Ruderal vegetation in Serbia – diversity and floristic composition

Abstract

This study represents the first data gathering and analysis of the floristic composition of ruderal vegetation in Serbia, published over the last 70 years. The dataset included 748 relevés of ruderal communities and a total of 716 plant species and subspecies. The study showed that the most abundant were widespread taxa, especially taxa of the Eurasian area type, while alien species accounted for a relatively small proportion of the ruderal flora (about 10%). Therophytes and hemicryptophytes were most abundant in the life form spectra. Five vegetation groups were identified, corresponding to the following vegetation classes: Bidentetea, Sisymbrietea, Digitario sanguinalis-Eragrostietea minoris, Artemisietea vulgaris and Polygono-Poetea annuae. The analysis of similarity showed that there are small floristic differences between particular vegetation groups. The determined diagnostic species for the vegetation groups were compared with those of the corresponding anthropogenic vegetation classes, and a high degree of similarity was found for all but one group. The most frequent taxa in all five groups were Polygonum aviculare, Convolvulus arvensis, Plantago major subsp. major and Chenopodium album.

Keywords

• synanthropic flora and vegetation
• urban habitats
• vegetation classes
• ruderal species richness
• alien species