Alpine Wet Habitat Types of Community Interest in the Rodna Mountains National Park (Eastern Carpathians, Romania)

Transylv. Rev. Syst. Ecol. Res. 9, (2010), "The Rodna Mountains National Park" 101 ALPINE WET HABITAT TYPES OF COMMUNITY INTEREST IN THE RODNA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (EASTERN CARPATHIANS, ROMANIA) Erika SCHNEIDER-BINDER * * Karlsruhe Institute for Technology - University of Land Baden-Württemberg and Research Center of the Helmholtz Society, Institute for Geography and Geoecology, Department WWF-Institute for Floodplain Ecology, Josefstr. 1, Rastatt/Germany, D-76437, [email protected]; erika.schb@t- online.de KEYWORDS : Romanian Carpathians, Rodna Mountains, alpine pioneer habitats, FFH habitat type *7240, arctic-alpine species, glacial relicts, cold water, alpine alluvial soils, seepage area. ABSTRACT The FFH habitat type *7240 Alpine pioneer formation of Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae is described with regard to its distribution in the alpine mountain system. Characteristic species are discussed and data from varying areas are illustrated in a comparative presentation. Typical site factors, species and vegetation structures will be analyzed for the Rodna Mountains as well. Furthermore the characteristic beetle species of this habitat type are duly considered; they are bound to the wetlands of the alpine, partly of the subalpine, area and particularly to alluvial soils and seepage areas. Together with the characteristic plant species they act as indicators for the presence of this habitat type in the Carpathians, even though on a very small scale and as fragmentary relicts. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG : Alpine Feuchtgebiets-Habitattypen von gemeinschaftlichem Interesse im Nationalpark Rodna-Gebirge (Ostkarpaten/Rumänien). Der FFH-Lebensraumtyp *7240 Alpine pioneer formation of Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae wird in seiner Verbreitung im alpinen Gebirgssytem dargestellt, wobei die kennzeichnenden Arten besprochen und ihre Angaben aus den verschiedenen Gebieten vergleichend dargestellt werden. Die charakteristischen Standortfaktoren, Arten und Vegetationsstrukturen werden auch für das Rodna - Gebirge/Karpaten genauer analysiert. Erwähnt sind auch die für den Lebensraumtyp charakteristischen Laufkäferarten, die an Feuchtgebiete in der alpinen, teilweise auch der subalpinen Stufe, vor allem an Schwemmböden und Sickerflächen gebunden sind. Sie belegen, wie auch die charakteristischen Pflanzenarten, das Vorkommen des LRT für die Karpaten, auch wenn es sich um sehr kleinflächige, fragmentarische Reliktvorkommen handelt. 102 E. Schneider-Binder – Alpine wet habitat types of Community interest in Rodna Mountains (101 ~ 112) REZUMAT : Tipuri de habitate umede, de interes comunitar, în etajul alpin al Parcului Na ţional Mun ţii Rodnei (Carpa ţii R ăsăriteni/România). Tipul de habitat *7240 Forma ţiuni pioniere alpine din Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae, listat în Directiva FFH, este prezentat în aria sa de r ăspândire din mun ţii sistemului alpin. Sunt discutate speciile caracteristice tipului de habitat, datele din diferitele arii de r ăspândire fiind analizate şi prezentate în mod comparativ. Datele sta ţionale caracteristice, speciile şi structura vegeta ţiei sunt prezentate şi pentru Mun ţii Rodnei, unde au fost semnalate specii apar ţinând alian ţei, care reprezint ă tipul de habitat discutat. Men ţionate sunt şi speciile de Carabide caracteristice, legate de zone umede alpine, mai ales arii aluvionare alpine şi subalpine şi mustiri de ap ă, împrejurimi de izvoare, zăcători de z ăpad ă şi stadii ini ţiale de înml ăş tinire. Ele documenteaz ă, ca şi speciile caracteristice de plante, prezen ţa acestui tip de habitat, chiar dac ă e vorb ă de arii relictare, dezvoltate fragmentar pe suprafe ţe foarte mici. INTRODUCTION Wet habitat types of the alpine level in the Alpine mountains system - the Pyrenees, Alps and Carpathians - are well represented by springs and their surrounding area, alpine rivulets and streams with their alluvial deposits, protosoils and soils composed of different grain sizes, smaller or larger seepage areas, snowmelt depressions, along the edges of glaciers, glacial torrents as well as around the glacial lakes and as bogs and fens. Given that the Alps have larger and higher mountain peaks as compared to the Carpathians, this habitat type is rather representative of the Alps than of the Carpathians. But despite of all differences the alpine bioregion is well represented in the Carpathians as well, with a large mountainous and subalpine level, the alpine level covering a smaller area in few mountain ranges and peaks exceeding an altitude of 2,000 m. All these mountains show visible traces of the quaternary glacial period with glaciers on a smaller (Pyrenees) or larger scale (Alps). Glaciers do not exist in the Carpathians, but witnesses of the quaternary glacial period are still existent: glacial lakes, glacier calderas and U-shaped glacial valleys, moraines and numerous glacial relict habitats, arctic-alpine relict plants, plant communities and fauna species. Glacial geomorphologic forms and their specific habitats mainly occur in the North-Western part of the Carpathians i.e. in the Slovakian Tatra Mountains, the Southern Carpathians (F ăgăra ş, Cindrel, Parâng, Retezat and Ţarcu-Godeanu Mountains) called “Transylvanian Alps” in older scientific papers, as well as in the Rodna Mountains of the Eastern Carpathians (Ozenda, 1988, 1994; Oancea et al., 1987; Dr ăgulescu, Schneider and Benedek, 2007). The Interpretation Manual of European Union habitats EUR 27 (2007) lists the Alpine pioneer formation of Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae under number 7240 (Palearctic classification 54.3), a priority habitat with Alpine, peri-Alpine and Northern British communities. They are colonising neutral to slightly acid gravel, sandy, stony, sometimes slightly argillaceous or peaty substrates that are soaked by cold water in moraines and along the edges of springs, rivulets, glacial torrents of the alpine or sub-alpine levels of pure, cold, slowly running rivers and calm backwaters. Permanent or ongoing ground frosts that persist for a longer period of the year are essential for the existence of this habitat type. Transylv. Rev. Syst. Ecol. Res. 9, (2010), "The Rodna Mountains National Park" 103 The low vegetation of this habitat type is mainly composed by species of Carex and Juncus of the Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae alliance. Characteristic plants of this habitat type are Carex atrofusca, Carex bicolor, Carex maritima, Carex microglochin, Carex vaginata, Juncus alpino-articulatus, Juncus arcticus, Juncus castanaeus, Juncus triglumis, Kobresia simpliciuscula, Typha lugdunensis, Typha minima, Typha shuttleworthii, Tofieldia pusilla. The corresponding categories of the German classification are “6402 Alpine Schwemmböden mit niedriger Vegetation” (Alpine alluvial soils with low vegetation), for the Northern vegetation types “3422 Carex atrofusca -Drepanocladus revolvens -typ” and “3423 Carex saxatilis -Drepanocladus revolvens -typ”. The habitat is mentioned as being associated to humid, extensively managed meadows and communities of the Caricion davallianae alliance that are part of the same Tofieldietala order as is the alliance Caricion bicoloris atrofuscae Nordh. 1939 (= Caricion maritimae Br.-Bl-ap. Volk, 1939). The comprehensive habitats work on all Romanian habitats, considering not only those of community interest (Doni ţă et al., 2005) mentions the habitat type 7240 Alpine pioneer formations of Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae for Romania (Romanian habitat number R5403). However, this habitat type title comprises following the above mentioned authors the South- Eastern Carpathian meso-oligothrophic bogs and fens with Carex rostrata and Sphagnum recurvum and not pioneer habitats of alpine alluvial sites, initial phases of fens as well as transition stages to vegetation of snowmelt depressions. Schneider and Dr ăgulescu (2005) mention the habitat type for Romania noting that the characteristic species are present, but that its existence has to be confirmed and that the repartition of this habitat type still has to be clarified by additional studies. In the Interpretation Manual for Romania the habitat type is mentioned “with uncertain presence in Romania” (Gafta and Mountford, 2008). This statement is justified by the mentioned authors with the evidence that no corresponding associations have yet been described for Romania, the Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae alliance has not been indicated for Romania, Carex bicolor is mentioned only for the Rodna Mountains and following recent data Carex atrofusca is (Ciocârlan, 2009) lacking completely in the Rodna Mountains and in the whole Romanian Carpathians. The wish to contribute to the clarification of these different facts and opinions gave the impetus to analyse the habitat in its repartition with all characteristic site conditions and species of plants as well as typical macroinvertebrates for such pioneer areas of seepages, springs, smaller and larger water courses, snowmelts, to compare the habitat type 7240 from different area and to find an answer to the question, if the habitat type, even in fragments, can be considered as present in the subalpine and alpine bioregion of the Carpathians. MATERIALS AND METHODS The priority habitat type *7240 (European Commission, 2007) has been subject to a comparative analysis of different sites of the alpine bioregion Europe - Alps in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy (Ssymank et al., 1998; Pouchol, 2001; Le réseau Natura 2000 France 2010; Oberdorfer et al., 1998; Ellmauer and Traxler, 2000; Ellmauer, 2005; Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano-Alto

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