Abstract
A vegetational transect across a glacial valley was investigated. Structure and species composition, as well as influence of disturbance by biotic factors (grazing of sheep and cattle) and abiotic factors (topography, wind, water) are discussed.
According to species composition and community structure, 4 main vegetation types were distinguished by comparing field data from phytosociological relevés with results of numerical treatments (3 methods of numerical classification and DCA ordination): 1) Chamaesciadium acaule-Polygonum viviparum, 2) Festuca cf. woronowii-Carex tristis, 3) Veratrum lobelianum-Taraxacum stevenii and 4)Rhododendron caucasicum-Vaccinium myrtillus communities.
Species diversity (evenness, and number of species) was low in the ungrazed dwarf-shrub alpine communities, which were dominated by Rhododendron caucasicum, in comparison with the grazed meadow. The highest values of these characteristics were found in the transitions among the types.
Nomenclature
Cherepanov, S.K. 1981. Plantae Vasculares USSR, Nauka, Leningrad
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bedoshvili, D.O. 1985a. Groups of associated species in the plant communities of the alpine meadows in the Kazbegi region (Central Caucasus). Bot. Zh. 70: 1523–1528 (in Russian).
Bedoshvili, D.O. 1985b. An attempt at classifying the alpine meadow vegetation of the Caucasus using groups of associated species (as exemplified by the Kazbegi region). Bot. Zh. 70: 1605–1613 (in Russian).
Belsky, A.J. 1987. Revegetation of natural and human-caused disturbances in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Vegetatio 70: 51–60.
Belsky, A.J. 1988. Regional influences on small-scale vege-tational heterogeneity within grasslands in the Seregeti National Park, Tanzania. Vegetatio 74: 3–10.
Collins, S.L. & Barber, S.C. 1985. Effect of disturbance on diversity in mixed-grass prairie. Vegetatio 64: 87–94.
Dirzo, R. 1985. The role of grazing animals. In: White, J. (ed.), Studies on plant demography, pp. 343–355. Academic Press, London.
Dolukhanov, A.G. 1978. The timberline and the subalpine belt in the Caucasus Mountains, USSR. Arct. alp. Res. 10: 409–422.
Gadziev, V.D., Yevstratova, O.I. & Efendiev, P.M. 1986. Rhododendron stands at high altitudes of Great Caucasus, Azerbaijan. In Kamelin, R.V. (ed.) Vegetation of high altitudes, pp. 109–113. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Gomez Sal, A., De Miguel, J.M., Casado, M.A. & Pineda, F.D. 1986. Successional changes in the morphology and ecological responses of a grazed pasture ecosystem in Central Spain. Vegetatio 67: 33–44.
Grant, S.A., Suckling, D.E., Smith, H.K., Torvell, L., Forbes, T.D.A. & Hodgson, J. 1985. Comparative studies of diet selection by sheep and cattle: The hill grasslands. J. Ecol. 73: 987–1004.
Grime, J.P. 1979. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
Gulisashvili, V.Z., Vakhatadze, L.B. & Prilipkov, L.I. 1975. Vegetation of the Caucasus Mountains. Nauka, Moscow. (in Russian).
Harper, J.L. 1969. The role of predation in vegetational diversity. Brookhaven Symp. 22: 48–62.
Harper, J.L. 1977. Population biology of plants. Academic Press, London.
Hill, M.O. 1979. TWINSPAN — A FORTRAN program for arranging multivariate data in an ordered two-way table by classification of the individuals and attributes. Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Hill, M.O. & Gauch, H.G. 1980. Detrended correspondence analysis: An improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42: 47–58.
Jensén, S. 1978. Influences of transformation of cover on classification and ordination of lake vegetation. Vegetatio 37: 19–31.
Ketskhoveli, N.N., Kharadze, A.L., Ivanishvili, M.I. & Gagnidze, M.I. 1975. Botanical description of the Georgian Military Road (Tbilisi-Kazbegi-Ordjonikidze). Acad. Sci. Georg. SSR, Botanical Institute, Tbilisi.
Korotkov, K.O. 1986. Vegetation of the Guton Mountain, East Caucasus. In: Kamelin, R.V. (ed), Vegetation of high altitudes, pp. 127–130. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Kovář, P. & Lepš, J. 1986. Ruderal communities of the railway station Česká Třebová (Eastern Bohemia, Czechoslovakia) — remarks on the application of classical and numerical methods of classification. Preslia 58: 141–163.
Kuliev, V.Sh., Vagabov, Z.V. & Magomedi, B.R. 1986. Control of Veratrum lobelianum in high mountain pastures and hay meadows of the Caucasus, USSR. In: Kamelin R.V. (ed.), Vegetation of high altitudes, pp. 225–227. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Looman, J. 1983. Grassland as natural or semi-natural vegetation. In: Holzner, W., Werger, M.J.A. & Ikusima, I. (eds), Man’s impact on vegetation, pp. 173–184. Junk, The Hague.
Mucina, L. 1982. Numerical classification and ordination of ruderal plant communities (Sisymbrietalia, Onopordetalia) in the western part of Slovakia. Vegetatio 48: 267–275.
Mueller-Dombois, D. & Ellenberg, H. 1974. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. J. Wiley and Sons, New York.
Orlóci, L. 1978. Multivariate analysis in vegetation science. 2nd ed. Junk, The Hague.
Peet, R.K. 1974. The measurement of species diversity. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 5: 285–307.
Pickett, S.T.A. 1980. Non-equilibrium coexistence of plants. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 107: 238–248.
Pickett, S.T.A. & White, P.S. (eds), 1985. The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, London.
Pielou, E.C. 1966. The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. J. Theor. Biol. 13: 131–144.
Plesnik, P. 1978. Man’s influence on the timberline in the West Carpathian Mountains, Czechoslovakia. Arct. Alp. Res. 10: 491–504.
Rabotnov, T.A. (ed.) 1987. Biogeocoenoses of alpine deserts. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Seibert, P. 1983. Human impact on landscape and vegetation in the Central High Andes. In Holzner, W., Werger, M.J.A. & Ikusima, I. (eds), Man’s impact on vegetation. Junk, The Hague.
Sousa, W.P. 1984. The role of disturbance in natural communities. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 15: 353–392.
Takhtajan, A.L. (ed.) 1954–1980. Flora of Armenia. Vol. 1–7. Acad. Sci. Armen. S SR, Jerevan (in Russian).
Tukel, T. 1984. Comparison of grazed and protected mountain steppe rangeland in Ulukisla, Turkey. J. Range Manage. 37: 133–135.
van der Maarel, E. 1976. On the establishment of plant community boundaries. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 89: 415–443.
van der Maarel, E. 1979. Transformation of cover-abundance values in phytosociology and its effects on community similarity. Vegetatio 39: 97–114.
Walter, H. 1984. Vegetation und Klimazonen. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Welch, D. 1986. Studies in the grazing of heather moorland in north-east Scotland. V. Trends in Nardus stricta and other unpalatable graminoids. J. Appl. Ecol. 23: 1047–1058.
Westhoff, V. & van der Maarel, E. 1978. The Braun-Blanquet approach. In: Whittaker, R.H. (ed.), Classification of plant communities, pp. 287–399. Junk, The Hague.
Wishart, D. 1978. CLUSTAN IC. User manual. Inter-University Research Council Series. Report 47. London.
Zanina, A.A. 1961. Climate of the USSR. Caucasus. Gimiz, Leningrad, (in Russian).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pyšek, P., Šrůtek, M. (1989). Numerical phytosociology of the subalpine belt of the Kazbegi region, Caucasus, USSR. In: Mucina, L., Dale, M.B. (eds) Numerical syntaxonomy. Advances in vegetation science, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2432-1_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2432-1_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7597-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2432-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive