Végétation et Stations Alpines sur Serpentine Près Davos by B. EggerReview by: Jitka ŠtěpánkováFolia Geobotanica, Vol. 33, No. 2 (1998), pp. 214-215Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4201289 .

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214 Bookreviews

Recent books in phytosociology

H. Passarge: PFLANZENGESELLSCHAFTEN NORDOSTDEUTSCHLANDS 1. Hydro- und Therophytosa; J. Cramer in der Gebriider Borntraeger Berlin et Stuttgart, 1996, 298 pp., 72 Tabs., Price DEM 48.-, ISBN 3-443-50020-X

This work presents a systematically arranged inventory of plant communities of north-east Germany. The author classifies the vascular plant communities into 8 "coenoformations" and the first volume deals with the first two: Hydrophytosa and Therophytosa.

In the concise introductory chapters the following topics are considered: General conditions of the composition of vegetation (climate, soils, flora, influence of man). Plant communities and their investigation, Evaluation of vegetation analyses, Syntaxa (vegetation units), Coenoformations of vascular plant communities.

The coenoformation Hydrophytosa, which includes fresh-water vegetation, is divided into two subformations. The Pleustohydrophytenosa is formed from floating plants and the plant communities belong to the following classes: 1. Lemnetea minoris, 2. Utricularietea intermnedio-minoris and 3. Ceratophylletea. The Rhizohydrophytenosa are formed from rooting aquatic plants and contains the classes: 4. Zosteretea, 5. Ruppietea, 6. Potamogetonetea and 7. Nymphaeetea.

The coenoformation Therophytosa contains terrestrial pioneer plant communities rich in annual plants; the plant communities belong to the following classes: 8. Thero-Salicornietea, 9. Saginetea maritimae, 10. Cakiletea maritimae, 11. Bidentetea tripartitae, 12. Sisymbrietea, 13. Stellarietea mediae, 14. Sedo-Scleranthetea and 15. Polygono-Poetea annuae.

Within each class the associations are classified into orders, alliances, sometimes also into suballiances or groups of associations. The associations and lower syntaxa of an alliance are documented by constancy tables with an indication of the constancy class and of the range of dominance of each species. In the heading of each table the number of synthetized releves and mean number of species are given. The origin of vegetation releves is cited. The description of each association is very concise barely exceeding one page. It contains information on important diagnostic species, on the earlier publication of the syntaxon, on its distribution and on lower syntaxa. For syntaxa described as new the nomenclatural type is given. In the nomenclature of syntaxa the author only partly follows the Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature; the adaptation of some association names (e.g. the Lemnetum trisulcae into Lemnetum (minori-) trisulcae) is not in accordance with the Code. A list of literature cited, an index of plant names and an index of syntaxon names close the book.

As the first volume of a broader work this book contains a very complete regional survey of fresh-water and therophytic plant communities of north-east Germany. Thus it represents a big step towards the "European vegetation survey" as planned by the International Association of Vegetation Science. Additional volumes bringing surveys of further vegetation formations will surely be welcomed.

Jaroslav Moravec

B. Egger: VEGETATION ET STATIONS ALPINES SUR SERPENTINE PRES DAVOS; Veroffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes der ETH, Stiftung Riibel, Zurich, 1994, 117. Heft, 275 pp., 96 Figs. Price USD 46.-, SFR 65.-, ISSN 0254-9433

Serpentine areas are unique in the extreme physical and chemical properties of the bedrock and soils, in their insular geographical distribution and in the specific development of their flora. Recently, studies have been undertaken dealing with plant ecology, demography, chorology, population genetics and taxonomy, all based on the extraordinary ecological features and specific history of serpentine areas. The present book summarizes a comprehensive research project on the flora, vegetation and habitats of serpentine outcrops of the alpine arc near Davos.

The book begins with the description of the topography, climate, history of the flora, geomorphology and geology of the studied area. The particular methods of investigation (chemical analyses of the soils and plants, analyses of vegetation, mathematical processing) are then explained in detail.

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Bookreviews 215

The following chapters containing the results may be divided into three parts. The first part deals with the properties of the serpentine soils. The author describes the soil groups, soil chemical and physical properties, pedochemical profiles and pedogenesis. The soil sequence was found to range from widespread lithosols to a few brown-earth-like alpine rankers. Pedogenesis is slow and soils remain skeletal in this area. The results of soil chemical analyses show the high content of magnesium and nickel and the high Mg/Ca quotient. This agrees with values obtained from other serpentine outcrops in the world.

The results of the vegetation analyses are summarized in the second part. On the basis of 138 releves the author concluded that the vegetation units cannot be assigned to any hitherto described phytosociological unit because the individual species which constitute them occur principally in other associations diverging greatly in habitat and sociology. However, due to the local character of the relev6s, the creation of new associations is not proposed.

The most detailed chemical analyses of plants of serpentine sites have been made in the course of this study. These data are given in the third part. Great attention has been paid to the rate of accumulation of 19 elements in the plants growing on serpentine, carbonate and silicate substrates. Ninety six populations belonging to 34 species were tested. There are consistent interspecific differences which are clear evidence of different responses of particular species to the properties of the ultramafic soils. It would be interesting to discuss these differences in more depth in the text.

One of the last chapters of this book, Discussion, is devoted to a comparison of the flora and vegetation, soil properties, phytochemical characters and site conditions on serpentine and non-serpentine substrates in alpine sites near Davos and in the adjacent region of the Alps. An interesting part of this chapter, from the viewpoint of the Czech serpentine flora, is the survey of the best represented families in localities near Davos and comparison with the serpentine flora in the Czech Republic (Moravia, Mohelno), Sweden and Austria. Finally, on the basis of all the results, the author analyses both the impact of specific factors acting interactively on the vegetation and its responses to the multiplicity of stresses on serpentine sites. All the data given in the appendix, as well as an exhaustive list of the literature document the author's investigations of serpentine phenomenon very well.

This book is a comprehensive treatment of the serpentine vegetation of the alpine arc near Davos. Such a multidisciplinary approach and the detailed field investigation presented in the book, together with the comparison of the data from other serpentine areas of the world, give a complex insight to the problems of the "serpentine phenomenon" in general and may thus provide another dimension to our understanding of the evolutionary forces that create and maintain biotic diversity.

Jitka Stepankova

Javier Loidi (ed.): AVANCES EN FITOSOCIOLOGiA (Advances in Phytosociology); Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del Pats Vasco, Bilbao, 1996, 191 pp. Price not given, ISBN 84-7585-836-8

This volume brings together papers presented at the 1st Symposium on Advances in Phytosociology, organized in November 1995 in Bilbao, Spain. This symposium was one of the events prepared in honour of Prof. S. Rivas-Martfnez, President of the International Federation of Phytosociology, on the occasion of his being awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Bilbao. S. Rivas-Martinez belongs to those scientists and teachers who have made a great contribution to the development of phytosociology, above all synphytosociology or phytosociology of vegetation complexes, as well as bioclimatology. This is the reason why most of the contributions from his friends and students are dedicated to this branch of the science.

The book is divided into two parts. The first of them is devoted to the talks on the Symposium, the second one to the information of the representatives of various Associations of Phytosociology. The papers are (with one exception) written in francophone languages (mostly Spanish).

In the first contribution by E. Biondi, a phytosociological analysis of integrated studies of a landscape is given. Attention is paid to phytosociological mapping and the use of vegetation maps for the preparation of derived maps of landscape productivity, an idea realised in the last few decades with maps at different scales (e.g. HOFMANN 1985 former E Germany, GRATANI et al. 1994 for pastures of the Campo Imperatore in Gran

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