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Calcicole plant diversity in Switzerland may reflect a variety of habitat templets

Wohlgemuth, Thomas ; Gigon, Andreas

In: Folia Geobotanica, 2003, vol. 38, no. 4, p. 443-452

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    Title
    • Calcicole plant diversity in Switzerland may reflect a variety of habitat templets
    Author
    • Wohlgemuth, Thomas. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
    • Gigon, Andreas. Geobotanical Institute ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Gladbachstrasse 114, CH-8044, Zürich, Switzerland
    Document Type
    • Postprint
    Language
    • English
    Published in
    • Folia Geobotanica, 2003, vol. 38, no. 4, p. 443-452. Springer Netherlands
    Other Version
    OAI-PMH Identifier
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:312516
    Summary
    The study of the disparity concerning the sizes of calcicole and calcifuge floras in Central Europe is a surprisingly young scientific branch. Accordingly, explanations of the patterns have not yet been consolidated. In this paper, we comment on the solution of the "calcareous riddle' proposed by JörgEwald (Folia Geobot. 38: 357-366, 2003). On the basis of flora and vegetation data bases, we tested the phenomenon of calcicole richness by analyzing the forest vegetation and the flora of Switzerland and found corresponding patterns. A clear overbalance of calcareous forest habitats contrasts with an overbalance of acidic topsoils, as derived from a large representative sample in Swiss forests. Calcicole/calcifuge ratios reveal an overbalance of calcicoles in most mapping units of the distribution atlas of vascular plants in Switzerland. Central crystalline parts of the Alps, however, show a clear overbalance of calcifuges. Patterns from the different community and regional scales are explained by (micro-)habitat diversity. With respect to the "calcareous riddle”, we question several assumptions, e.g. the time considered before the Pleistocene bottleneck, the area considered for speciation/extinction, and the role of habitat diversity rather than two substrate classes