Effect of management modification on the coenological composition of the North Adriatic pastoral landscape (Ćićarija, Croatia)

The research aim was to assess the dynamics of the North Adriatic pastoral landscape (Ćićarija, Croatia) with regard to the coenological composition of grassland communities, and, more specifically, to: i) assess the current grassland mosaic from a coenological viewpoint; ii) assess the effects of management abandonment on grassland species composition, also taking into account, as a basis for comparison, data on pastoral communities collected in the past decades. To achieve the research aims, 73 phytosociological relevés were carried out; for each of them field data (altitude, aspect, slope, landform) and information on grassland management were collected. Multivariate analysis of phytosociological relevés led to the identification of four vegetation types (Danthonio-Scorzoneretum villosae, Carici humilis-Centaureetum rupestris, Brachypodium rupestre-dominated stands, and Anthoxantho-Brometum erecti), which were linked to landform and to grassland management. Comparison in terms of social behaviour type composition of the grassland communities surveyed in the present study with the ones surveyed in the past decades, highlighted that the current management (grassland abandonment, as well as low intensity grazing and not periodic mowing) is leading to a percentage loss of pasture and meadow characteristic species, in favour of successional and ruderal ones.