12 Palaearctic Grasslands 46 ( J u ly 20 2 0) Scientific Report DOI: 10.21570/EDGG.PG.46.12-51 Biodiversity of dry grasslands in Armenia: First results from the 13th EDGG Field Workshop in Armenia Alla Aleksanyan1,2 , Idoia Biurrun3 , Elena Belonovskaya4 , Beata Cykowska-Marzencka5 , Asun Berastegi6 , Andreas Hilpold7 , Philipp Kirschner8 , Helmut Mayrhofer9 , Dariia Shyriaieva10 , Denys Vynokurov10 , Thomas Becker11 , Ute Becker12 , Iwona Dembicz13,14 , George Fayvush1 , Dieter Frank15 , Martin Magnes9 , Itziar García-Mijangos3 , Marine Oganesian16 , Salza Palpurina17 , Aslan Ünal18 , Yuliia 19 13,20,21* Vasheniak & Jürgen Dengler 1Department of Geobotany and Plant Eco-Physiology, Institute of Botany 12Green School in the Botanic Garden, Johannes Gutenberg University after A.L. Takhtajyan, NAS RA, Acharyan 1, 0040, Yerevan, Armenia; al- Mainz, Anselm-Franz-von-Bentzel-Weg 9 b, 55128 Mainz, Germany; beck- [email protected]; [email protected] [email protected] 2Chair of Biology and Biotechnology, Armenian National Agrarian Universi- 13Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR), Zurich ty, Teryan 74, 0009, Yerevan, Armenia University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Grüentalstr. 14, 8820 Wädenswil, 3Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Coun- Switzerland; [email protected]; [email protected] try UPV/EHU, P.O. Box 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain; [email protected]; 14Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Faculty of [email protected] Biology, University of Warsaw, ul. Zwirki I Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw, 4Department of Biogeography, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Poland Sciences, Staromonetny per. 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia; ebe- 15Saxony-Anhalt Environment Agency, Reideburger Str. 47, Halle 06116, [email protected] Germany; [email protected] 5Department of Mycology, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of 16Department of Taxonomy and Geography of Higher Plants, Institute of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Poland; [email protected] Botany aft. A.L. Takhtajyan, NAS RA, Acharyan 1, 0040, Yerevan, Armenia; 6Department of Biodiversity, Environmental Management of Navarre, Padre [email protected] Adoain 219 Bajo, 31015 Pamplona, Spain; [email protected] 17National Museum of Natural History, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1000 Sofia, 7Institute for Alpine Environment, Drususallee 1/VialeDruso 1, 39100 Bozen Bulgaria; [email protected] -Bolzano, Italy; [email protected] 18Am Schießrain 10 , 79219 Staufen, Germany; [email protected] 8Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestraße 15, Inns- 19Department of Biology, Chemistry and Biotechnologies, Vasyl’ Stus Do- bruck, Austria; [email protected] netsk National University, 600-richya str. 21021, Vinnytsia, 21, Ukraine; 9Division of Plant Sciences, Institute of Biology, Karl-Franzens-University of [email protected] Graz, Holteigasse 6, 8010 Graz, Austria; [email protected]; 20Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research [email protected] (BayCEER), Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany 10Geobotany and Ecology Department, M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, 21German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena- NAS of Ukraine, Tereshchenkivska str. 2, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine; Leipzig, DeutscherPlatz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany [email protected]; [email protected] 11 Department of Geobotany, University of Trier, Behringstr. 21, 54296 Trier, *) corresponding author Germany; [email protected] Palaearctic Grasslands 46 (2020): 12-51 Abstract: The 13th EDGG Field Workshop was conducted from the 26 June to 6 July 2019 in Armenia. The Field Workshop had two main aims: (a) to analyse the biodiversity patterns of the Armenian grasslands across multiple taxonomic groups and grain sizes, and (b) to study the syntaxonomic position of these grasslands in a general European context. We conducted our sampling in 16 sites that ensured good geographical coverage across the country. In total, we sampled 29 EDGG Biodiversity Plots (nested-plot series of 0.0001 to 100 m²) and 53 additional 10-m2 plots. Data of orthopteroid insects (Orthoptera and Mantodea) were recorded in 42 100-m² plots. We found mean total species richness values of the vegetation of 7.5 species in 0.01 m², 31.9 species in 1 m² and 51.3 species in 10 m². The richest grasslands for vascular plants were meso-xeric grasslands with up to 35 species in 0.1 m² and 80 in 10 m². Maximum orthopteroid rich- ness in 100 m² was 14. Syntaxonomically, the majority of stands appear to belong to the class Festuco-Brometea, with the orders Brachy- podietalia pinnati (meso-xeric), Festucetalia valesiacae (xeric, non-rocky) and an unknown order of rocky dry grasslands. By contrast, the thorn-cushion communities (probably Onobrychidetea cornutae), the scree communities and the dry grasslands of lower elevations rich in annuals and chamaephytes (probably largely Astragalo-Brometea), do not fit to any vegetation class described in Europe. We found two species new to Armenia – the moss Syntrichia papillosissima and the lichen Aspicilia hispida. Our data demonstrate that Armenia is This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 13 Palaearctic Grasslands 46 ( J u ly 20 2 0) one of the Palaearctic hotspots of fine grain plant diversity. Both diversity patterns and syntaxonomy warrant in-depth studies, which are now possible with our comprehensive dataset. Keywords: Armenia; biodiversity; bryophyte, dry grassland; lichen; Mantodea; nested plot; Orthoptera; species richness; syntaxonomy; vascular plant. Nomenclature: Euro+Med (2020) for vascular plants, Hill et al. (2006) for mosses, Söderström et al. (2016) for liverworts, Nimis et al. (2018) for lichens and Heller et al. (2016) for orthopteroid insects. Abbreviations: EDGG = Eurasian Dry Grassland Group. Submitted: 9 June 2020; first decision: 10 June 2020; accepted: 16 June 2020 Scientific Editor: Riccardo Guarino Linguistic Editor: Richard Jefferson Introduction tion plot data produced in the EDGG Field Workshops have been incorporated into the “GrassPlot” database of EDGG Palaearctic grasslands are known for their outstanding bio- (Dengler et al. 2018; Biurrun et al. 2019) to facilitate their diversity in many taxonomic groups (Dengler et al. 2014; utilization for scientific studies. Several ongoing projects 2020a). For vascular plants, most of the world records of related to alpha and beta diversity are taking advantage of species richness at fine spatial grains across any habitat type this, including a study on species-area relationships in Pal- worldwide come from Palaearctic semi-dry grasslands, but aeartic grasslands (Dengler et al. 2020c). While vascular bryophytes, lichens and many invertebrate groups can also plants, bryophytes and lichens are the principal objective of be quite diverse (Dengler et al. 2020a). Despite numerous the EDGG Field Workshops, specialists in other taxonomic studies, there is still no conclusive knowledge as to which groups such as spiders (Biurrun et al. 2014) and leafhoppers factors are mainly responsible for this fine-grain diversity (Filibeck et al. 2018), have taken part in some expeditions. and why, in some regions, exceptionally rich grasslands oc- This interdisciplinary collaboration has been translated into cur and in others not (Dengler et al. 2014). some specific publications (Polchaninova et al. 2018). Armenia is known to have diverse grasslands (Fayvush & In 2019, EDGG organised two Field Workshops: the 12th in Aleksanyan 2016; Dengler et al. 2019; Ambarlı et al. 2020) Switzerland (Dengler et al. 2020b), which continued the and a very rich vascular plant flora. However, detailed data survey of central dry valleys of the Alps started in Austria by on fine-grain plant diversity are lacking and, as such, this the 11th Field Workshop (Magnes et al. 2020), and the 13th would be valuable for pan-Palaearctic studies of patterns in Armenia. The latter was conducted from the 26 June to and drivers of grassland diversity, such as Dengler et al. the 6 July 2019, and this was the second time that EDGG (2020c). While Armenia has a typology of habitats (Fayvush conducted a Field Workshop in Asia, the other being based & Aleksanyan 2016), there are only few phytosociological in Khakassia, Russia (see Polyakova et al. 2016). The main studies from the country. Therefore, its community types aims of the workshop were (a) to analyse the biodiversity cannot readily be aligned with the well-established syntaxo- patterns of the Armenian grasslands across multiple taxo- nomic system of Europe (Mucina et al. 2016). Due to a lack nomic groups and grain sizes and (b) to study the syntaxo- of vegetation-lot data, Armenian vegetation has not been nomic position of these grasslands within the Palaearctic included in the broad-scale consistent classification of Pal- context. In this paper, we present some initial findings con- aearctic dry grasslands, either with supervised (Schaminée cerning the species diversity and composition of vascular et al. 2016) or semi-supervised methods (Willner et al. plants, bryophytes, lichens and orthopteroid insects of the- 2017). se grasslands. Moreover, we have also provided some visual Since 2009, the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) has impressions with photographs of the Armenian grasslands, been conducting annual Field Workshops,