Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32-34. (2014)

Botany

Description and threats to Natura 2000 habitat 7220* Petrifying springs with tufa formations

EUNIS: C2.12 Hard water springs

Plant associations: Cratoneuretum filicino—commutati (Kuhn 1937) Oberd. 1977 (Syn.: Cratoneuron commutatum Puscaru et al. 1967); Cochleario pyrenaicae—Cratoneuretum commutati (Oberd. 1957) Th. Müller 1961 (Syn.: Carici flavae-Cratoneuretum cochlearietosum pyrenaicae §tefureac 1972).

Habitat R5417 occurs in small patches surrounding streams and has a total extent of<100 ha in Romania with sites at altitudes between 900-2100 m. The typical climate has mean annual temperatures of—1.5°C to 3.5°C and an annual precipitation of950—1425 mm. The habitat is found in mountainous and subalpine valleys on a basic, limestone substrate with soils that are eutri-cambosoils or hydrosoils and eu-mesobasic (i.e. pH = 7-7.3).

Habitat structure for R5417: hygrophilous and pronouncedly heliophilous, occurring along springs and rivulets. The herbaceous layer is not well developed and the vegetation height 10-30 cm. Those species that contribute at the geographic differentiation of the phytocoenoses from the Romanian Carpathians include: Chrysosplenium alpinum, Achillea schurii and Silene pusilla. Where the habitat is present, Cochlearia pyrenaica (var. borzeand) can achieve an average coverage of 40—60%. The moss layer is dominant, sometimes with a cover as high as 80%, in which the characteristic and diagnostic species Cratoneuron commutatum normally covers 40%, occurring together with Cratoneuron filicinum and Bryum pseudotriquetrum.

The habitat is threatened by a reduction in the groundwater supply [15]. The conservation value is very high and it is a priority habitat, with a diverse species composition (Table 2).

Table 2: Diagnostic, characteristic and other important species of Romanian habitat code R5417

Diagnostic Species:______________________________________________

Cratoneuron commutatum Cratoneuron filicinum______________

Characteristic Species____________________________________________

Cratoneuron commutatum Cochlearia pyrenaica________________

Chrysosplenium alpinum___________________________________________

Other important species_________________________________________

Silene pusilla___________________Caltha laeta

Pinguicula vulgaris______________Chrysosplenium altemifolium________

Saxifraga stellaris_______________Cardamine amara__________________

Saxifraga aizoides_______________Bryum pseudotriquetrum____________

Epilobium nutans______________Philonotis calcarea

Epilobium alsinifolium__________Deschampsia caespitosa______________

Crepis paludosa_________________Stellaria nemorum__________________

Chaerophyllum hirsutum_________Viola biflora_______________________

Endemic species________________________________________________

Achillea schurii___________________________________________________

2. R5419 South-East Carpathian communities of springs and rivulets with Doronicum carpaticum, Saxifraga aizoides, Chrysosplenium alpinum and Achillea schurii Correspondence to other classification systems:

NATURA 2000: *7220 Petrifying springs with tufa formations (Cratoneurion) EMERALD:!54.12 Hard water springs CORINE: 54.12 Hard water springs

PAL.HAB 1999: 54.1226 Carpathian oriental leopardsbane communities EUNIS: C2.12 Hard water springs

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