engleski

Floristical, ecological and structural diversity of vegetation of forest fringes of the Northern Croatia along a climatic gradient.

The forest fringe vegetation was sampled along a transect from the western to the eastern part of Croatia. In this direction the continentality of the climate increases (e. g. the sum of precipitation per year decreases, the mean annual and extreme temperature increase). The changes in species composition, Ellenberg indicator values and plant functional groups (life history form, life span, phenological groups and classification to the families) have been studied. According to the PCA the vegetation types were settled and communities were defined. On the basis of the species composition the Ellenberg indicator values and plant functional groups were calculated. The analysis shows that the pH on one side and moisture and nutrient on the other (microsite) are perpendicular to the temperature, continentality and altitude (climate). These are two main axes of division of communities. The new association Origano-Campanuletum bononiensis is described. Since both mesophilous and thermophilous communities appear over the whole phytogeographical gradient, the changes in functional plant traits in direction continentality, temperature and altitude have been studied. The proportion of therophytes, annual and biannual plants are higher in the more continental region, whereas in the more humid region geophytes are more common. In the continental parts, that are less favorable, the species of the family Fabaceae are more abundant, since they can fix nitrogen from the air. The analysis of the phenological groups shows that in the continental part the vegetation has only one peak of flowering, whereas in more humid areas the flowering period is well distributed throughout the whole vegetation period.

vegetation; forest fringe; Trifolio-Geranietea; species composition; Ellenberg indicator values; plant functional traits

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