Species richness and above-ground biomass of poor andcalcareous spring fens in the flysch West Carpathians, andtheir relationships to water and soil chemistry

Species richness of vascular plants and bryophytes and above-ground biomass were studied on poor acidic fens, rich Sphagnum fens and calcareous spring fens. The study area involved the western parts of the Outer Carpathians in the border region of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Species richness was counted for seven plot sizes and was correlated with the main chemical factors and with above-ground biomass. The chemical properties of springwater were determined to be the main factors influencing the species richness of vascular plants. Tufa-forming calcareous fen communities had the highest species richness of vascular plants. On the other hand, the highest species richness of bryophytes was detected on the pH-neutral sites, in the peat forming calcareous fen communities and in the communities with Sphagnum warnstorfii and S. teres. Bryophyte species richness in small plots correlated also with the iron concentration in springwater. The differences in species richness within calcareous fens were related to the mowing regime. A negative influence of litter mass on the species richness of vascular plants was detected. Mosses responded to high amounts of litter or vascular plant biomass by a significant decrease in biomass. Two types of Sphagnum fens, (a) strongly dominated by Sphagnum flexuosum or S. palustre (rich in phosphates) and (b) without a strongly dominate moss species (poor in phosphates), have also been compared. In the first, the slope of the regression for the dependence of bryophyte species richness on plot size was less steep.

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