Table of Contents

After a synthetic reconstruction of the history of exploration and studies on Caucasian flora, the authors list a selection of botanical works published by Professor Giorgi (Gia) Nakhutsrishvili dedicated mainly to the flora and vegetation of the Caucasus. There are 122 articles and monographs compared to more than 200 often published together with his students, in Georgian, Russian, English, German and French. Although over eighty years old, the scientific activity of Gia Nakhutsrishvili continues, today as before accompanied by the esteem and gratitude of the scientific community of his country and beyond.

Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) is widespread in nearly whole Europe from sea level to timberline. On north exposed peaks of some mountains of the Southern Alps (Ticino/ Switzerland and North Italy/ Verbano-Ossola) small mountain ash forests build the forest limit above 1500 m, so at Monte Lema, Monte Morissolo, I Balmit and Mottarone. Mountain ash often occurs on former forest clearings as pioneer tree as secondary plant succession. On some sites, mountain ash will be replaced later by beech as climax species. At all sites, we recognized a weak or missing generative mountain ash reproduction. One reason for that could be the dense grass cover of small-reed, Calamagrostis spec. which inhibits the establishment of rowan seedlings; other reasons could be insect and game damage, mycosis and other diseases. Vegetative propagation like root bulbils, suckers and shoots from stump are important survival strategies of mountain ash. So, at some sites have been recorded a high share of polyphyletic single young trees. At all sites, count of annual rings of 25-50 mountain ash trees revealed an average age of 40-55 years. Green alder and mountain ash often occur together within the Alnetum viridis as well as in the mountain ash forest. In the green alder bush, mountain ash occurs only as single trees, whereas Alnus viridis can dominate in both plant communities. At the southernmost sites, there is a marked weak abundance of green alder due to dryer climate. Within moun...

Imereti and Meskheti are historical provinces of Georgia located on the south-facing macroslope of the western part of the Greater Caucasus (Imereti) and east of the Lesser Caucasus towards the Black Sea (Meskheti), while Pshavi and Pankisi, which is administratively part of Kakheti, lie on the Eastern extension of the greater Caucasus. In this study we documented traditional plant use in Imereti, Meskheti, Ukana Pshavi and Pankisi. Fieldwork was conducted in October-November 2018. Interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were conducted with 34 participants (12 women and 22 men), with oral prior informed consent. We encountered 220 plant species belonging to 159 genera of 59 vascular plant families, 4 undetermined species, and 2 fungal species and 22 undetermined fungi, belonging to at least 5 fungal families being used in the research region. Of these 127 vascular plant species were exclusively wild-collected, 91 were grown in homegardens, and only 2 were both grown in gardens and collected in the wild. Plants and their uses mostly overlapped among the areas within the region, with a slightly wider divergence in uses than in plants. The environmental fit analysis showed that a large degree of this variation was explained by differences among participant communities. The elevation of the participant community significantly fit the ordination in plant-space and explained a large degree of the variation in plant species reported but not in use-space. Gender w...

The role of Ilex aquifolium in the Mediterranean temperate vegetation is analysed with reference to the plant communities occurring in Sicily. In particular, the geobotanical literature following the reporting of the first extraordinary population of this species on the Madonie Mountains, in Sicily, is examined. From there the proposal to recognize not only for Sicily but also for the south of the Italian peninsula and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, a belt of azonal vegetation, with a Colchic imprint, finding floristic, ecological and phytogeographic affinities with aspects of vegetation widely represented in Colchis, a Caucasian region spared from the devastating effects of the glacial phenomenon. In Sicily, the interest and the debate that arose stimulated further investigations, including phytosociological ones, in the same mountain system and subsequently in the rest of the island, in particular in the bordering territory of Nebrodi Mountains. The authors remind the plant communities of the island in which Ilex aquifolium still plays an appreciable role. In particular, in the Madonie and Nebrodi systems there are wide areas covered by mixed woods physiognomized by I. aquifolium (evergreen laurophyll element) and by deciduous oaks such as Quercus. petraea subsp. austrotyrrhenica and Q. cerris respectively. The authors, in preliminary presenting the problem for the entire Mediterranean region, despite the loss of interest, return to the subjec...

The article presents the results of a detailed comparative floristic analysis of the floras of wetlands of the main river basins of Armenia. The taxonomic structure of the floras of individual basins and the ratio of life forms are considered, as well as a detailed chorological analysis is carried out. It is shown that, in general, the flora of the wetlands of Armenian river basins is mainly Holarctic, Circumboreal. The base of it constitute species are widely distributed in the north of Eurasia in the Postglacial period. A very large influence on the development of this flora had Ancient Mediterranean species survived the Ice Age in the more southern regions, in the Ancient Mediterranean. These species by their bio-ecological characteristics belong to hydro- and hygrophilous groups which are growing in wetlands in arid regions of the Earth. As for the features of the floras of separate river basins, they reflect the correct distribution of the territory of Armenia between Caucasian and Armeno-Iranian floristic province (between Circumboreal and Ancient Mediterranean subkingdoms of Holarctic floristic kingdom.

The unique protected area CWR (Caucasus Wildlife Refuge), working at the crossroads of wildlife protection, environmental education, and sustainable development, engaging rural populations in the sustainable development of their communities presented in this article. Protection of that habitat are extremely desirable not only to prevent extinctions and maintaining biodiversity but to provide a special opportunities for study and research. Data on the flora of the mountain ridge Dagnak was collected several years. The descriptions of taxa and landscapes are given

The global climate change will affect all the ecosystems around the world, but the most rapid and sharp changes are expected in high mountain areas with one of the most sensitive biomes. Global climate is changing and this is obvious due to a wide range of observations. GLORIA is a monitoring program to determine the effect of climate global change on alpine plant communities, within the framework of which Georgia has been participating since 2001. The study sites and permanent plots in the Central Great Caucasus were chosen according to the GLORIA protocol (which is a standard for all target regions in the GLORIA network). The summits were monitored in 2001, 2008 and 2015 years. Our research presents the analysis of the data of 2008 – 2015 with the comparison to the previous period of 2002-2008. The study includes such aspects as: soil temperature, growing degree day (GDD), thermic indicator (S), thermophilization index (D). The average annual soil temperature did not increase during the monitoring period, however, there were some fluctuations in 2002-2003. GDD changed in different years, but there was no strongly increasing trend. The thermic indicator (S) decreased on all summits during monitoring period. This indicates the low degree of the thermopilization status of the monitored plots. There were no distinctive changes observed during monitoring period of 2008- 2015 years, hence the Central Great Caucasus did not face strong climate change at this time.

Caucasus and Alps are the highest moutains which pass through Western Eurasia. In this area they are the only mountains with glaciers. Both mountain ranges were glaciated in the glacial period. Glaciers are still existing. Around the Alps on places of former glaciers lakes often determine the aspect of the landscape. The glaciers of the Caucasus did not reach the foreland. Therefore, there are no lakes. The role of conifers is minor in Caucasus. The subalpine zone, which is often specified by Pinus mugo in the Eastern Alps, is more or less specified by Betula in the Caucasus. But there are also many floristic differences, which are not so evident. The article shows some differences by comparison of the two families Ericaceae and Caryophyllaceae.

The Great Caucasus is well known for its impressive plant cover. Uneven topography, rich geology, pronounced climatic gradients, and position between Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean have contributed to biological diversity of this biodiversity hotspot. The mountain chain covers a pronounced west to east climatic gradient with its western part being more humid and eastern more continental. The paper shows how vegetation follows the climatic gradient and how local orographic environment allows meso-/xerophillous plant communities break in places the general west to east humid to continental pattern through regions located along the gradient. Special emphasis is made on ‘small refugia’ of mesophillous Tertiary relict flora still preserved in some gorges of the eastern Great Caucasus.

The distribution of the Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto) in Romania is analyzed, along with the phytocoenological framing of the plant communities including this species in the Romanian literature. There are discussed the necesity of a newly proposed infracoenotaxa. In the Romanian flora, the Hungarian oak has a limited geographical distribution, namely in the southwest and north-west of Transylvania, Crișana, Banat, Oltenia, Muntenia, and Dobrogea, i. e. mostly in the western and southern parts of the country. Only relatively recent (since 1961), this species has been identified in the southern parts of Moldavia, namely in the hills of Tutova and Covurlui, in a very few forests. The forests of Hungarian oak are settled in the forest-steppe zone and in some cases reach even the lower part of the beech belt of vegetation, in hilly zone, between 230-400 m a.s.l., on plateaux or on sunny slopes, with south, east or west aspects, inclined at 5°-30°, in the oak (Quercus robur) area and in the lower part of the beech (Fagus sylvatica) floor. The phytosociological researches carried out on stands with Quercus frainetto in the historical province of Moldavia, led us to propose a new plant community, at the level of subassociation, based mainly on relevés made in the most typical stands with Hungarian oak in Eastern Romania. The new proposed subassociation, quercetosum frainetti subass. nov., is framed within ass. Quercetum frainetto-cerris Rudski 1949. It is...

The serpentine vegetation of Sandras Dağı revisited. Phytosociological studies on high-mountain plant communities of the South Anatolian Taurus Mountains, 4. - The present paper deals with the high-mountain vegetation of Sandras Dağı, a fairly isolated main range in the SW Anatolian Taurus, Turkey, which is largely composed of peridotite rock and stands out for its rich endemic flora. Critically reviewing the phytosociological accounts on this topic, it proposes a classification scheme for the serpentinophytic vegetation in a wider sense. Three associations are described as new to science. While the Muscari sandrasici-Polygonetum karacae (meltwater and snow-bed community) fits in spite of its many local serpentinophytes into the Thlaspion papillosi alliance (Trifolio-Polygonetalia), the zonal mesophytic to xerophytic vegetation could hitherto not be classified satisfactorily. As a solution, the serpentinophytic Thuryion capitatae (Astragalo-Brometalia) of the Cilician Taurus is expanded in geographical and diagnostic respects, to accommodate also the stands as far West as Sandras Dağı. Here, they can be grouped into a Genistetum sandrasicae and an Odontarrheno masmenaeae-Ebenetum pisidicae. All communities are characterised by means of life form spectra, chorotype spectra and dispersal biological spectra. The only two available serpentinophytic Astragalo-Brometalia syntaxa from Turkey, including the name Thuryion capitatae, are validated. In addition,...

The description of the vegetation geoseries (pemaseries, curtaseries oloseries) of the OrtlesCevedale massif, central Alps is reported; the study area is between 3,905 m (top of the Ortles) and 700-800 m (bottom of the valleys). For each geoseries the composition (i.e. the component series), the altitudinal belt and the phytoclimatic sectors are reported (21 geoseries). The map of the vegetation geoseries was also detected, on which each series is divided into their individuals of geoseries.

The study regards the primary succession on active European volcanoes where the different habitats and substrata are mainly originated by the volcanic activity. Besides those originated by lava flows, there are also particular volcanic habitats as thermal springs, fumaroles, solfataras and cinder cones. The habitats are ecologically different, according to the age of the parent materials, soil and to the surface morphology. Plants on volcanic areas adapt to different ecological conditions that often may represent the limits of the range of their life. The available soil or substrata may be given by loose material, called “ejecta” or “pyroclastic material”, and lavas set up by blocks, called “aa” lavas, or by slabs, called “pahoehoe” lavas. On the lava flows the first colonizers are Blue-green Algae and Bacteria thanks to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen; this stage is followed by one of Mosses and Lichens that prepares the stage of small herbaceous annuals, while shrubs and trees are establishing only where there is a deeper accumulation of fine material and humus

The presence of hygrophilous vegetation aspects related to the Scheuchzerio-Caricetea nigrae class is analyzed and reported in Sicily, on the Madonie Mountains. It is represented today by a single association which in the same mountains has had greater extension in the past. Despite the damage and severe reductions suffered in the last decades of the last century, the small Sicilian peaty stations still survive in the only locality of Scorzone locality, in the territory of Geraci Siculo (Palermo) and host phytocoenoses that are unprecedented from a phytosociological point of view. In the case of Scorzone area, it is an unprecedented association that is established and described here with the name of Sphagno auriculati-Caricetum echinatae. Its floristic composition and both biological and biogeographic structure are analyzed. Its syntaxonomic classification is also proposed within the Caricion nigrae alliance (Caricetalia nigrae), sintaxon so far also indicated in the southern Apennines, up to Calabria, on the Aspromonte. The new association has an affinity with the Sphagno inundati-Caricetum stellulatae from the extreme region of Italian Peninsula. Sphagno auriculati-Caricetum echinatae, however, differs from the continental one for the greater floristic richness. Given the precariousness of the biotope, the study takes into consideration its state of conservation and the looming dangers that the described association runs, which for the European territ...

Global climate change impacts the phytodiversity and plant distribution. Plant species migration to newly favourable areas is already observable in many parts of the world. Though, the effect of global climate change on plant diversity and distribution along the soil moisture gradient is little studied. Thus, we compared historical and newly collected vegetation data, and we asked: 1) have species richness and species composition of vascular plants changed over the last >30 years along the soil moisture gradient? 2) Do global climate change induces the changes in plant species certain ecological characteristics? 3) Is plant species migration observable from dry to wet plant communities? We resampled study sites in the Kazbegi region, recorded >30 years ago. The hierarchical clustering, Principal Component Analysis and Sørensen index, as well as Landolt indicator values revealed the high similarity between historical and recent relevés. The comparison of species richness showed a significant increase of species richness in a recent data for wet and dry plant communities. Species migration wasn’t observed. In conclusion, the increase of species richness is most likely to be governed by land-use activities rather than by Global climate change. Key words: Global climate change, Cauc