Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok VI. - Natura Somogyiensis 19. (Kaposvár, 2010)
ERDŐS L., BÁTORI Z., MORSCHHAUSER T., DÉNES A. & KÖRMÖCZI L.: Transitional plant communities of the Villány Mts
36 NATURA SOMOGYIENSIS perform some complementary analyses on the vegetation gradients and possible ecological background factors. We sought to gain a better understanding on these special segments of gradients. Material and methods Study area is the Villány Mts, situated in the South of Hungary. Mean annual temperature is 10-10.5°C (SZILÁRD 1981). Mean annual precipitation is 670-690 mm (AMBRÓZY and KOZMA 1990). The Villány Mts belong to the phytogeographic province Pannonicum, region Praeillyricum, district Sopianicum (BORHIDI and SÁNTA 1999). The northern sides are covered mainly by mesophilous forests, whereas the southern sides are occupied by xerophilous forests and grasslands ( DÉNES 2000). Based on the relevés of DÉNES (1995), ERDŐS and MORSCHHAUSER (2010), ERDŐS et al. (2010), and Dénes (ined.), we gave a brief characterization of the species composition of the associations. Moreover, we calculated the spectra of the ecological indicator values of BORHIDI (1993, 1995), based on frequency data. As a complementary analysis, we studied the whole gradient with special regard to the position of the communities under scrutiny. For this study, Mt Szársomlyó was chosen, where vegetation can be considered natural. A 200 m long north-south facing transect consisting of 1 m 2 permanent plots was established, crossing the ridge. Presence of all vascular species of the field layer was registrated in April and in July. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis was performed, using the ecological indicator values T, W and N as environmental variables. For the computation, SYN-TAX 2000 was applied (PODANI 2001). Communities were identified along the transect visually. A morphological profile of the transect was prepared using a topographical map and Arc View GIS 3.2 (ESRI). Plant species names are used according to Simon (2000), and plant associations according to BORHIDI (2003). A B C DE f EFEFEFEF position along the transect (m) Fig. 1: Community sequence and morphological profile of the transect on Mt. Szársomlyó. Vertical dashed lines indicate visually identified boundaries between communities. A: Asperulo taurinae-Carpinetum , B: Tilio tomentosae-Fraxinetum orni, C: Aconito anthoraeFraxinetum orni, D: Festuco rupicolae-Arrhenatheretum , E: Inulo spiraeifoliae-Quercetum pubescentis , F: Sedo sopianae-Festucetum dalmaticae
