Syntaxonomy and biogeography of the Irano‐Turanian mires and springs

Abstract

Aims To develop the first comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for patchy montane mire and spring vegetation across the Irano‐Turanian phytogeographical region in Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and to explore the effects of the main environmental and geographic gradients on their distribution. Location Alborz Mountain range (Iran), Pamir‐Alai Mountains (Tajikistan) and Tian Shan Mountains (Kyrgyzstan); total area about 3,000,000 km2. Methods A database of 1,015 vegetation relevés including a total of 675 vascular and bryophyte taxa was established, covering the large mountains ranges of the Irano‐Turanian regions in Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, at altitudes ranging from 1,300 to 4,505 m a.s.l. A semi‐supervised k‐means analysis was performed. Additional analyses were carried out to show differences among predefined vegetation groups in terms of phytogeographical, climatic and compositional factors. Results Two large groups of mire communities, referable to mires and springs were identified. Twenty associations, one subassociation and four alliances of these wetlands, belonging to three orders and three classes, were defined. Among them, ten associations, one subassociation and two alliances were formally described as new syntaxa. Moreover, a new order Caricetalia orbicularis, that comprises phytogeographically unique vegetation of the Irano‐Turanian mires, is proposed. Conclusions Based on our results and comparison between the Irano‐Turanian and other phytogeographical regions, we propose a first comprehensive syntaxonomic synopsis for the Irano‐Turanian mires and springs. Despite some identical character species and their vicariant nature, the Irano‐Turanian, Euro‐Siberian and Mediterranean mires and springs show considerable compositional differences. Irano‐Turanian wetlands contain a large and distinct set of endemic plant species, which are mixed with Euro‐Siberian species in the west and north, but predominate in the eastern locations. They have a patchy pattern and scattered distribution and serve as inland hotspots of wetland vegetation in the vast dry landscape of southwest and Central Asia.

Restoration and management of plant communities in Applied Vegetation Science

“…This is an important methodological message, which requires the attention of forest ecologists. Naqinezhad et al (2021) developed the first comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for Irano‐Turanian mires and springs based on original data obtained in the mountains of Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. This study provides the first comprehensive description of this patchily distributed vegetation type, which contains many endemic species and significantly contributes to the regional biodiversity of arid landscapes in the interior of Asia.…”

“…In making our selection for the Editors' Award, we considered several other outstanding articles published in 2021, some of which were nominated by the Co-ordinating Editors. Here we mention three runners-up, including Luo et al (2021), Depauw et al (2021) and Naqinezhad et al (2021). Luo et al (2021) investigated soil seed banks in a desert and their relationships with above-ground vegetation using geostatistical analysis.…”

“…Although most of these articles have dealt with different types of European and Mediterranean vegetation (e.g. Bonari et al, 2021), important synthetic studies were also published for other parts of the world in 2021, including the mires of Middle East and Central Asia (Naqinezhad et al, 2021) and Japanese forests (Noriyuki et al, 2021). An important tool for these studies, the 4th edition of the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature was also published in the last volume of Applied Vegetation Science (Theurillat et al, 2021).…”

Classification of grasslands and other open vegetation types in the Palaearctic – Introduction to the Special Collection

“…Following the seminal work of Zohary (1973) on the vegetation of the Middle East, several regional phytosociological studies have been published on grasslands and other open vegetation types, mainly of Turkey and Iran (e.g., Quézel 1973;Klein 1982Klein , 1987Akman et al 1984Akman et al , 1996Kürschner 1986;Kürschner et al 1998;Parolly 2004;Noroozi et al 2010Noroozi et al , 2014Noroozi et al , 2017Kürschner and Parolly 2012;Al-Aklabi et al 2016;Ghorbanalizadeh et al 2020). Recently, Naqinezhad et al (2021) presented a plot-based supranational synthesis of the mire vegetation of the Irano-Turanian region. However, while the phytosociological overview in these two countries is still far from complete, many other countries of Southwest Asia (Caucasus countries, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the whole Arab Peninsula) are, to our knowledge, still void of in-depth phytosociological studies with the use of modern approaches.…”

The vegetation of rich fens (Sphagno warnstorfii-Tomentypnion nitentis) at the southeastern margins of their European range

“…This mechanism explains why calcium-tolerant peat mosses barely colonise calcium-rich fens in areas experiencing dry summers, such as the submediterranean-subcontinental regions of the Balkan Peninsula (Hájek et al 2008a(Hájek et al , 2014. In extremely seasonal climates, calcium-tolerant peat mosses do not occur at all (Naqinezhad et al 2021). A balance between the two major functional groups of mire mosses, peat mosses and brown mosses, may be disrupted not only by a change in climate, but also by increasing nutrient availability that supports the expansion of some calcium-tolerant species of peat moss such as Sphagnum teres (Hájek et al 2015;Vicherová et al 2015), or declines in water table that allow calcifuge peat mosses to avoid carbonate-rich groundwater and spread over the fen surface (van Diggelen et al 2006;Granath et al 2010;Kooijman 2012).…”