Floristic and habitat diversity in representative grassland communities in Bulgaria.

AbstractNatural and semi-natural grassland communities in Bulgaria are subjected to anthropogenic pressure leading to their degradation and fragmentation. Because they host many groups of living organisms, this poses serious challenges in relation to their conservation and sustainable use. We present the results of a study on the floristic and habitat diversity of various grassland communities of the plain areas of Bulgaria. The assessment was based on 36 sample plots situated mostly in the eastern and northern parts of the country. Diversity was estimated by means of three indices. A total of 360 plant species and eight habitat types were identified. Species richness and diversity varied substantially among the different habitats. Shannon’s H’ varied from 0.9 to 3.6, Simpson diversity (1-D)—from 0.42 to 0.96, and Berger-Parker (1/D)—from 1.3 to 6.0. The highest diversity was recorded in habitats 62A0, 6240, 6210, and 42C0. The studied sites were clustered in five distinct groups based on the Sørensen pairwise similarity index. The groups formed reflected the main types of habitats and the role of anthropogenic and environmental factors in their formation, status, and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]