L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 23. 1992 (Budapest, 1992)

Németh, Ferenc: Vegetation structure studies on steppe and semidesert plant communities of Outer Mongolia 1. Textural relations

ground without developed soil, vegetation cover 25-30%, Agropyron - Allium Artemisia dominance (on the vegetation map: forb-rich Stipa semidesert steppe). Sampling parameters: 1024 sampling units along a slightly (with cca. 150 grades at its mid) broken line, sampling unit size 0.1 x 0.1 m, taken on 13th August, 1989. 7. Ulaanbaatar Mountain steppe on the northern slope of the Bogdo Ula mountains, 6 km east of the airport Ulaanbaatar (Töv district), cca. at 1400 m a. s. 1, inclination of northwestern slope about 20 degrees, chestnut-brown soil, forb-rich mid-grass steppe (meadow steppe), same assignment according to the vegetation map. Sampling parameters: 1070 sampling units along a convex polygon closing into itself, sampling unit size 0.1 x 0.1 m, taken on 17-18th July, 1988. 8. Erdenet Mountain steppe in the mountains Buren Nur, 2 km east of Erdenet city (Bulgan district), cca. at 1300 m a. s. 1, inclination of southwestern slope about 10 degrees, dark chestnut-brown soil, forb-rich meadow steppe, same assignment according to the vegetation map. Sampling parameters: 555 sampling units of 0.1 x 0.1 m size along a slightly (with 150 degrees at its mid) broken line, rectangularly to the direction of the slope, taken on 9 and 10th August, 1989. Floral composition of the samples The samples can be ordered into a series on the basis of their species richness; the treatment follows this sequence. Most of the differences can probably be explained by climatic effects, however the available data are to be accepted with some reservations. Usually the meteorological stations lie far from the sampling sites and under different mesoclimatic circumstances (altitude, exposition, rainshadow, etc.). I tried to minimize the effect of variation in soil by choosing places of similar character: debris or settled sand with predominance of debris in the case of semideserts, average size of rubble considerably smaller than that of the plants, no extremely acidic or basic stones, mostly the "reliable", neutral or slightly acidic granite; and chestnut brown soil of finer texture in the case of the steppes. The life form terms in this first approach are as follows: grass type (gra) of the Gramineae and Cyperaceae without respect to their cespitosus or repens growth form; dwarf shrubs and herbs with woody basis, that is chamaephyta (cha); perennial herbs in Raunkiaer's sense, i. e. hemicryptophyta (hem); geophyta (geo) in Raunkiaer's sense again, mostly bulbous-tuberous perennials; low shrubs, nanophanerophyta (nan) up to 2 m height, the sampled species mostly under 1 and even 0.5 m; annual herbs and grasses, therophyta (the); and foliose lichens, i.e. thallo-hemicryptophyta (tha). During the analysis I had expected to determine three types of samples by their