High-altitude vegetation of the Western Carpathians — a syntaxonomical review

• Published in: Biologia
• Main Authors: Kliment, Ján, Šibík, Jozef, Šibíková, Ivana, Jarolímek, Ivan, Dúbravcová, Zuzana, Uhlířová, Jana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2010
• Subjects: Plant Science; Animal Science and Zoology; Genetics; Cell Biology; Biochemistry; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Molecular Biology; Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/s11756-010-0109-4; https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/biolog.2010.65.issue-6/s11756-010-0109-4/s11756-010-0109-4.pdf

Abstract This paper presents a survey of high-altitude plant communities which occur in the Western Carpathians with an enumeration of the characteristic, transgressive and differential species of the individual alliances, orders and classes. It describes the tall-herb vegetation (Mulgedio-Aconitetea) and communities of the subalpine shrubs (Betulo carpaticae-Alnetea viridis), the montane and alpine calcareous swards (Elyno-Seslerietea), the wind-exposed cryophilous swards on ridge edges with low snow cover (Carici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardii), the chionophilous communities of snow beds and snow fields (Salicetea herbaceae), the arctic-boreal dwarf-shrub heathlands (Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea), the alpine acidophilous grasslands (Caricetea curvulae) and the high-mountain mat-grass swards of the alliance Nardion strictae (Nardetea strictae). This study summarises the results of the syntaxonomical and nomenclatural revisions of various types of high-altitude vegetation in the Western Carpathians and the longstanding research in the field. The aim of this paper is to amass knowledge about the nomenclatural features, such as the synonyms, original diagnoses and nomenclatural types of the higher syntaxa in the Western Carpathians, that will be important and useful for a forthcoming vegetation survey of highrank syntaxa of Europe (EuroChecklist). It reflects the current status of knowledge regarding the floristic composition and distribution of high-altitude (alpine) non-forest communities in Slovakia. The fourth volume of Plant Communities of Slovakia, which discusses high-altitude vegetation, was recently published. This paper, however, contains some corrections and improvements to the concepts. It is presented in a compact form and in English, which makes it more accessible by international readership.