Analyse de la Flore des Alpes. 2: Biodiversité et Chorologie

• Published in: Candollea
• Main Authors: David Aeschimann, Nathalie Rasolofo, Jean-Paul Theurillat
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva (CJBG) 2011
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15553/c2011v662a1

Aeschimann, D., N. Rasolofo & J.-P. Theurillat (2011). Analysis of the flora of the Alps. 2: biodiversity and chorology. Candollea 66: 225–253. In French, English and French abstracts.The second in a series, this paper continues the statistical analysis of the data published in «Flora alpina». The characterization of biodiversity encompasses the altitudinal and worldwide distribution of the taxa. For each vegetation belt, the following results are provided: the numbers of families and genera, as well as lists of the most important ones, characteristic ones, and ones richest in endemics; the number of taxa that are present or exclusive; the rate of endemism; a cartographic pattern of endemism; and the number of taxa from each floristic contingent. Comparisons are made between the western and the eastern Alps, showing that the bicentrism is more pronounced in the lower belts. The relative weight of each floristic contingent is provided for the total flora and for the xenophytes, as well as being presented in the form of cartographic patterns for the main contingents. With almost a third of the taxa, the South-European montane contingent is the most important one. It is demonstrated that in the Alps, taxonomic richness is positively correlated with the relative weight of the Mediterranean contingent. The families and genera characterizing South-European montane and Arctic-Alpine contingents are listed.