36 - Alpine and subalpine grasslands

Classification des habitats du Paléarctique (2001)

Description

Primary and secondary grass- or sedge- dominated formations of the alpine and subalpine levels of boreal, nemoral, warm-temperate humid and Irano-Turanian mountains, and of the oro- and cryoro-Mediterranean levels (sensu Peinado Lorca and Rivas-Martinez,1987) or the alti-Mediterranean level (sensu Ozenda, 1975, 1985) of Mediterranean mountains. Euro-Siberian formations comprise the grasslands of the Alps, Carpathians, Dinaric Alps, Pyrenees, Cantabrian range, Jura, Central Massif, northern Apennines, Balkan Range, Scandinavian mountains, Urals, Siberian mountains, and of Iceland, and have very fragmentary outposts in the great Hercynian ranges of middle Europe, including the Black Forest, the Harz and the mountains of the Bohemian Quadrangle, Bohemian Forest (Sumava), Metallic Mountains (Erzgebirge, Krusne Hory), the Sudeten (Krkonose, Karkonosze or Riesengebirge; Jesenik Mountains), and in the Caledonian system of Britain. Mediterranean formations include grasslands of the Iberian mountains, of the Apennines, of the Hellenic ranges, of the Taurus complex and of the Atlas system. Central Eurasian grasslands occupy the alpine and subalpine levels of the Caucasus, of the Crimea, of the Western and Central Asian mountains, of the Himalayan system. Sino-Japanese grasslands occupy the Far Eastern mountains.

Bibliographie

Devillers P., Devillers-Terschuren J. & Vander Linden C., 2001. PHYSIS Palaearctic Habitat Classification Database. Updated to 10 December 2001. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles, Bruxelles. (Source)

Braun-Blanquet, 1954; Schweinfurth, 1957; Ellenberg, 1963, 1988; Horvat & al., 1974; Zohary, 1973; Ozenda, 1975, 1985; Walter and Breckle, 1986, 1991c; Peinado Lorca and Rivas-Martinez, 1987; Oberdorfer, 1992a.