abstract

Festuca melanopsis grasslands in the south-eastern Alps. The study regards the subalpine and alpine Festuca melanopsis - dominated grasslands of the south-eastern Alps. Festuca melanopsis, belonging to the F. violacea aggregate, occurs both in Elyno-Seslerietea (Caricion ferrugineae) and in Caricetea curvulae (Caricion curvulae, Fetucion variae, Agrostion schraderianae) communities, showing a rather wide ecological tolerance. However, in the studied area, this species shows its highest fidelity for Knautio-Trifolietum nivalis which geographically vicariates Trifolio thalii-Festucetum nigricantis of the central-northern Alps. A complete syntaxonomical scheme is given.

keywords

Alpine grasslands, south-eastern Alps, syntaxonomy