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The Paliurus spina-christi dominated vegetation in Europe

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Abstract

The revision of the Paliurus spina-christi dominated vegetation of Europe is presented here. The study area includes the north-eastern part of Iberian Peninsula and Provence to the west, and spreads through the Apennine Peninsula to the Balkan Peninsula and up to Eastern Mediterranean areas. The phytosociological relevés of Paliurus spina-christi dominated vegetation found in the literature for these European territories were gathered together in a phytosociological table. Floristic analysis, cluster analysis, and indirect gradient analysis were performed to determine the similarities and differences between the different Paliurus spina-christi dominated communities and their correlations with the main bioclimatic indices described in the literature. The various analyses highlight the existence of nine different associations (one of which is described here for the first time) that are attributed to different syntaxonomic levels.

In the conclusion, a syntaxonomical scheme is proposed that classifies the European vegetation of shrublands in the class Rhamno-Prunetea which includes the class Paliuretea. Currently, we recognized three orders within this class: Prunetalia spinosae for central and south-central Europe; Pyro spinosae-Rubetalia ulmifolii within the Temperate oceanic bioclimate of the sub-Mediterranean variant; Paliuretalia spinae-christi with a central Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean distribution, that mainly occurs in the central-eastern Mediterranean (Southern Apennine Peninsula) and the Balkans.

Finally, a part of the shrub vegetation dominated by Paliurus spina-christi is referred to the class Quercetea ilicis, the order Pistacio lentisci-Rhamnetalia alaterni, the alliance Oleo sylvestris-Ceratonion siliquae and the suballiance Oleo sylvestris-Paliurenion spinae-christi that refers to thermophilous shrub communities that require high edaphic humidity.

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Abbreviations

Io:

annual ombrothermic index

Cti:

compensated thermicity index

Ic:

extended continentality index

SIA:

species indicator analysis (SIA)

NMDS:

non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Prof. Jesus Izco (Santiago de Compostela) for his precious nomenclatural advice, and Dr Andraž Čarni (Ljubljana) and Dr Dimitar Uzunov (Cosenza) for having kindly provided part of the bibliography of the Balkan countries.

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  1. Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131, Ancona, Italy

    Simona Casavecchia, Nello Biscotti, Simone Pesaresi & Edoardo Biondi

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  1. Simona Casavecchia
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  2. Nello Biscotti
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  4. Edoardo Biondi
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Correspondence to Simona Casavecchia.

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Casavecchia, S., Biscotti, N., Pesaresi, S. et al. The Paliurus spina-christi dominated vegetation in Europe. Biologia 70, 879–892 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2015-0100

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