An Asphodelus ramosus dominated plant community in Montenegro

Our phytosociological study in Montenegro (Ćemovsko polje) deals with the syntaxonomy of arid grasslands in the Adriatic region and, in particular, different interpretations of plant communities dominated by Asphodelus ramosus. The main aims of this study were to contribute to knowledge of the composition of dry grasslands dominated by Asphodelus ramosus in Montenegro and to compare instances of Asphodelus ramosus dominated vegetation along the Adriatic. Our vegetation dataset included 82 phytosociological relevés: 17 from our recent field work and 72 relevés of South European Asphodelus ramosus communities. Ordination analysis (NMDS) was used for comparison of Asphodelus ramosus dominated communities in the Adriatic region. The Asphodelus ramosus community from Montenegro was classified into Bromo erecti-Chrysopogonetum grylli. The analysis revealed two distinct vegetation groups: grassland communities of the vegetation class Festuco-Brometea from Montenegro, Croatia and Albania, and edge vegetation of the new class Charybdido pancratii-Asphodeletea ramosi from Italy. Comparison with similar vegetation types shows high similarity with associations on the eastern Adriatic coast, where they are treated as grassland communities belonging to the alliance Chrysopogono grylli-Koelerion splendentis, order Scorzoneretalia villosae, class Festuco-Brometea.

Superpixel-Based Regional-Scale Grassland Community Classification Using Genetic Programming with Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Images

Grasslands are one of the most important terrestrial ecosystems on the planet and have significant economic and ecological value. Accurate and rapid discrimination of grassland communities is critical to the conservation and utilization of grassland resources. Previous studies that explored grassland communities were mainly based on field surveys or airborne hyperspectral and high-resolution imagery. Limited by workload and cost, these methods are typically suitable for small areas. Spaceborne mid-resolution RS images (e.g., Sentinel, Landsat) have been widely used for large-scale vegetation observations owing to their large swath width. However, there still keep challenges in accurately distinguishing between different grassland communities using these images because of the strong spectral similarity of different communities and the suboptimal performance of models used for classification. To address this issue, this paper proposed a superpixel-based grassland community classification method using Genetic Programming (GP)-optimized classification model with Sentinel-2 multispectral bands, their derived vegetation indices (VIs) and textural features, and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) bands and the derived textural features. The proposed method was evaluated in the Siziwang grassland of China. Our results showed that the addition of VIs and textures, as well as the use of GP-optimized classification models, can significantly contribute to distinguishing grassland communities, and the proposed approach classified the seven communities in Siziwang grassland with an overall accuracy of 84.21% and a kappa coefficient of 0.81. We concluded that the classification method proposed in this paper is capable of distinguishing grassland communities with high accuracy at a regional scale.

Long term changes of the inner-alpine steppe vegetation: the dry grassland communities of the Vinschgau (South Tyrol, Italy) 40–50 years after the first vegetation mapping

Aims: The Vinschgau is the driest inner-alpine valley in the Eastern Alps and harbours a unique steppe vegetation. We studied these dry grassland communities and aimed to answer the following questions: Which plant communities can be found currently? Do the syntaxa described by Braun-Blanquet in the 1960s still prevail in the area? Has there been any change in species composition over the last 40–50 years? Study area: Along an approximately 40 km transect, the south-facing slopes of the Vinschgau valley (South Tyrol, Italy) from Mals to Plaus were investigated. Methods: For the classification, 92 relevés were sampled in 2019 and compared with 76 relevés from the 1960s and ´70s by means of vegetation tables and ordinations (Detrended Correspondence Analysis). Results: Based on our investigation, the majority of dry grassland communities can be classified as Festuco-Caricetum supinae. Three subassociations were defined by the dominant species Stipa capillata, Bothriochloa ischaemum and Stipa pennataagg. The comparison of new and old relevés shows an increase in species from the class Sedo-Scleranthetea (e.g. Trifolium arvense, Erodium cicutarium) and the association Artemisieto-Agropyretum. In addition, ruderal elements (e.g. Erigeron annuus, Convolvulus arvensis) have also migrated into dry grasslands. A shift in the dominance over time can be recognized as well. In particular, Festuca rupicola and to some extent also Stipa capillata, have increased in abundance and frequency. Conclusions: We suggest to include the investigated closed dry grasslands in the alliance Festucion valesiacae. The rank of the character species at association, alliance and order level should be re-analysed. In order to obtain a better syntaxonomic overview of western and eastern alpine dry grassland communities in relation to Eastern European dry grasslands, a comprehensive study is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, long-term vegetation dynamics and vegetation change need to be studied in more detailed future studies. Taxonomic reference: Fischer et al. (2008). Syntaxonomic references: Mucina et al. (2016) for syntaxa from alliance to class level; Braun-Blanquet (1961) for associations. Abbreviations: agg. = aggregate; cf. = confer (means ‘compare’); DCA = Detrended Correspondence Analysis; s. lat. = sensu lato; s. str. = sensu stricto

Soil Candidate Phyla Radiation Bacteria Encode Components of Aerobic Metabolism and Co-occur with Nanoarchaea in the Rare Biosphere of Rhizosphere Grassland Communities

Here, we investigated overlooked microbes in soil, candidate phyla radiation (CPR) bacteria and Diapherotrites, Parvarchaeota, Aenigmarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota, and Nanohaloarchaeota (DPANN) archaea, by size fractionating small particles from soil, an approach typically used for the recovery of viral metagenomes. Concentration of these small cells (<0.2 μm) allowed us to identify these organisms as part of the rare soil biosphere and to sample genomes that were absent from non-size-fractionated metagenomes.

Phytosociology of Atractylis cancellata and Micromeria microphylla communities in southern Italy with insights on the xerothermic steno-Mediterranean grasslands high-rank syntaxa

In the present paper a phytosociological study on the dry grassland communities identified in the western sector of the Murgia Plateau (Murgia delle Gravine) and in the Lucanian badlands territory is presented. Forty vegetation releves were carried out using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological approach. Two new associations characterized by a therophytic dominance, namely Lysimachio foeminae-Atractylidetum cancellatae and Campanulo erini-Micromerietum microphyllae, are described and discussed from a syntaxonomic and biogeographic viewpoint. In addition, new phytosociological data concerning the Petrosedum ochroleucum communities developed on limestone outcrops, the perennial Hyparrhenia hirta steppe-like grasslands of the low-altitude areas of the Murgia hills and the small-size Brachypodium distachyum therophytic communities are presented.