in the northern macro-slope of the Low Beskid are tributaries of the Vistula (the Baltic Sea basin). The rivers of the southern macro-slope are tributaries of the Tisza River, which flows into the Danube (the Black Sea basin). The largest river in the Lemky region is the San (444 km in length). Another tributary of the Vistula is the Vislok (165 km). The mountain rivers that originate on the southern slopes of the Low Beskid River flow in a meridional direction to the south and belong to the Tisza basin. The largest among them are Gorand (286 km), Poprad (169 km), Laborets (129 km), Ondava (112 km in length). The rivers of Lemkivshchyna are characterized by mixed food dominated by snow. Boundaries are observed in winter and during the dry season in summer. Floods can occur at any time of the year during heavy rainfall. The mountain-forest soils of Lemkivshchyna are formed on flysch rocks under beech and fir forests. Soils of low power (up to 75 cm), often stony, characterized by high acidity, poor in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron. Mountain-meadow soils were formed in the subalpine meadows. The processes of accumulation of peat and organic material are observed on the watersheds and sites of poor runoff. The geographical location of Lemkivshchyna causes the vertical extent of the vegetation cover, which differs from the other mountain ranges of the Carpathians. Belt of deciduous forests, rising to an altitude of 1 156 m. is mainly represented with beech forests. The belt of the Polonynian subalpine meadows that developed under the influence of a long pasture farm is above the beech forests. About 1 000 species of vascular plants, more than 600 species of mosses and lichens, and many algae and fungi have been found in the Lemky region. A modern feature of the vegetation cover of Lemkivshchyna is the natural regeneration of forests, which occurred after the expulsion of the ethnic population from these territories. More than 200 species of vertebrates have been found in the Lemky region. Key words: Lemkivshchyna, physical and geographical conditions, relief of the Eastern Beskids, hydrography, vegetation.

Whitebark pine encroachment into lower-elevation sagebrush grasslands in southwest Montana, USA

Background Projections for the future health and abundance of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) populations in western North America are dire. Not only has the species been declining due to the combined effects of fire exclusion policies, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins 1902) outbreaks, and white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch), many are predicting that climate change will amplify these effects and whitebark pine habitat may be lost in many areas. One method to evaluate the validity of future predictions is to examine current migration patterns of whitebark pine into surrounding non-forested areas. In this paper, we documented the findings of a case study surveying the encroachment of whitebark pine into adjacent lower-elevation sagebrush grasslands and higher-elevation subalpine meadows in southwestern Montana, USA. Results We found abundant evidence of whitebark pine trees (>40 trees ha−1) in sagebrush grasslands below the mature seed source, but there was no evidence of any whitebark pine regeneration in subalpine meadows above the seed-source stand. Conclusions These results are in stark contrast to the findings of statistical modeling studies that predict that whitebark pine will expand into higher-elevation areas as a response to climate change. We believe that the reason for this low-elevation encroachment may be in response to fire exclusion rather than climate change. Although observations in this case study are for a limited geographic area, they do serve to illustrate the complexity of predicting ecological responses of tree species to climate change.

Soils of Alpine, Subalpine Meadows and Meadow Steppes of Azerbaijan and the Peculiarities of Their Assimilation Potential in Relation to Organic Pollutants

Azerbaijan is a country with a huge range of different soil types, which is due to its geographical location. The country is located in two climatic thermal zones, subboreal and subtropical, characterized by a peculiar hydrothermal regime, diverse vegetation and soil fauna. For proper zoning of the soil cover of bioclimatic landscape zones and the development of effective organization of management systems, assessment of assimilation potential is of great importance, i.e. self-cleaning potential. The purpose of our research was to assess the actual assimilation capacity and self-cleaning ability of alpine and subalpine meadow soils and meadow steppes in case of their contamination with organic pollutants based on a comprehensive system analysis of biogenic and abiogenic factors. The collected material was comprehensively analyzed from the standpoint of the biogenicity and self-purification capacity of soils of various bioclimatic landscape zones from the standpoint of the danger of soil contamination with organic matter, based on the natural features of the soil and biogenic and abiogenic factors, and appropriately grouped according to the landscape feature. The analysis of the obtained data allows us to position the soils of the Alpine and subalpine meadows and meadow steppes on the growth of the assimilation potential in relation to organic pollutants in the following sequence:Mountain-meadow chernozem-like> Mountain-forest meadow> Mountain-meadow steppe> Mountain-meadow sod