<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The Mediterranean area is a natural biodiversity hotspot that has also been influenced by humans for millennia. Especially the grasslands of Southern Europe have long been known for their diversity and beauty. However, several gaps remain in our knowledge about these grasslands, e.g. for some regions such as the southern Balkans, or taxonomic groups such as cryptogams. Here we introduce a Special Issue with contributions from the 9th European Dry Grassland Group meeting held in Prespa, Greece, 2012. The topic of this meeting was “Dry grasslands of Europe: grazing and ecosystem services” with special focus on Southern European regions. The Special Issue, apart from this Editorial, consists of eight contributions arranged according to the three major topics: syntaxonomy (5 articles), management (2) and conservation (1). The classification papers include descriptions of four new associations and four subassociations. Data about management practices are provided as well. We conclude that dry grassland vegetation in Southern Europe exhibits transitions between different higher syntaxa and thus requires further studies at broader scales to allow better understanding at the supranational scale.</p></abstract>

The Mediterranean area is a natural biodiversity hotspot that has also been influenced by humans for millennia. Especially the grasslands of Southern Europe have long been known for their diversity and beauty. However, several gaps remain in our knowledge about these grasslands, e.g. for some regions such as the southern Balkans, or taxonomic groups such as cryptogams. Here we introduce a Special Issue with contributions from the 9th European Dry Grassland Group meeting held in Prespa, Greece, 2012. The topic of this meeting was “Dry grasslands of Europe: grazing and ecosystem services” with special focus on Southern European regions. The Special Issue, apart from this Editorial, consists of eight contributions arranged according to the three major topics: syntaxonomy (5 articles), management (2) and conservation (1). The classification papers include descriptions of four new associations and four subassociations. Data about management practices are provided as well. We conclude that dry grassland vegetation in Southern Europe exhibits transitions between different higher syntaxa and thus requires further studies at broader scales to allow better understanding at the supranational scale.

Dry Grasslands of Southern Europe: Syntaxonomy, Management and Conservation

Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 23 Acad. Georgi Bonshev str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria,

Disturbance Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Universitatsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany

Synthesis Centre (sDiv), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

Phytogeography and Applied Geobotany, Dipartimento DATA, “Sapienza” Universita di Roma, Via Flaminia 72, 00196 Roma, Italy

Departamento de Biologia Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain

School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P. O. Box 104, 54124, Greece

Hacquetia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Dry Grasslands of Southern Europe: Syntaxonomy, Management and Conservation"}

The Mediterranean area is a natural biodiversity hotspot that has also been influenced by humans for millennia. Especially the grasslands of Southern Europe...

Dry Grasslands of Southern Europe: Syntaxonomy, Management and Conservation

Published Online: Jun 17, 2014

Page range: 1 - 14

Received: Jun 02, 2014

Accepted: Jun 03, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/hacq-2014-0015

© by Jürgen Dengler

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.