Trees and Bushes in the Bolshoi Uran River Basin (Orenburg Region)

The article analyzes the tree and shrub flora of the B. Uran river basin. An inventory of the flora was carried out, characteristics were given according to floristic spectra (taxonomic, ecological, phytocenotic, etc.), and a list of plants was compiled. It is established that 42 wild species of trees and shrubs belonging to 15 families grow on the studied territory. The most common family is Rosaceae, the largest genera are Salix and Populus. The availability of moisture was determined by the predominance of mesophytic forest vegetation. The chorological analysis of the flora indicates a significant presence of adventitious wild-growing species. The analysis of the species structure of phytocenoses indicates an anthropogenic succession.

New leaf species from the upper Miocene flora of the leaf-bearing Wischgrund clay (Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany)

This is a brief outline of the fossil content of the Wischgrund leaf-bearing clay (Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg State, Germany), which belongs to the youngest Neogene layers of Lower Lusatia (upper Miocene, Tortonian). It is a deciduous temperate flora, with a small proportion of evergreen species. The reconstructed vegetation can be assigned to an azonal swamp forest with Taxodium and a riparian forest with Liquidambar and Acer as the most frequent species. Furthermore, a zonal Mixed Mesophytic Forest characterized by Quercus and Fagus is proposed in upland positions. The flora consists of 78 species of leaves, 51 carpological species and 82 palynological groups. The climate belongs to Cfa-type according to Köppen. Two new species of leaves are described from there, Pyracantha pseudococcinea sp. nov. and Ternstroemites klettwitzensis sp. nov.

Notas sobre la ecología reproductiva de árboles en un bosque mesófilo de montaña en Michoacán, México

Reproductive events of the main tree species of a mountain mesophytic forest are described, and complemented with data on the reproductive behavior of some shrubs and herbs. The general pattern of flowering among tree species was strongly seasonal, with a clear peak in flowering during the dry-wet and wet-dry interfases. Shrubs and herbs, by contrast, flowered primarily during the rainy season. Controlled pollination experiments showed that all tree species, with the exception of Cornus disciflora, have relatively high levels of self-compatibility. This is considered a mechanism for ensuring the reproductive success of these species in the absence of adequate pollinators. Melittophily is the dominant pollination syndrome, although others were observed (e.g., anemophily, ornithophily, and sphingophily). Finally, the general reproductive features of the forest are discussed and compared with the reproductive behavior of temperate and tropical forests.

A NEW LATE MIOCENE PLANT ASSEMBLAGE FROM MESSARA BASIN (CRETE, GREECE)

A rich terrigenous plant assemblage was recently excavated from early Tortonian deposits at Messara basin, southern Crete. The macro-remains are perfectly preserved as impressions or carbonized compressions in poorly lithified and locally laminated, blue-green clays with an age of at least 10.5 Ma and thus can be considered as the oldest plant assemblage found in Crete todate. Gymnosperms are represented by the families of Pinaceae (pine needles and winged seeds), Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae (leafy twings of Taxodium). Besides, 19 different angiosperm taxa of trees and shrubs have been also determined. Fagaceae is the most diversified with foliage of beech and several deciduous and evergreen oaks, while Myricaceae contribute mainly as abundant leaf remains of Myrica lignitum. Accessory elements of evergreen Lauraceae (Daphnogene polymorpha), sclerophyllus shrubs of Buxaceae (Buxus pliocenica) and various deciduous dicotyledonous such as Populus crenata, Liquidambar europaea, Carya minor and Acer pseudomonspessulanum are well documented. Leguminosae is recorded by a significant number of various small leaflet imprints. Therefore, the recovered remains indicate swampy forest habitats dominated by hygrophilic woody plants of Taxodium and Myrica, while in the surrounding plains and slopes a mixed mesophytic forest with a relatively low proportion of evergreen plants occurred in early-Late Miocene times in Crete depicting a moderately humid, warm-temperate nature for the climate.

Groundtruthing the Public Trust: Ethnography, Mountaintop Retention, and the Reclamation of NEPA

Imet William Maxey in 1996, during the annual meeting of the Lucy Braun Association for the Mixed Mesophytic Forest (LBA) held that year in Charleston, West Virginia. The LBA had formed four years earlier in Beckley, West Virginia, for the purpose of studying and preserving the hardwood forest system covering the Central Appalachian Plateaus. The founders of the organization named it for the pioneering woman botanist who first recognized the ecological integrity of the Central Appalachian forest, and linked that integrity to the region's unglaciated topography. A quasi-scientific organization, the LBA welcomed all devotees interested in promoting the well-being of the mixed mesophytic forest (mmf) throughout its range (see Figure 1), including me, a practicing anthropologist trained in folklore with a special research interest in ecological crisis.