Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

4 Steppes on the Vegetation Map of Europe: diversity, ecology, geography
Steppes in Europe occupy a much larger area than deserts. The same ecological-phytocoenotical
approach was used for the classification of the steppe vegetation (carried out in this case by Z. V.
Karamysheva, St. Petersburg, Russia) as was used for deserts while the construction of the legend
followed the zonal-typological principle. This has made it possible to show the latitudinal and
longitudinal regularities in distribution of the steppe formations on the map (Table 4).
In the northern part of the steppe zone, mesoxerophytic and xerophytic forbs are abundant alongside
bunchgrasses in the composition of the communities. The geographic regularities in the distribution of
communities of different formations are well marked. For example, while the communities of Stipa
tirsa are widespead from the western to the eastern boundaries of steppes, those of S. ucrainica do not
extend east of the Volga River. Here they are replaced by the communities of S. zalesskii, which have
a mainly Trans-Volga distribution. The communities of three other formations (S. capillata,
S. lessingiana and S. anomala) are widespread in the subzone of herb-bunchgrass steppes. They are
confined mainly to soils of loose, fine-grained texture.
Steppes with abundant forbs are replaced to the south by more xerophilous bunchgrass steppes. In this
subzone, communities of S. lessingiana predominate or (as in the western part) this feather grass is
codominant in communities of S. ucrainica. In both subzones of herb-bunchgrass and bunchgrass
steppes, the common feather grass is S. capillata. It is codominant in communities of S. lessingiana
and dominant in anthropogenic variants.
The most southern and xerophytic steppe type is represented by dwarf semishrub−bunchgrass steppes.
They are distributed in Europe only in the northern Caspian Region. Here, dwarf semishrub wormwood
species such as Artemisia taurica and A. lerchiana always participate. The communities of the
Stipa sareptana formation play a dominant role in the vegetation cover.
Table 4: Latitudinal and longitudinal classification of steppe formations on the European Vegetation Map.
Subzone Formation Ecotype Association, complex of
communities
Herb-rich
grass
steppes
Herb-grass
steppes
Stipa tirsa pl 1
Stipa
zalesskii
Stipa
zalesskii
Stipa
ucrainica
Stipa
capillata
Stipa
anomala
West
Pontic
Stipa tirsa, S. lessingiana - herb-rich
with Stipa ucrainica
pl Stipa tirsa, S. lessingiana - herb-rich
with Stipa zalesskii
pl Stipa zalesskii, S. korshinskyi - herbrich
pl Stipa zalesskii - herbs with Stipa
korshinskyi
pl Stipa ucrainica, S. lessingiana -
herbs with Caragana mollis
hps Stipa capillata, S. anomala,
Cleistogenes squarrosa - herbs
hps Stipa anomala, S. capillata,
Cleistogenes squarrosa - herbs with
Agropyron fragile
Geographical variant
Central
Pontic
+ +
+
+ +
+
Trans-
Volga
+
+
+
North
Caspian
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