Měkkýši přírodních památek Kalábová a Kalábová 2 v CHKO Bílé Karpaty [Molluscs of the Kalábová and Kalábová 2 Nature Monuments in the White Carpathians PLA]

The Kalábová (K1) and Kalábová 2 (K2) Nature Monuments are located in the central part of the White Carpathians PLA near the village of Březová. Both monuments protect treeless wet grasslands and tufa forming spring fens, which were originally part of a larger wetland complex. A total of 51 species were recorded in K1 (47 terrestrial and two aquatic gastropods and two bivalves). Of these, 30 species (56%) are woodland dwellers that were recorded during the survey in 2000, shortly after the area was logged. In contrast, none of these species was detected during the recent survey in 2021. However, these species are widespread in the region and Nature Monuments surroundings and some are likely present also in the ecotones of the spring meadow and adjacent forest. Currently, hygrophilous and wetland dwellers dominate (9 spp.; 17%), followed by ubiquitous (7; 15%), open-ground (4; 8%) and aquatic species (4; 8%). At K2, 19 species were recorded, including 15 terrestrial and two aquatic gastropods, and two bivalves. The two most species-rich ecogroups were hygrophilous and wetland dwellers (5; 26%) and woodland dwellers (5; 26%), the latter were prevailing probably due to relatively recent deforestation between 2012–2014. Aquatic species were represented by four species (21%), followed by three ubiquitous (16%) and one open-ground (5%) species. The spring dweller Bythinella austriaca (NT) and the declining wetland umbrella species Vertigo angustior (VU; NATURA 2000) inhabited both localities in high densities. To maintain the favourable habitat conservation status of the reserves, the sites should be managed extensively by grazing or mowing.

Comparative analysis of grassland habitats of Ukraine in terms of richness and diversity

Using the big dataset (17,687 vegetation plots), a comparative analysis of grassland habitats of Ukraine in terms of species richness, Shannon and Simpson diversity indices and Pielou and Smith-Wilson evenness indices was performed. Leading positions of thermophilous forest fringe and hay meadows, especially mountain ones, in almost all indices were revealed. Instead, halophytic habitats show the lowest rates in the vast majority of analyzes. In addition to these general patterns, the analysis revealed the following trends: in almost all analyzes (except for the values of the Smith- Wilson index) habitats formed on carbonate rocks had greater richness and diversity than those formed on rocks of silicates; in almost all cases (except the Pielou index) oligotrophic wet grasslands were characterized by higher values of richness and diversity than eutrophic ones; in all analyzes, mountain habitats were characterized by higher values of richness and diversity than similar lowland habitats.

Addressing Peatland Rewetting in Russian Federation Climate Reporting

Rewetting is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from drained peatlands and must significantly contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate within the land sector. In 2010–2013, more than 73 thousand hectares of fire-prone peatlands were rewetted in the Moscow Region (the hitherto largest rewetting program in the Northern Hemisphere). As the Russian Federation has no national accounting of rewetted areas yet, this paper presents an approach to detect them based on multispectral satellite data verified by ground truthing. We propose that effectively rewetted areas should minimally include areas with wet grasslands and those covered with water (cf. the IPCC categories “rewetted organic soils” and “flooded lands”). In 2020, these lands amounted in Moscow Region to more than 5.3 and 3.6 thousand hectares, respectively. Assuming that most rewetted areas were former peat extraction sites and using IPCC default GHG emission factors, an overall GHG emission reduction of over 36,000 tCO2-eq year−1 was calculated. We furthermore considered the uncertainty of calculations. With the example of a 1535 ha large rewetted peatland, we illustrate the estimation of GHG emission reductions for the period up to 2050. The approach presented can be used to estimate GHG emission reductions by peatland rewetting on the national, regional, and object level.

Birds and birding 2013-2020 at Macaneta, Southern Mozambique

The Macaneta area lies in the Incomati River estuary in northern Maputo Bay, Maputo Province, southern Mozambique. The 56 km2 area of study was selected based on access from tracks and follows no formal boundaries. The site comprises a 10 km stretch of ocean beach, coastal dunes with patchy thicket forest, and low lying wet grasslands inland to the Incomati River. The wetlands have complex hydrology offering diverse salinity and temporal conditions. The peninsula of Praia de Macaneta is also included in the study site but with few data. Improved access to the site in Oct 2016 enabled over 200 field ornithological visits Oct 2016-Oct 2020 and the sightings are analysed and reported herein. A total of 295 species was recorded including eight Globally Threatened birds (three Endangered, five Near-threatened) and Internationally Important numbers of White-breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo and Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybrida were found. Three new birds for Mozambique were discovered; Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata (first for Africa), White-rumped Sandpiper C. fuscicollis and Pearl-breasted Swallow Hirundo dimidiate. An annotated checklist of selected species is presented. The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in particular drew much birder interest with 254 international visitor days over the 12 weeks of its first visit Feb-Apr 2018, contributing over US$12,000 into the local economy. The bird returned for two further seasons but it was not possible to gather further data.

Suppression of an Invasive Native Plant Species by Designed Grassland Communities

Grassland biodiversity is declining due to climatic change, land-use intensification, and establishment of invasive plant species. Excluding or suppressing invasive species is a challenge for grassland management. An example is Jacobaea aquatica, an invasive native plant in wet grasslands of Central Europe, that is causing problems to farmers by being poisonous, overabundant, and fast spreading. This study aimed at testing designed grassland communities in a greenhouse experiment, to determine key drivers of initial J. aquatica suppression, thus dismissing the use of pesticides. We used two base communities (mesic and wet grasslands) with three plant traits (plant height, leaf area, seed mass), that were constrained and diversified based on the invader traits. Native biomass, community-weighted mean trait values, and phylogenetic diversity (PD) were used as explanatory variables to understand variation in invasive biomass. The diversified traits leaf area and seed mass, PD, and native biomass significantly affected the invader. High native biomass permanently suppressed the invader, while functional traits needed time to develop effects; PD effects were significant at the beginning of the experiment but disappeared over time. Due to complexity and temporal effects, community weighted mean traits proved to be moderately successful for increasing invasion resistance of designed grassland communities.

A European map of groundwater pH and calcium

Water resources and associated ecosystems are becoming highly endangered due to ongoing global environmental changes. Spatial ecological modelling is a promising toolbox for understanding the past, present and future distribution and diversity patterns in groundwater-dependent ecosystems, such as fens, springs, streams, reed beds or wet grasslands. Still, the lack of detailed water chemistry maps prevents the use of reasonable models to be applied on continental and global scales. Being major determinants of biological composition and diversity of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, groundwater pH and calcium are of utmost importance. Here we developed an up-to-date European map of groundwater pH and Ca, based on 7577 measurements of near-surface groundwater pH and calcium distributed across Europe. In comparison to the existing European groundwater maps, we included several times more sites, especially in the regions rich in spring and fen habitats, and filled the apparent gaps in eastern and southeastern Europe. We used random forest models and regression kriging to create continuous maps of water pH and calcium at the continental scale, which is freely available also as a raster map (Hájek et al., 2020b; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4139912). Lithology had a higher importance than climate for both pH and calcium. The previously recognised latitudinal and altitudinal gradients were rediscovered with much refined regional patterns, as associated with bedrock variation. For ecological models of distribution and diversity of many terrestrial ecosystems, our new map based on field groundwater measurements is more suitable than maps of soil pH, which mirror not only bedrock chemistry but also vegetation-dependent soil processes.

Formalized Hierarchically Nested Expert System for Classification of Mesic and Wet Grasslands in Poland

The goal of this study was to propose a hierarchically nested classification system comprising four principal levels of the Braun-Blanquet system for Polish grasslands of the class <em>Molinio-Arrhenatheretea</em>. Using the Cocktail method, we defined consistent criteria for delimitation of the class, three orders, nine alliances, and 45 associations. Formal definitions were prepared using the summed cover and presence/absence information of species groups and individual dominant species. We created an expert system with a set of assignment rules that unambiguously classify relevés to a single unit at the given abstraction level of the Braun-Blanquet system in such a way that a relevé matched by the definition of a focal vegetation unit must be matched by definitions of all superior units. Of 11,535 relevés classified to <em>Molinio-Arrhenatheretea</em>, 36% were recognized at the association level, and 57% and 85% at the alliance and order level, respectively. All relevés were assigned unambiguously, meaning that a single relevé could not be assigned to more than one unit within the same hierarchical level (no overlap between vegetation units). This study is the first proposal of a hierarchically nested classification system that classifies grassland vegetation at different syntaxonomical levels unequivocally. It is important to create definitions for different syntaxonomical levels because the majority of vegetation patches do not fit to the associations, but can only be assigned to high-rank units such as alliance, order, or class.

A European map of groundwater pH and calcium

Water resources and associated ecosystems are becoming highly endangered due to ongoing global environmental changes. Spatial ecological modelling is a widely used tool for understanding the past, present and future distribution and diversity patterns in groundwater-dependent ecosystems, such as fens, springs, streams, reed beds or wet grasslands. Still, the lack of detailed water chemistry maps prevents their reasonable use on continental and global scales. Being major determinants of biological composition and diversity of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, groundwater pH and calcium are of utmost importance. Here we developed the up-to-date European map of groundwater pH and Ca, based on 7,577 measurements of near-surface groundwater pH and calcium distributed across Europe. In comparison to the existing European groundwater maps, we included a several times larger number of sites, especially in the regions rich in spring and fen habitats, and filled the apparent gaps in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. We used Random Forest models and regression kriging to create continuous maps of water pH and calcium at the continental scale, which is freely available also as a raster map (Hájek et al. 2020; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4139912). Lithology had higher importance than climate for both pH and calcium. The previously recognised latitudinal and altitudinal gradients were rediscovered with much refined regional patterns, as associated with bedrock variation. For ecological models of distribution and diversity of groundwater-dependent, but also other terrestrial, ecosystems, the new map is more suitable than previously used maps of soil pH, unlike which it mirrors bedrock chemistry more than vegetation-dependent soil processes.

Variation of the Main Alkaloid Content in Equisetum palustre L. in the Light of Its Ontogeny

Marsh horsetail (Equisetum palustre L.) is one of the most poisonous plants of wet grasslands in the northern hemisphere, which poses a major health threat to livestock. Available data on the levels of its main alkaloids are currently contradictory due to the inadequate analytical methods and the wide variation in toxicity levels reported. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the ontogenetic stage of plant development may explain a significant part of the variations in the main Equisetum-type alkaloids. Two populations of marsh horsetail were sampled over two growing seasons. The plant material was classified according to their developmental stages and subsequently the main alkaloids were determined by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) analysis. ANOVA revealed significant effects of the ontogenetic stage but not the site on the main Equisetum-type alkaloids (sum of palustrine and palustridiene) ranging from 213 to 994 mg/kg dry matter (DM). The highest alkaloid content was found in the stages of early development. Not the season itself, but the growth temperature co-influenced the alkaloid content. Our results help to resolve the seemingly contradictory information provided by previous studies on the toxicity of E. palustre and are of practical relevance for the prevention of contamination risks in wet grassland use.