Search results for " ecological gradient"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Formalized classification of European fen vegetation at the alliance level
2017
AimsPhytosociological classification of fen vegetation (Scheuchzerio palustris-Caricetea fuscae class) differs among European countries. Here we propose a unified vegetation classification of European fens at the alliance level, provide unequivocal assignment rules for individual vegetation plots, identify diagnostic species of fen alliances, and map their distribution.LocationEurope, western Siberia and SE Greenland.Methods29 049 vegetation-plot records of fens were selected from databases using a list of specialist fen species. Formal definitions of alliances were created using the presence, absence and abundance of Cocktail-based species groups and indicator species. DCA visualized the s…
Phytoplankton distribution along trophic gradients within and among reservoirs in Catalonia (Spain)
2008
SUMMARY 1. Longitudinal gradients in the epilimnetic waters of stratified reservoirs provide a useful database to study changing environmental conditions. The spatial distribution, assemblage structure and specific adaptations of phytoplankton assemblages can be analysed along these gradients over short time scales. 2. Four reservoirs with a similar typology, located along an altitudinal gradient in the same eco-region, were sampled along their longitudinal axes. In total, 19 sampling stations provided a trophic spectrum, ranging from oligo-mesotrophy to hypertrophy, which was quantified by calculating the trophic state index of each sampling station in the four reservoirs. 3. Several patte…
Downy-oak woods of Italy: phytogeographical remarks on a controversial taxonomic and ecologic issue
2014
The importance of downy oak as an integral component of the "submediterranean" woods has been underscored by many studies. Nevertheless, terms like "submediterranean" and "downy oak" are some of the most poorly understood concepts in European phytogeographic and taxonomic research. Downy oak is well known to be a problematic taxon. The name "Quercus pubescens" (= Q. humilis) combines populations characterized by increasing phenotypic and genomic polymorphisms along north-south gradients, which is explained as the result of a "founder effect" produced by a relatively fast post-glacial re-colonization of the northern areas through rare long-distance dispersal events. On the other hand, polymo…
Parasitoids (Hymenoptera) of leaf-spinning moths (Lepidoptera) feeding on Vaccinium uliginosum L. along an ecological gradient in central European pe…
2011
Parasitoids of leaf-spinning Lepidoptera associated with two isolated central European peat bogs were investigated. Five families of parasitoid Hymenoptera (Braconidae, lchneumonidae, Eulophidae, Pteromalidae and Encyrtidae) were recorded. Three categories were recognised: (1) primary parasitoids, (2) facultative hyperparasitoids and (3) obligatory hyperparasitoids. Ten species of Braconidae, five species and seven marked morphospecies among lchneumonidae, and three species of Chalcidoidea were identified. Despite of some niche-specific (but less host-specific) parasitoids, all these hymenopterans are likely to be generalists and none of them were confirmed to be habitat and/or host special…