The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) aims at the conservation of all three levels of biodiversity, that is, ecosystems, species and genes. Genetic diversity represents evolutionary potential and is important for ecosystem functioning. Unfortunately, genetic diversity in natural populations is hardly considered in conservation strategies because it is difficult to measure and has been hypothesised to co-vary with species richness. This means that species richness is taken as a surrogate of genetic diversity in conservation planning, though their relationship has not been properly evaluated. We tested whether the genetic and species levels of biodiversity co-vary, using a large-scale and multi-species approach. We chose the high-mountain flora of the Alps and the Carpathians as study systems and demonstrate that species richness and genetic diversity are not correlated. Species richness thus cannot act as a surrogate for genetic diversity. Our results have important consequences for implementing the CBD when designing conservation strategies.

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The genetic structure of Croatian Sibirea (Sibiraea croatica), a rare and endemic tertiary relic of Croatian and Herzegovinian flora, and its relationship with sibirea from Southern Russia and Southern Siberia (Sibiraea altaiensis) was studied using amplification, restriction and sequencing of the ITS region in genomic DNA and cpDNA and their comparisons with sequences of the Rosaceae species obtained from GenBank. The restriction analysis and separation in agarose gel showed no differences in length of the digested cpDNA between or within populations. Sequencing showed only minor variability between populations. Only a minor difference of 6 bp duplication in DNA amplified with ccmp 10-R and trnM primer pair was noticed in two geographically distinct populations. No differences in the restriction pattern for the ITS region in genomic rDNA indicates that all samples of sibirea belong to the same species since the ITS region was proven to be conserved within one taxonomic species. The minor differences that were obtained support the hypothesis that sibirea is an old tertiary relic that shows a minor variability, confirming previous preliminary results from comparisons of the Croatian and Altaic sibireas at the morphological level. Our data suggests that Croatian sibirea from the Balkan is a disjunct population identical to the Altaic species. Due to its disjunct occurrence in Southeastern Europe, the endemic status in the Dinarics, a relic that survived the glaciations, it deserves active conservation approaches through support of traditional use of high-mountain pastures for reducing natural reforestation of sibirea ancient sites.

In the alpine belt of the Julian Alps (glacial cirque Na Jezerih under Mt. Veliki Rokav, Jarečica, the Mangart Saddle and Prodi under Mt. Mangart as well as Mt. Plešivec in the rock wall of Loška Stena) we studied the phytosociology and ecology of snow-bed vegetation with dominating flowering plants Salix herbacea, Luzula alpinopilosa, Gnaphalium supinum, Soldanella pusilla and Salix retusa, and numerous moss species. Based on the comparison with similar snow-bed communities in the Central, Eastern and Southern Alps we described a new association Salicetum retuso-herbaceae and classified it into the alliance Salicion herbaceae and class Salicetea herbaceae. We determined several successional stages of snow-bed vegetation on mixed calcareous-silicate bedrock that we treat as variants, in two relevés also the initial association Polytrichetum sexangularis.