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Copyright of Flora Montibérica is the property of Flora Montiberica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Trifolium polyphyllum is a Caucasian endemic of the Fabaceae family peculiar for its inability of nitrogen fixation. Despite this unique trait, the species is insufficiently studied; in particular, little is known about its propagation and dispersal modes. Analyses of ISSR markers in specimens from a population at the Malaya Khatipara Mountain revealed that the species is capable of both sexual and vegetative propagation; however, the former mode dominates. We found out that separate patches within a local population are considerably genetically differentiated within an area of about 2000 m2 (PhiPT = 0.349; p = 0.001). We suppose this may happen owing to a lack of adaptations to seed dispersal. We also suppose that the observed concentration of genetically admixed individuals in the upper parts of slopes is due to peculiarities of the behavior of pollinators. The size of vegetative clones does not exceed 1 m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Flora Montibérica is the property of Flora Montiberica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in their Essay on the Geography of Plants discuss what was known in 1807 about the elevational limits of vascular plants in the Andes, North America, and the European Alps and suggest what factors might influence these upper elevational limits. Here, in light of current knowledge and techniques, I consider which species are thought to be the highest vascular plants in twenty mountain areas and two polar regions on Earth. I review how one can try to compare elevational limits in different parts of Earth. I discuss recent advances in high-elevation plant ecology that would surely have fascinated von Humboldt such as the special snow-roots in some snow-bed plants and the coldest place on Earth where a vascular plant is growing. I briefly outline an ignored von Humboldt legacy, Mendelssohn’s Humboldt Cantata. In conclusion I summarise the foundations and legacies that von Humboldt created for global high-elevation ecology and biogeography.

Whether and how alpine organismic communities respond to ongoing environmental changes is difficult to assess quantitatively, given their intrinsically slow responses, remote locations and limited data. Here we provide a synthesis of the first five years of a multidisciplinary, highly standardized, long-term monitoring programme of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Austrian Hohe Tauern National Park and companion sites in northern Italy and the central Swiss Alps. The programme aims at evidencing the ecological state and trends in largely late-successional, high-elevation ecosystems. We present the conceptual framework, the study design and first results. Replicated over five regions, different sites and a multitude of permanent plots, the abiotic (microclimate, physics and chemistry of soils and water bodies), biodiversity (plants, animals, microbes), and productivity data (alpine grassland, lakes, streams) provide a representative reference for future re-assessments. The wide spectrum of biological baseline data presented and their spatial and temporal variation also illustrate the degree of uncertainty associated with smaller-scale and short-term studies and the role of stochasticity in long-term biological monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of research conducted on chasmophytic vegetation occurring within the alpine belt (approx. 1,850–4,000 m a.s.l.) in the eastern part of Middle Asia. We specifically focused on the diversity and syntaxonomy of rock vegetation as well as on environmental variables determining its distribution. Altogether, 242 relevés were sampled in rock fissures, ledges, and clefts during field surveys conducted in 2013–2019. The size of each recorded vegetation plot was 1 m2. Five main groups of chasmophytic vegetation were distinguished in the studied area. Each group was confined to a specific combination of substrate type and climatic conditions. Altogether, 16 specific plant communities representing chasmophytic vegetation were defined in the study area. For each community diagnostic, constant and dominant species as well as its taxonomic composition and habitat characteristics are given. Seven communities were described: community of Androsace villosa var. dasyphylla, and associations of Crepidifolio tenuifolii-Stipetum tianschanicae, Parryetum schugnanae, Corydalideto bucharicae-Hippolytietum schugnanicae, Drabetum darvasicae, Acantholimonetum alexeenkoani, and Inuletum schmalhausenii are newly coined. Due to the extremely high endemism of the chasmophytic flora of the eastern part of Middle Asia, it is difficult to find strong relationships between the rock vegetation recorded in the region and that occurring in neighboring areas.

This paper presents the results of research conducted on chasmophytic vegetation occurring within the alpine belt (approx. 1,850-4,000 m a.s.l.) in the eastern part of Middle Asia. We specifically focused on the diversity and syntaxonomy of rock vegetation as well as on environmental variables determining its distribution. Altogether, 242 relevés were sampled in rock fissures, ledges, and clefts during field surveys conducted in 2013-2019. The size of each recorded vegetation plot was 1 m². Five main groups of chasmophytic vegetation were distinguished in the studied area. Each group was confined to a specific combination of substrate type and climatic conditions. Altogether, 16 specific plant communities representing chasmophytic vegetation were defined in the study area. For each community diagnostic, constant and dominant species as well as its taxonomic composition and habitat characteristics are given. Seven communities were described: community of Androsace villosa var. dasyphylla, and associations of Crepidifolio tenuifolii-Stipetum tianschanicae, Parryetum schugnanae, Corydalideto bucharicae-Hippolytietum schugnanicae, Drabetum darvasicae, Acantholimonetum alexeenkoani, and Inuletum schmalhausenii are newly coined. Due to the extremely high endemism of the chasmophytic flora of the eastern part of Middle Asia, it is difficult to find strong relationships between the rock vegetation recorded in the region and that occurring in neighboring areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The germination properties of Jasione supina Sieber subsp. supina (Campanulaceae), which is endemic to Mount Uludağ, Bursa, Turkey, were determined. In this study, we investigated the effects of GA3, the combination of hormone series and short-term moist chilling (1-month), and long-term moist chilling (4-month) on the germination percentage and mean germination time in relation to seed dormancy breaking. All treatment series were incubated under continuous dark (20 °C, 24 h) and light/dark (20/10 °C, 12/12 h) conditions. Seeds were collected from specimens widespread on the alpine and subalpine grasslands and dwarf shrubs of Mount Uludağ (1800-1900 m a.s.l.). Depending on the concentration, GA3 and the combination of hormone and moist chilling treatments promoted seed germination in both dark and light/dark conditions. After 4-month-moist chilling treatment, seeds germinated 27% in a light/dark and 80% in a dark regime. Hormone and moist chilling treatments reduced the mean germination time. Our results showed that J. supina seeds have physiological dormancy, require prolonged times of moist chilling and preferentially complete germination in darkness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a more rigorously defined and explicitly mapped 'Drakensberg' centre of plant endemism that aligns floristic and ecological boundaries. It also revisits the plant endemics recorded previously for the former Drakensberg Alpine Centre and makes necessary changes due to molecular-based taxonomic revisions, increased collecting intensity in the Great Escarpment and montane outliers, and improved accessibility to online herbarium records. The mooted conceptual phytogeographic framework termed the Drakensberg Mountain Centre (DMC) is further developed to include two sub-centres of plant endemism, namely the Maloti Alpine and Drakensberg Montane Sub-centres, aligned to discrete geomorphic provinces and eco-thermal vegetation belts. The DMC covers an area of almost 36,500 km2, with some two-thirds montane and one-third alpine. This study recognises 227 endemic angiosperms, or c. 9% angiosperm endemism in the DMC. This is a 4% reduction in the endemic element from the earlier account of Carbutt and Edwards (2006). Only c. 33% of the endemics are shared between the alpine and montane sub-centres, suggesting a strong partitioning of endemics in their respective alpine and montane habitats. Previously recognised montane outliers such as Mahwaqa Mtn, Mt. Currie and Ngeli Mtn are excluded from the revised and consolidated boundary. • Two new sub-centres of endemism are recognised, namely the Maloti Alpine and Drakensberg Montane Sub-centres. • The two sub-centres differ with respect to geomorphic provinces, terrain classes, geology, and broad and fine-scale vegetation types. • This study recognises 227 angiosperm species as endemic to the DMC. • Some 75 endemic species (33%) are shared between the two sub-centres, while 152 endemic species (67%) are unique to one of each of the sub-centres. • The highest number of endemics occur in the upper-montane belt, followed by the alpine and lower-montane belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South-East Altai is the northern outpost of arid regions of Central Asia. It encompasses the Chuya depression (1800-2100 m), surrounding mountain ranges (2800-4000 m), mountain plateaus (2900-3200 m) and highland depressions (2200- 2400 m). Eight types of altitudinal plant communities create the base of the plant cover pattern; each has its own specific set of active species. The altitudinal belt series is shown to include two belts: the steppe (1800-2400 m) and alpine belts (2400-2800 m). The belts are composed of lower and upper subbelts. The upper steppe subbelt has two variants, corresponding to relief peculiarities; two variants of the lower alpine subbelt are limited geographically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents research in eco-coenotic features of cryopetrophyte communities of the Osevoi Ridge in the Western Sayan Mts. All communities studied are in the associationSaxifrago oppositifoliae–Rhodioletum quadrifidae. This association includes all communities with a predominance of alpine and arctalpine petrophytes, which are largely facultative and obligate calciphile plants. The coenoflora of the associationSaxifrago oppositifoliae–Rhodioletum quadrifidaeis represented by 54 species of higher vascular plants. The dominant species in its structure are those of Holarctic distribution and species generally confined to the Altai-Sayan mountain region, withPapaver pseudocanescens,Poa smirnowii,Sajanella monstrosa,Saussurea foliosaandSaxifraga melaleucabeing endemics. In the structure of the belt-zonal groups, arctalpine and alpine species dominate. Among ecological groups, obligate and facultative petrophytes, generally cryophytes, are dominant. The predominance of some particular belt-zonal and ecological groups of species indicates greater specificity of the environmental conditions in which the communities were formed and are currently being formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of late-stage fracturing in the European Alps in a large geodynamic context is reappraised by studying brittle deformations over the entire belt. In the internal Western Alps, paleostress datasets display a major occurrence of orogen-parallel extension resulting in normal faulting and associated strike-slip mode. There the direction of subhorizontal extension rotates with the bending of the Alpine belt. In the Central Alps, paleostress tensors also indicate orogen-parallel extensional regimes, both in the Bergell area and the Lepontine Dome, where the brittle structures are associated with ductile structures related to the formation of large-scale upright folds that accommodate most of the collisional shortening due to the north-directed component of the movement of the South-Alpine indenter. This brittle deformation phase is of Miocene age and is coeval with the propagation of the Alpine front toward the external Alpine domains. In the Eastern Alps, brittle deformation of the Tauern Window displays an overwhelming occurrence of orogen-parallel normal faulting and associated strike-slip regimes again, which is inferred to be driven by lateral extrusion of the orogenic wedge toward the Pannonian basin, partly due to indentation on the Dolomites indenter. The major orogen-parallel extensional signal of the brittle Cenozoic deformations appears remarkably stable all over the internal Alps. Extensional brittle structures are part of a late phase of collisional deformation, during which the propagation of the Alpine front of the Western Alps and the northward movement of the Southern Alpine and the Dolomites indenters in the Central and Eastern Alps were accommodated by orogen-parallel extension in the inner zones, at the scale of the entire chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New localities of Hygrocybe salicis-herbaceae were observed during the research on the fungi of the alpine zone in the Carpathians. This is the first record of this arctic-alpine fungus in the South-Eastern Carpathians. Macro- and micromorphological characters of the Carpathian collections are compared with the descriptions from other regions. A revision of literature data indicates that the sites in the Parâng Mts. reported here are the only known localities of the species from the entire Carpathian range.

New microstructural data on the mylonites from the well-exposed Palmi shear zone (southern Calabria) are presented with the aim to shed light on both the kinematics and the geometry of the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt during Eocene. In the study area, located between the Sardinia-Corsica block and the Calabria-Peloritani terrane, previous large-scale geodynamic reconstructions suggest the presence of strike-slip or transform fault zones dissecting the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt. However, there are no field data supporting the occurrence of these structures. This paper uses vorticity analysis technique based on the aspect ratio and the long axis orientation of rigid porphyroclasts in mylonitic marbles and mylonitic granitoids, to estimate the contribution of pure and simple shear of deformation during the movement of the Palmi shear zone. Porphyroclasts aspect ratio and orientation were measured on thin sections using image analysis. Estimates of the vorticity number, Wm, indicate that the Palmi shear zone recorded general shear with a contribution of pure shear of c. 65%. Then, the Palmi shear zone can be interpreted as a segment of a left-lateral transpressive bend along the southern termination of the Eocene Alpine front. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Natura Croatica is the property of Natura Croatica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper concerns Miocene igneous activity in the Alboran Sea and Peri-Alboran area (northern Morocco, western Algeria and Betic Cordilleras in Spain), considering its age and its location with regard to major tectonics structures. We have compiled previous K-Ar isotopic ages of lavas and plutonic boulders and intrusives with an error of ±1σ and completed this set by a new K-Ar isotopic age for andesitic tuffites from Alboran Island. Geochemistry of most of these samples has been considered after previous analyses completed with new data for Spain magmatism. These two sets of data allow us to place the magmatic activity within the regional stratigraphy and tectonics and their chronological framework of the three major tectonic phases of the Maghrebian orogen, at 17Ma (Burdigalian), 15Ma (Langhian) and 9Ma (Tortonian). Petro-geochemical characteristics are compared through time and geographical locations. A major goal of this coupled approach is to help the elaboration of possible geodynamical processes. As an application, we present the case study of the Dellys, Djinet and Thenia region (east of Algiers) where the successive magmatic events between 19.4±1 and 11.6±0.5Ma are closely related to the local tectonics and sedimentation. The Peri-Alboran igneous activity is placed in a multidisciplinary framework. Timing of activity is defined according to the ages of the neighbouring sedimentary units and the K-Ar ages of igneous rocks. In Spain, the Cabo de Gata-Carboneras magmatic province displays late Oligocene and early Miocene leucogranitic dikes, dated from 24.8±1.3 to 18.1±1.2Ma; three following andesitic to rhyolitic events took place around 15.1±0.8 to 14.0±0.7Ma, 11.8±0.6 to 9.4±0.4Ma, 8.8±0.4 to 7.9±0.4Ma; this last event displays also granitic rocks. Lamproitic magmas dated between 8.4±0.4 and 6.76±0.04Ma were emplaced after the Tortonian phase. In Morocco, after the complex building of the Ras Tarf volcanic edifice, major calc-alkaline to shoshonitic volcanoes were built between 9.0±0.5 and 4.8±0.5Ma, in particular the large Gourougou volcanic complex. Near Oujda, volcanic activity of alkaline affinity leads to multiple emissions of basalts throughout Pliocene times until the beginning of Pleistocene, between 6.2±0.3 and 1.5±0.1Ma. In the Alboran domain, an age of 19.7±0.8Ma is reported (this study) for the andesitic tuffites that form the emergent part of the Alboran Island. This age is comparable to that of the Algerian tuffites and cherts “silexites” and the Malaga ones in Spain. Younger activity, completely separated from the previous one, forms the low-K basaltic andesitic dikes from Alboran Island, dated between 9.1±0.5 and 7.5±0.3Ma. Along the Alboran Ridge both low-K and high-K andesites to dacites were emitted in the estimated range of 10.7–8.7Ma. Low-K and high-K andesites to dacites sampled at ODP sites 977 and 978 into the East Alboran Basin, are dated between 12.1±0.2 and 9.3±0.1Ma. We propose to relate with the Trans-Alboran lineament only the post-Tortonian igneous activity younger than 9Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opera Corcontica is the property of Sprava Krkonosskeho Narodniho Parku and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: The “Môle Constantinois” units and their forelands are part of the Alpine Belt of northeastern Algeria. From the North to the South they correspond to the following three tectonic domains: (i) the “Môle Constantinois” thrust unit; (ii) the Pre-Atlas domain corresponding to the folded and/or sliced belt and the Pre-Atlas corridor slightly affected by tectonics; and southwards, (iii) the folded and faulted autochthonous foreland represented mainly by the Aurès massif. This Belt is the result of a series of short-lived compressional deformations that we summarize in this paper and which occurred successively during the end Cretaceous, the Early-Late Eocene, around the Aquitanian–Burdigalian transition, during the Tortonian, and during the Early Pleistocene. Structural, stratigraphic and micro-tectonic arguments have been used to describe this polyphased event during a compressional tectonic history throughout the different domains. These tectonic events can also be identified in the neighbouring areas of the Maghrebides Alpine Belt and correspond to the major stages of inversion of the African Tethyan margin. However this tectonics is not homogeneous throughout the entire Maghrebides Belt, as paleo-stress fields and age of major deformations may vary from a region to another. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The vegetation communities of the karst-tectonic basins of the Majella massif alpine belt were studied using the phytosociological methods, and analysed from coenological, synchorological and syntaxonomical viewpoints. During the field-work, 115 relevés were performed using the phytosociological approach of Braun-Blanquet, and these relevés were further subjected to multivariate analyses. Eight clusters of relevés resulted from the numerical classification. The plant communities identified in the study area were ascribed to the following five associations, two sub-associations and one community type: Leontopodio – Seslerietum juncifoliae (ass. nova); Helianthemo – Festucetum italicae (ass. nova); Gnaphalio – Plantaginetum atratae ; Taraxaco – Trifolietum thalii gnaphalietosum magellensis (subass. nova); Luzulo italicae – Nardetum, Carici – Salicetum retusae; Saxifrago – Papaveretum julici, Saxifrago – Papaveretum androsacetosum (subass. nova), Plantago atrata and Leontodon montanus community. The distribution of these communities within the karst basins was found to be related to variations in topographic and geomorphological parameters, such as altitude, slope, soil availability and stoniness. All the new associations proposed in this paper belong to the suballiance Leontopodio – Elynenion and to the alliance Seslerion apenninae , both of which are endemic to the central Apennines. In order to compare the plant community types identified within the Majella massif to similar associations found in the rest of the Apennine chain, synoptic tables were constructed. Finally, a comparative phytogeographical analysis of the alpine belt vegetation of the Apennines, Dinarides, southern Balkans and eastern Alps is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

—The Rif belt forms with the Betic Cordilleras an asymmetric arcuate mountain belt (Gibraltar Arc) around the Alboran Sea, at the western tip of the Alpine orogen. The Gibraltar Arc consists of an exotic terrane (Alboran Terrane) thrust over the African and Iberian margins. The Alboran Terrane itself includes stacked nappes which originate from an easterly, Alboran-Kabylias-Peloritani-Calabria (Alkapeca) continental domain, and displays Variscan low-grade and high-grade schists (Ghomarides-Malaguides and Sebtides-Alpujarrides, respectively), shallow water Mesozoic sediments (mainly in the Dorsale Calcaire passive margin units), and infracontinental peridotite slices (Beni Bousera, Ronda). During the Late Cretaceous?-Eocene, the Alboran Terrane was likely located south of a SE-dipping Alpine-Betic subduction (cf. Nevado-Filabride HP-LT metamorphism of central-eastern Betics). An incipient collision against Iberia triggered back-thrust tectonics south of the deformed terrane during the Late Eocene-Oligocene, and the onset of the NW-dipping Apenninic-Maghrebian subduction. The early, HP-LT phase of the Sebtide-Alpujarride metamorphism could be hypothetically referred to the Alpine-Betic subduction, or alternatively to the Apenninic-Maghrebian subduction, depending on the interpretation of the geochronologic data set. Both subduction zones merged during the Early Miocene west of the Alboran Terrane and formed a triple junction with the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault. A westward roll back of the N-trending subduction segment was responsible for the Neogene rifting of the internal Alboran Terrane, and for its coeval, oblique docking onto the African and Iberian margins. Seismic evidence of active E-dipping subduction, and opposite paleomagnetic rotations in the Rif and Betic limbs of the Gibraltar Arc support this structurally-based scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion microprobe U–Pb dating of a bimodal zircon population from a graphitic schist from the basal section of the Alpine Alpujárride nappe complex in the Betic Cordilleras, southern Spain, has yielded different ages for zircons of contrasting morphology and composition. Approximately half the grains are rounded and abraded, and have ages ranging from ∼2·2 Ga to ∼350 Ma. These are detrital grains from the schist’s sedimentary parent material, indicating its derivation from a composite basement and a Palaeozoic, possibly Carboniferous, age of deposition. The other half of the grains consist of euhedral cores of Hercynian age (305·3 ± 3·2 Ma) surrounded by Late Alpine (19·7 ± 2·2 Ma) metamorphic overgrowths (α = 0·05 errors). The Hercynian cores probably record the first, medium–high-grade amphibolite-facies metamorphism, relicts of which are seen in the schist complex, whereas the rims were formed during the final tectono-metamorphic stage in the Alpine development of the orogenic belt. The bimodality of the zircon population in age, morphology and internal structure may mainly reflect the lithological bimodality of the rock (thin quartzitic layers or schlieren alternating with graphitic micaceous folia) and the control that that exerted on fluid circulation in the metamorphic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]