B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 37. 2006 (Budapest, 2006)

Bauer, Norbert: Open sandy grasslands of the Bakony region

Kiskunság - a situation also mentioned by VOLK (1931) with regard to the sandy regions along the Rhine referring to the Weingärtneria ass. (= Corynephorus canescens) - Koeleria glauca ass. According to the examinations of VOLK (1931) the soil-reaction value is a determining habitat factor, where at pH = 4.7-5.8 the acidophilous Weingärtneria ass., and with pH = 7-8.2 obviously the basiphilous Koeleria glauca ass. grasslands can typically develop (according to the given table, however, Corynephorus is present as an accompanying species in the majority of these grasslands). In the western part of the Bakonyalja and the Little Hungarian Plain, because of phytogeographical reasons, we cannot find several continental, Ponto-Pannonian and endemic species typical of the Central Hungarian stands in the Festucetum vaginatae stands (see BORHIDI 1956), yet these become more and more frequent out of the typical accompanying species of Corynephorus grasslands Jasione montana L., Rumex acetosella L. in some places in the Festuca vaginata grasslands. Thus similarly to the publication of VOLK (1931), the borderline between the calciphilous (Fv) and calciphobe grasslands (Cc) is not sharp here either. The recognition of Festuco-Corynephoretum also proves that it can be perceived as a transitional association, whose stands can be found on typically neutral (pH = 6.5-7.5) sand in the region near Fenyőfő. The formation of Festuco-Corynephoretum can be explained with a number of factors. The alternation of sandy surfaces of varied lime content, the Atlantic climatic effects, and the above mentioned factors of land use history altogether play a determining factor in the development of the grassland whether be of the stand of Festuca vaginata or Corynephorus canescens character, or characterised by both species in certain cases. The grasslands representing the latter one are not only known in the Little Hungarian Plain, the Bakonyalja and Belső-Somogy (BORHIDI 1958), but on the basis of published relevés, along the sandy areas of the River Morava "Festuca vaginata-Dianthus serotinus-Ass." as seen in KLIKA (1934), also mentioned by BORHIDI (1958) (see F.-C moravicum). CHYTRY and TlCHY (2003) also refer to this association on the basis of the statistical evaluation of referent database sampling material from the territory of the Czech Republic. The intermediate state of Festuco-Corynephoretum can be verified from an ecological and area-geographical aspect. On a European scale this association is situated between Spergulo-Corynephoretum canescentis association, which is typical on more Atlantic and acidic sandy dunes of the northwestern part of Central Europe, and Festucetum vaginatae, which is typical of more continental and mainly basic sandy steppe grasslands of the Carpathian basin. Because of the geographical position and the phytogeographical characters of the Bakony region, this transition can be found here on a regional scale, which is also reflected in the PCA diagram of the presence-absence matrix (Fig. 3).