Publication of the Museum of Nature South Tyrol Nr. 11
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Erika Pignatti Sandro Pignatti Plant Life of the Dolomites Vegetation Tables
Erika Pignatti Sandro Pignatti Rome Italy Publication of the Museum of Nature South Tyrol Nr. 11 ISBN 978-3-662-48031-1 ISBN 978-3-662-48032-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-48032-8 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2015958096 # Naturmuseum Südtirol 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface The study on the life of plants in the Dolomites is a complex work, and the results largely exceed the limits of a single volume. In fact, the authors think it would be impossible to concentrate in one book an exhaustive account of the large assembly of original observations and experiments carried out by themselves over a period of several decades. Consequently, the authors, in accord with the publishers, decided to divide the results among three volumes. The first volume Plant Life of the Dolomites: Vegetation Structure and Ecology was published in 2014, and here we introduce the second volume on vegetation tables. The third volume Plant Life of the Dolomites: Atlas of Flora will contain chorological data. In general, vegetation monographs are based on lengthy investigations and experiences carried out by different scientists under different conditions of space and time, so that the author of a concluding paper can operate based on the detailed results from a more or less rich previous literature. On the contrary, in the case of the Dolomites, the existing literature was scarce and the authors must play the role of both pioneering explorers and redactors of the final conclusions. The first step of the naturalistic studies consists of the analysis (observations on single individuals, species or ecosystems); with the collection of data a synthesis is later necessary in order to reach the possibility of proposing a theory. The study of vegetation is primarily based on fieldwork (relevés, pedological observations and ecophysiological measures), and the collected data are the necessary basis for the subsequent elaborations. Usually only the results are exposed in detail and discussed, whereas field data are summarized or somewhat neglected. Here, as we are dealing with unusual dimensions and quantities of data (more than 2000 vegetation surveys), these would have excessively burdened a single book, forcing us to distribute the different arguments in three volumes. In the first volume of Plant Life of the Dolomites, with the subtitle Vegetation Structure and Ecology (in the following cited as Vol. 1 ) a great quantity of information and comments are given; nevertheless, it contains only part of the data and observations collected during the many years of fieldwork and research on this argument. We considered it appropriate, in accord with the editors, to concentrate all data from our field research in separate treatments, which will be published in this second volume Vegetation Tables (in the following cited as Vol. 2 ) with the phytosociological tables and explicatory notes and in the third volume Atlas of Flora ( Vol. 3 ), in which all observations regarding flora will be exposed. v
vi Preface For easy comparison with the text and tables of the first volume, the chapter titles and headings in this second volume refer to the chapter and table numbers of the corresponding chapters in the first volume. Rome, Italy Erika Pignatti Sandro Pignatti
Contents Part I Remarks on Chapters from Plant Life of the Dolomites: Vegetation Structure and Ecology (Vol. 1) Exploration of the Flora and Ecological Factors in the Dolomites... 3 Syntaxonomy of the Seslerio-Caricetum sempervirentis... 7 Previous Elaborations............ 7 Classification of the Sesleria Communities Based on Relevés from the Dolomites... 9 Ordination and Interpretation of the Tables... 10 Some Questions of Syntaxonomy...... 12 The Problem of Character Species... 14 Part II Association (Vegetation) Tables Association Tables to the Habitat Stable Meadows and Vegetation of Fields and Human Settlements... 19 Association Tables to the Habitat Forests of Broadleaved Trees in the Valley Floor and in the Montane Habitat... 43 Association Tables to the Habitat Arid and Steppe Grasslands... 77 Association Tables to the Habitat The Alpine Taiga (Coniferous Forests and Heats with Rhododendrons)... 99 Association Tables to the Habitat Subalpine Broadleaved Shrub Communities... 141 Association Tables to the Habitat Wet Habitats... 153 Association Tables to the Habitat Alpine Grasslands with Acidocline Species... 165 Association Tables to the Habitat Plant Life on Dolomitic and Calcareous Scree... 201 Association Tables to the Habitat Alpine Grasslands on Limestones and Dolomites... 239 Association Tables to the Habitat Pioneer Patches and Discontinuous Vegetation of Ridges and Peak Habitats... 299 vii
viii Contents Association Tables to the Habitat Snow Beds... 329 Association Tables to the Habitat Rupestrian Habitats... 339 Geo-Referenced Locations of Relevés... 365 Vegetation Relevés: Location, Date, Sporadic Species... 367 Relevés to Stable Meadows and Vegetation of Fields and Human Settlements (Chap. 2 in Vol. 1).............................. 368 Relevés to Forests of Broadleaved Trees in the Valley Floor and in the Montane Habitat (Chap. 3 in Vol. 1).................. 373 Relevés to Arid and Steppe Grasslands (Chap. 4 in Vol. 1)......... 379 Relevés to The Alpine Taiga (Coniferous Forests and Heats with Rhododendrons) (Chap. 5 in Vol. 1)....................... 384 Relevés to Subalpine Broadleaved Shrub Communities (Chap. 6 in Vol. 1)........................................ 393 Relevés to Wet Habitats (Chap. 7 in Vol. 1).................... 397 Relevés to Alpine Grasslands with Acidocline Species (Chap. 8 in Vol. 1)........................................ 399 Relevés to Plant Life on Dolomitic and Calcareous Scree (Chap. 9 in Vol. 1)........................................ 406 Relevés to Alpine Grasslands on Limestones and Dolomites (Chap. 10 in Vol. 1)... 414 Relevés to Pioneer Patches and Discontinuous Vegetation of Ridges and Peak Habitats (Chap. 11 in Vol. 1)... 424 Relevés to Snow Beds (Chap. 12 in Vol. 1)..... 429 Relevés to Rupestrian Habitats (Chap. 13 in Vol. 1)..... 431 Part III Data on Microclimate and Ecophysiology Energy Flow and Vegetation... 439 Light (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 528)............................... 439 Soil Temperature (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 531 532).................. 439 Microclimate Methods (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 533 544)...... 440 Ecomorphological and Ecophysiological Adaptations (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 535)..... 440 Adaptations to Solar Radiation (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 537)..... 441 Luminous Cascade........................................ 442 The Plant Community and the Bioclimatic Niche (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 538)..... 442 The Problem of the Reference System.......................... 443 Thermal Environment of the Alpine Belt on Limestone and Dolomite (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 540)..... 443 Microclimate of the Picea abies Belt and at the higher Belts on Acid Soil (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 544)..... 444 Microclimate of the Deciduous Forests and Meadows (Refers to Vol. 1, p. 546 547)... 445 Symmetry Break and Self-Organisation (EcoTable 14.14)........... 446 Biodiversity as a Function of Ecosystem... 471
Contents ix Part IV Vegetation Complexes, Landscape Tables The Landscape of the Dolomites... 487 Observations Along the Dolomite Trail No. 2 (Refers to Chap. 19 in Vol. 1, Sect. The Dolomite Trail No. 2, p. 650).......... 488 The Most Significant Vegetation Complexes in the Dolomites (Refers to Chap. 19 in Vol. 1, Sect. The Vegetation Complexes, p. 653)... 489 The Vegetation Complex as an Expression of Order (Refers to Chap. 19 in Vol. 1, p. 675 681, Fig. 19.19)............................. 489 Landscape Units... 491 The Colline (Prealpine) Landscape Unit... 491 Montane Landscape Units................................ 493 Subalpine Landscape Units...... 506 Group of the Rhododendron-Complexes (Landscape Tables 12 15)... 513 Alpine Landscape Units on Acid Substrates.... 525 Alpine Landscape Units on Basic Substrates...... 532 Three Landscape Systems (Refer to Vol. 1, p. 655, 674)............. 553 Landscape System of the Prealps........................... 553 Landscape System of the Exterior Dolomites.... 553 Landscape System of the Interior Dolomites... 554 References... 557