Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20302/NC.2017.26.21
Analyses of the flora of railway stations in the Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Nenad Jasprica
orcid.org/0000-0001-9457-0300
; Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, University of Dubrovnik, P.O. Box 83, HR-20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Milenko Milović
orcid.org/0000-0003-0851-4869
; “Antun Vrančić“ Grammar School, Put Gimnazije 64, HR-22000 Šibenik, Croatia
Katija Dolina
orcid.org/0000-0001-8663-5397
; Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, University of Dubrovnik, P.O. Box 83, HR-20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Anđelka Lasić
; Faculty of Natural Sciences and Education, University of Mostar, BiH-88000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
The main aims of our study were (1) to determine the flora in railway areas with special emphasis on the presence of neophytes; (2) to describe the features of the flora through analyses of taxonomic composition, chorotypes, life forms and the phytosociological character of species found at 15 stations in the Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (SE Europe). According to their floristic composition, two broad groups of stations were recognized: i) stations in the most southerly area with higher annual precipitation and air temperature (cities of Ploče, Metković, Čapljina, Mostar), and ii) stations in sub-Mediterranean rural areas located exclusively at higher altitudes, including stations in three Dalmatian large cities (Zadar, Šibenik, Split). Altogether, 359 vascular plant taxa (336 species and 23 subspecies) were identified within 62 families and 230 genera. Therophytes, and Mediterraneans with a considerable proportion of Cosmopolitans were predominant. Neophytes contributed 14% of identified flora, the majority being invasive. In the phytosociological spectrum, the largest element was made up of taxa from Stellarietea mediae and Festuco valesiacae-Brometea erecti classes. Most of the railway stations studied excluding those in large cities, retain a link with the floristic composition of the plant communities of their biogeographic contexts.
Keywords
man-made habitats; operating tracks; floristic survey; neophytes; nitrophilous annual vegetation; SE Europe
Hrčak ID:
191541
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2017.
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