engleski

Endangered plant species and habitats in area of Sopote waterfall in Žumberak - Samoborsko gorje

The Sopote waterfall is situated about 3 km NW from the village Sošice in the Nature park Žumberak- Samoborsko gorje. This waterfall is a part of the river Kupčina and it steeply collapses along 40 m long cascades. So far, there have been no methodical investigations of flora or vegetation in the area around the Sopot waterfall and along the upper flow of the river Kupčina. We conducted the field investigations in the years 2009 and 2010. In our preliminary study we recorded 204 plant taxa, out of which according to IUCN categorization, two critically endangered (CR) – Eriophorum angustifolium and Tofieldia calyculata, one endangered (EN) – Eriophorum latifolium, one near treatened (NT) – Cephalathera damasonium and five vulnerable (VU) species Carex panicea, Ophrys fuciflora, O. insectifera, Orchis purpurea and Helleborus niger subsp. macranthus. In investigated area we also recorded two endangered habitat types: elements of Dinaric basophyllous flat fen vegetation (ass. Eriophoro- Caricetum panicae) and (semi)arid continental grassland from the class Festuco-Brometea (ass. Seslerietum kalnikensis), which is a habitat rich with species of open habitats, especially orchids. Both habitats are, due to abandonment of traditional livestock farming, in advanced successional phase towards forest vegetation types and this will certainly lead to disappearance of many plant species from the area, especially endangered ones.

Flora; Sopote waterfall; Žumberak; Croatia

nije evidentirano