Drought effects on the floristic differentiation of Greek fir forests in the mountains of central Greece
Dimitrios A Samaras (1-2) , Stefanie Gaertner (1), Albert Reif (1), Konstantinos Theodoropoulos (2)
iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 8, Issue 6, Pages 786-797 (2015)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1214-007
Published: Apr 08, 2015 - Copyright © 2015 SISEF
Research Articles
Abstract
Greek fir (Abies cephalonica Loudon) grows in montane Mediterranean climates characterized by dry, warm summers. Drought is an important climatic feature of these montane ecosystems as it affects the floristic composition, structure and distribution of plant communities. The Oxia-North Vardousia mountain system is one of the few areas in Greece with an extensive, well-preserved Greek fir forest. This study aims at describing the Greek fir forest vegetation of such area and determining the drought-related factors affecting their floristic composition and differentiation. Vegetation relevés were classified and ordinated. The impact of drought-related variables on the vegetation composition was analyzed. A cluster analysis was used to reveal the most important factor for the discrimination of the main plant communities and to determine the drought threshold between them. Two plant communities that reflect the differentiation of the Greek fir forests in central Greece into xerophytic and mesophytic forest communities were described. Each community was divided into two sub-communities. The elevational distribution of Greek fir forests in the mountains of central Greece follows a drought gradient linked to the two main climatic components of drought, precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. The combination of these two drought-related variables into a suitable humidity index was found to adequately differentiate the xerophytic from the mesophytic forest communities and define their drought threshold.
Keywords
Abies cephalonica, Aridity, Habitat Differentiation, Humidity Index, Plant Communities, Synecology, Syntaxonomy, Sterea Ellas
Authors’ Info
Authors’ address
Stefanie Gaertner
Albert Reif
Chair of Site Classification and Vegetation Science, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, D-79085 Freiburg i.Br. (Germany)
Konstantinos Theodoropoulos
Laboratory of Forest Botany-Geobotany, Faculty of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki (Greece)
Corresponding author
Paper Info
Citation
Samaras DA, Gaertner S, Reif A, Theodoropoulos K (2015). Drought effects on the floristic differentiation of Greek fir forests in the mountains of central Greece. iForest 8: 786-797. - doi: 10.3832/ifor1214-007
Academic Editor
Paola Mairota
Paper history
Received: Dec 23, 2013
Accepted: Dec 19, 2014
First online: Apr 08, 2015
Publication Date: Dec 01, 2015
Publication Time: 3.67 months
Copyright Information
© SISEF - The Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology 2015
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Web Metrics
Breakdown by View Type
Article Usage
Total Article Views: 48878
(from publication date up to now)
Breakdown by View Type
HTML Page Views: 41389
Abstract Page Views: 2187
PDF Downloads: 3979
Citation/Reference Downloads: 25
XML Downloads: 1298
Web Metrics
Days since publication: 3477
Overall contacts: 48878
Avg. contacts per week: 98.40
Citation Metrics
Article Citations
Article citations are based on data periodically collected from the Clarivate Web of Science web site
(last update: Feb 2023)
Total number of cites (since 2015): 3
Average cites per year: 0.33
Publication Metrics
by Dimensions ©
Articles citing this article
List of the papers citing this article based on CrossRef Cited-by.
References
Criteria and indicators for the sustainable forest management in Greece. Ministry of Agriculture, General Secretariat of Forests and Natural Environment, Athens, Greece, pp. 101.
Gscholar
Orchideen Europas mit angrenzenden Gebieten [Orchids of Europe and nearby areas]. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 333. [in German]
Gscholar
Classification and regression trees. Wadsworth International Group, Belmont, CA, USA, pp. 376.
Gscholar
Indicator values of the vascular plants in the Southern Aegean (Greece). Braun-Blanquetia 32: 1-108. [in German with English summary]
Gscholar
Abies Miller. In: “Flora Hellenica” (Strid A, Tan K eds). Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein, Germany, pp. 1-3.
Gscholar
Water retention and storage. Laboratory. In: “Methods of soil analysis. Part 4. Physical methods” (Dane JH, Topp GC eds). Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI, USA, pp. 675-720.
Gscholar
Geobotanical research of Timfristos Mt. (NW Sterea Ellas): flora-vegetation-evaluation-management. PhD Thesis, University of Patras, Patra, Greece, pp. 313. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Determination and analysis variation of Greek fir populations using biochemical and molecular markers. PhD Thesis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, pp. 132. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen in ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht [Vegetation of central Europe and the Alps from an ecological, dynamic and historic viewpoint] (6th edn). Ulmer UTB, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 1334. [in German]
Gscholar
Climate and forest vegetation of Greece. National Observatory of Athens, Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, Athens, Greece, pp. 238. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
The influence of air temperature on the lower- and higher-altitudinal distribution limits of forest trees and shrubs in Greece. Forest Research-New Series 22 [in press] [in Greek with English summary].
Gscholar
Med-checklist (vols 1, 3, 4). Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Genève, Switzerland, pp. 853.
Gscholar
An annotated checklist of the mosses of Europe and Macaronesia. Journal of Bryology 28:198-267.
CrossRef | Gscholar
The solar radiation model for Open source GIS: implementation and applications. In: Proceedings of the “Open source GIS-GRASS users conference 2002” (Ciolli M, Zatelli P eds). Trento (Italy) 11-13 Sep 2002. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy, pp. 1-19.
Gscholar
Vegetation Südosteuropas [Vegetation of southern Europe]. G. Fischer, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 768. [in German]
Gscholar
Exkursionsflora für Kreta [Field-guide Flora of Crete]. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 446. [in German]
Gscholar
Geological map of Greece. Institute for Geology and Subsurface Research, Athens, Greece, pp. 1.
Gscholar
Study of the ecology and vegetation of Mt. Iti. PhD Thesis, University of Patras, Patra, Greece, pp. 295. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Die Vegetation von Kephallinia, Griechenland. Geobotanische Untersuchung eines Mediterranen gebietes und einige ihrer Anwendungsmöglichkeiten in Wirtschaft und Landesplanung [The vegetation of Kefallinia, Greece. Geobotanical studies of a Mediterranean area and some of its application options in economy and landscape planning]. Geobotanische Mitteilungen 29, Geobotanisches Institut, Giessen, Germany, pp. 206. [in German]
Gscholar
Floristic and phytosociological research of Boeotia Mountains (Elikon-Xerovouni-Neraidolakomma). Comparative exploration and ecological approach. PhD Thesis, University of Patras, Patra, Greece, pp. 509. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Morphologische Variabilität des griechischen Tannenhybriden Abies × borisii-regis (Mattfeld) [Morphological variability of the Greek fir hybrid Abies × borisii-regis (Mattfeld)]. Diploma thesis, Albert- Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, pp. 73. [in German]
Gscholar
Multivariate Statistik in der Ökologie [Multivariate statistics in ecology]. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 37-45. [in German]
Gscholar
Flora and vegetation of mount Erymanthos ecosystems (NW Peloponnisos). PhD Thesis, University of Patras, Patra, Greece, pp. 405. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Origin of variation in fir forests of Greece. Silvae Genetica 36: 1-15.
Gscholar
Vegetation levels of the Mediterranean basin mountains. Documents de cartographie écologique 16: 1-32. [in French with English summary]
Gscholar
Meteorological drought. Research paper 45, US Department of Commerce, Weather Bureau, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 68.
Gscholar
Valori di bioindicazione delle piantevascolari della Flora d’Italia [Bioindicator values of vascular plants of the Flora of Italy]. Braun-Blanquetia 39: 1-97. [in Italian]
Gscholar
Carte de la végétation potentielle de la région Méditerranéenne. Feuille no. 1: Méditerranée orientale [Map of potential vegetation of the Mediterranean region. No. 1: Eastern Mediterranean]. CNRS, Paris, France. [in French]
Gscholar
Diversité et répartition des sapins sur le pourtour méditerranéen [Diversity and distribution of firs around the Mediterranean]. Forêt Méditerranéenne 19: 93-104. [in French]
Gscholar
The vegetation of Greek fir (Abies cephalonica Loudon) forests on the Oxia-North Vardousia mountain system, central Greece, in relation to drought. PhD Thesis, Albert-Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, pp. 199.
Gscholar
The plant communities of Greek fir forests (Abies cephalonica J.W. Loudon) of Mt. Goulinas (C. Greece). Forest Research-New Series 21: 63-78. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Die Ökologie der Flaumeiche (Quercus pubescens Willd.) und ihrer Hybriden auf Kalkstandorten an ihrer nördlichen Arealgrenze (Untersuchungen zu Boden, Klima und Vegetation) [The ecology of downy oak (Quercus pubescens Willd.) and its hybrids on limestone at its northern distribution limit]. Dissertationes Botanicae 340, Cramer, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 198. [in German]
Gscholar
Tannenarten Europas und Kleinasiens [Fir species of Europe and Asia Minor]. Ecomed, Landsberg am Lech, Germany, pp. 132. [in German]
Gscholar
Mountain flora of Greece, vol. 2. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, UK, pp. 974.
Gscholar
Flora hellenica, vol. 1. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein, Germany, pp. 545.
Gscholar
Flora hellenica, vol. 2. Gantner Verlag, Ruggell, Liechtenstein, pp. 511.
Gscholar
Mountain flora of Greece, Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 822.
Gscholar
The vegetation of prickly Juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus L. ssp. oxycedrus) shrublands on Mount Orvilos (E. Macedonia, Nomos Dramas, Greece). In: Proceedings of the “3rd panhellenic rangeland conference” (Platis PD, Papachristou TG eds). Karpenisi (Greece) 4-6 Sep 2002. Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Hellenic Range and Pasture Society, Athens, Greece, pp. 223-232. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
Climatic parameters and indices in plant geography. Acta Phytogeographica Suecica 67: 1-105.
Gscholar
Flora Europaea, vols 2-5 (1st edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 1766.
Gscholar
Flora Europaea, vol. 1 (2nd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 581.
Gscholar
Flora, vegetation and ecology of Vardousia Mt. PhD Thesis, University of Patras, Patra, Greece, pp. 395. [in Greek with English summary]
Gscholar
The drought tolerance limit of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stands on Mt. Olympus, NC Greece. PhD Thesis, Albert-Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, pp. 168.
Gscholar