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Ecology and species distribution pattern of Soldanella sect. Soldanella (Primulaceae) within vegetation types in the Carpathians and the adjacent mountains

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Abstract

Molecular plant taxonomy methods have helped to introduce new findings to the original concepts of plant evolution in comparison to traditional classification based on morphological, karyological, and ecological characters. The objective of our study was to determine if a new taxonomic concept developed for the Soldanella genus would also change the traditional knowledge of coenological relations within plant communities and distribution patterns of habitats. Taxa in the genus Soldanella sect. Soldanella from the Carpathian Mts and the adjacent region in the North-Eastern Alps and Bohemian Massif were selected as model representatives. This territory includes the largest concentration of study taxa, namely S. carpatica, S. hungarica, S. major, S. marmarossiensis agg., S. montana, S. oreodoxa, and potentially also some others. However, the ecological characteristics published to date are in conflict with our field observations. Two datasets were combined for the purpose of our study, one of which was based on older and published phytocoenological relevés that are now widely available through the European Vegetation Archive (EVA), and the other, which is based on our own data, sampled throughout the distribution area, which specifically targeted the type localities as well as peripheral localities. Analysis of phytocoenological relevés significantly extended the older knowledge about the habitat preferences of the studied species. Similarly, due to our detailed population sampling, a view of the geographical distribution and expansion of snowbell distribution boundaries has been added, especially for the Eastern and Southern Carpathian taxa. In revising the older knowledge, the altitudinal range of the selected species must be revised as well. In the majority of cases, our findings broadened the existing knowledge on altitudinal divergence, ecological behaviour and the phytogeographical distribution of the study species. Snowbells considered as typical montane elements in forest habitats were also found at much higher alpine altitudes, e.g. S. carpatica, S. hungarica, S. major, and S. marmarossiensis agg., and vice versa, with taxa considered to be exclusively inhabiting the alpine belt growing in contact forest habitats as well. The spectrum of the studied habitats and plant units show wide ecological valence in the majority of Soldanella species; however, some particular preferences for different substrate types, altitudinal belts, or habitat types were indicated.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by VEGA project No. 088/15. The paper could not have been realised without the large dataset from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA), therefore we first of all thank the custodians of the Austrian, Czech and Polish national databases (Wolfgang Willner, Milan Chytrý and Zygmunt Kącki). The significant inputs to produce distribution maps were provided by Jiří Danihelka and Milan Štech (CZ), Manfred A. Fischer (AT), Bogdan I. Hurdu (RO), Andrew Novikoff (UA) and Kiril Vassilev (BG). We thank Mário Duchoň, Michal Hájek, Petra Hájková, Iva Hodálova, Milan Chytrý, Ján Kliment, Jaromír Kučera, Laco Mucina, Eva Reháková, Zita Rýdzyková, Marek Slovák, Adrian Stoica, Ingrid Turisová, Peter Turis, Jana Uhlířová, Katarína Vantarová and Milan Zajac for field assistance, Markéta Táborská and Rudolf Šoltés for identification of bryophytes, our colleagues Ivan Pišút and Alica Košuthová for identification of the lichens. The language was corrected by American Journal Experts (https://www.aje.com/en). We thank anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor for their valuable suggestions and comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Milan Valachovič, Eliška Štubňová & Dušan Senko

  2. Department of Botany, Natural History Museum, Slovak National Museum, Vajanského nábrežie 2, SK-810 06, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Eliška Štubňová

  3. Department of Phytology, Faculty of Forestry, Technical University Zvolen, Masarykova 24, SK-960 53, Zvolen, Slovakia

    Judita Kochjarová

  4. Institute of Biological Research, Republicii 46 str, RO-400 015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Gheorghe Coldea

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Valachovič, M., Štubňová, E., Senko, D. et al. Ecology and species distribution pattern of Soldanella sect. Soldanella (Primulaceae) within vegetation types in the Carpathians and the adjacent mountains. Biologia 74, 733–750 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-019-00200-7

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