<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The upper Rhone valley in the Swiss canton of Valais is one of the driest and most continental of the inner-alpine valleys and harbours a rich xerothermic flora. We studied syntaxonomy and ecology of dry grasslands and their species richness patterns. In 2018 we recorded 28 vegetation plots (10 m2) and three nested-plot series of 0.0001 to 100 m2 on the south-facing slopes above the village of Ausserberg. Mean richness of all species ranged from 1.7 on 1 cm2 to 47.3 on 100 m2, with little contribution of bryophytes and lichens. The species-area relationship for total richness closely followed a power function. Modified TWINSPAN yielded a three-cluster solution, which could easily be matched with three orders of the class <italic>Festuco-Brometea: Stipo pulcherrimae-Festucetalia pallentis</italic> (xeric, rocky), <italic>Festucetalia valesiacae</italic> (xeric, non-rocky) and <italic>Brachypodietalia pinnati</italic> (meso-xeric). The subdivision of the xeric types into two orders is new for Swiss dry grasslands, where these types up to now had been joined in a single alliance <italic>Stipo-Poion</italic> within the <italic>Festucetalia valesiacae</italic>.</abstract>

The upper Rhone valley in the Swiss canton of Valais is one of the driest and most continental of the inner-alpine valleys and harbours a rich xerothermic flora. We studied syntaxonomy and ecology of dry grasslands and their species richness patterns. In 2018 we recorded 28 vegetation plots (10 m2) and three nested-plot series of 0.0001 to 100 m2 on the south-facing slopes above the village of Ausserberg. Mean richness of all species ranged from 1.7 on 1 cm2 to 47.3 on 100 m2, with little contribution of bryophytes and lichens. The species-area relationship for total richness closely followed a power function. Modified TWINSPAN yielded a three-cluster solution, which could easily be matched with three orders of the class Festuco-Brometea: Stipo pulcherrimae-Festucetalia pallentis (xeric, rocky), Festucetalia valesiacae (xeric, non-rocky) and Brachypodietalia pinnati (meso-xeric). The subdivision of the xeric types into two orders is new for Swiss dry grasslands, where these types up to now had been joined in a single alliance Stipo-Poion within the Festucetalia valesiacae.

Dry grasslands of the central valleys of the Alps from a European perspective: the example of Ausserberg (Valais, Switzerland)

Vegetation Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR)

Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)

Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER)

German Centre for Integrated Biodiversity Research (iDiv)

Botanical Garden Center for Biological Diversity Conservation in Powsin

Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Faculty of Biology

Hacquetia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The upper Rhone valley in the Swiss canton of Valais is one of the driest and most continental of the inner-alpine valleys and harbours a rich xerothermic...

Dry grasslands of the central valleys of the Alps from a European perspective: the example of Ausserberg (Valais, Switzerland)

Published Online: Jul 20, 2019

Page range: 155 - 177

Received: Apr 19, 2019

Accepted: Jun 10, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/hacq-2019-0008

Keywords
biodiversity, dry grassland, inner-alpine dry valley, vegetation classification

© 2019 Jürgen Dengler et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Dry grasslands of the central valleys of the Alps from a European perspective: the example of Ausserberg (Valais, Switzerland)

Published Online: Jul 20, 2019

Page range: 155 - 177

Received: Apr 19, 2019

Accepted: Jun 10, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/hacq-2019-0008

Keywordsbiodiversity, dry grassland, inner-alpine dry valley, vegetation classification

© 2019 Jürgen Dengler et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
biodiversity, dry grassland, inner-alpine dry valley, vegetation classification