Dinaric mountains
| Dinarides | ||
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 Topography and relief of the Dinarides |
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| Highest peak | Jezerca (Albania) ( 2694 m ) | |
| location | Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Serbia , Montenegro , Albania , Kosovo | |
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| Coordinates | 45 ° N , 17 ° E | |
| Type | Fold Mountains | |
| Age of the rock | Alpidian phase (100–50 mya ) | |
| surface | 200,000 km² | |
 Piva Gorge in Northern Montenegro |
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The Dinaric Mountains (also known as the Dinaric Alps or Dinarides ) are one of the young Alpine folds in south-eastern Europe and are part of the folding belt that spans the Mediterranean . It stretches over 600 kilometers along the eastern shore of the Adriatic from the Julian Alps in northeast Italy and Slovenia through northwest Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina , southwest Serbia and Montenegro to northern Albania , where it ends in the crossbar of the Prokletije (Albanian Alps).
The largely karstified mountains represent all types of the extra-tropical karst treasure trove. Due to the strong (neo-) tectonic activity of the Adriatic microplate , it has one of the most complex karst reliefs on earth due to its stair-like series of tectonically arranged large poljes - so-called poljentreppe. Most of the geological and geomorphological terms used in karst terminology have been borrowed from the regional landscape and relief toponyms used in the Dinaric countries .
Summary
Due to its significant extension of more than 600 kilometers, the Dinarides form the dominant mountains of Southeast Europe and are at the same time the climatic, cultural and landscape border between the Mediterranean and inland areas. It was only after the Second World War that the distinctive barrier effect of the mountains in communication between the major European landscapes of the Danube plain and the Mediterranean could be reduced: transport projects in this traffic-hostile area, which is mainly divided up like a canyon by water-rich karst rivers, required unprecedented technical effort .
The construction plan of the mountain system is relatively simple. Relief components running in a more or less straight line in a north-west-south-east direction reflect its structure. The elevation ratios, however, differ considerably from one another: differentiated into inner and outer Dinarides , the repellent and steeply rising, geologically younger and heavily karstified Outer Dinarides (coastal chains of Velebit 1757 m in Croatia, Orjen 1894 m in Montenegro) border the narrow coast of the east adriatic between Trieste and the mouth of the Boyana ; this is followed by the high alpine zone of the Dinarides in the southeast with heights of over 2500 m ( Jezerca with 2694 m in Prokletije in northern Albania, Bobotov Kuk with 2522 m in Durmitor in Montenegro). To the east, the mountain flattens in the low mountain-like lower inside Dinarids gradually to Pannonian in Bosnian-West Serb Ore from (Golija 1833 m, 2112 m Vranica). The resulting extremely asymmetrical transverse profile has a major impact on the climatic conditions. In view of the bastion-like increase in the immediate vicinity of the Adriatic, the Mediterranean influence can only prevail in a relatively narrow coastal area, and even there only in a weaker (sub-Mediterranean) form and limited to high precipitation: Most amounts between 1500 and 2500 mm are measured, in extreme cases almost 5000 mm - the highest precipitation value registered in Europe.
Due to the uniform, waterless plateau areas and a pronounced karst character resulting from the predominant structure of Mesozoic limestone, only a few passable passes and transverse valleys are formed. Here, and especially on the edge of the mountains, the larger cities have formed. In the inner high basins of the Karst Poljen there are isolated settlements in which cattle farming is practiced, in the treeless high mountains alpine farming is practiced. Due to its central location, the Dinaric mountain block creates a spatial isolation of the active landscapes grouped around it (Pannonian lowlands and Adriatic coast).
A traffic-hostile relief character as the main physical obstacle to traffic penetration is given by stretches of ravine-like, bottomless notches in the river valleys and the mountain chains arranged across the direction of traffic. In the apex zone, over 1000 meter high passes and Hochkarstverebungen have to be climbed, which often cause long-term obstruction or interruption of traffic in the winter months due to the precipitation activity concentrated on the predominantly cold season of the year due to enormous snow depths and a snow cover that extends well into spring. The highest passes over 700 meters are mostly blocked during this time; only two crossings, the Postojna Gate (609 meters) and the Kaldrmapass (666 meters), are actually permanently passable and are limited to the northwest. The separation effect of the Dinaric Mountains has only recently weakened (1965–1976). The actual bridging over the Dinaric Mountains was carried out by the large-scale transport project in socialist Yugoslavia that had been implemented since 1965. The transversal development through the entire width of the new railway lines Sarajevo – Ploče and Belgrade – Bar as well as six relatively modern road constructions contributed to the reduction of the barrier effect of the Dinaric Mountains. Today the mountains are accessible to hikers on the Via dinarica .
Word origin
They are named after the Dinara mountain range in the central section in southern Croatia and Bosnia .
location
The Dinarides form the central part of the western Balkan peninsula . They border in the northwest on the southeastern Alps , in the southeast on the Albanids. The conventional demarcation against the Alps is drawn on the Adelsberger Sattel .
From a geological point of view, the Southern Alps, like the Julian Alps , also belong to the Dinaric Arc, since all the mountains south of the fault line Gailtal - Eisenkappel, which follow the so-called Alpine-Dinaric Scar , which affects almost the entire Southern Alps, belong to one system. They are classified according to the classical geographical tradition and terminologically related to the Alps. In the general geographic sense, the term “Alps” as a geological-tectonic term is no longer consistent here.
They not only form the most extensive, but also the most inaccessible mountains on the Balkan Peninsula due to their inaccessibility and ruggedness. Characteristic are numerous breakthrough valleys in the form of inaccessible canyons that lack significant cross valleys. Since these steep valleys offered only limited possibilities for communication penetration, the Dinaric Mountains represented an effective geographical barrier between the Mediterranean and Balkan cultural regions.
The mountain range stretches in a wedge shape, trending NNW – SSE between 46 ° –42 ° N over a length of 700 km. The width increases from 50 km in the northwest to a maximum of 350 km in the southeast. In the north-west, near Krainer Schneeberg ( Notranjski Snežnik , 1795 m) and Gorski Kotar ( Veliki Risnjak 1535 m), it has only the character of a low mountain range . With the increase in thickness of the mountains from northwest to southeast, it gains significantly in height and culminates in the plateau highlands of the Durmitor and the high mountain landscapes in the "hinge" of the Prokletije (Northern Albanian Alps) .
The narrow Croatian coast in front of the mountains with the Croatian islands parallel to the coast ( Krk , Brač , Hvar etc.) is formed as a canal coast due to the post-Pleistocene eustatic sea level rise and ingression , the flooded river valley of the Bay of Kotor on the Montenegrin coast as the Rias coast .
Due to the strong neotectonic activity from the rotation of the Adriatic plate, strong earthquakes occur more frequently here.
climate
The Dinarides are climatically and ecologically divided into two variants, the Mediterranean-influenced coastal mountains and the continentally influenced central chains. From the regional geographic aspect ( as a regional telluric effect ) the Adriatic Sea and the high mountain ranges that strike NW-SE are effective components for the mesoscale air circulation . The barrier of the littoral dinarides as an effective climatic divide between the Mediterranean coastal fringes and the temperate continental inland areas creates an effective ecological division, but the pluviometric distribution with Mediterranean winter rains can be measured 90–130 km inland parallel to the coast. A microclimatic differentiation takes place through basin landscapes and the strongly chambered relief. In particular, hygric and ventilatory conditions are modified as a result and wintry cold air lakes are formed in the numerous poljes and larger pools.
Special conditions prevail because of the direct Mediterranean influence in the southeast littoral Dinarides. Here the subtype of a special sub-Mediterranean - oromediterranean - perhumid -south Adriatic variant is limited to a narrow littoral area of Velebit , Orjen , Lovćen and Rumija . Basically, in this variant of the (oro) Mediterranean climate, the very high annual rainfall, which is between 4500 and 6500 mm / a and thus leads to the highest total rainfall in Europe (meteorological station Crkvice in Montenegro).
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Average monthly temperatures and precipitation for Crkvice at an altitude of 940 m
Source: Source: Crkvice Climate (1960–1991)
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Since precipitation is not uncommon even in summer, the dry period, which is characteristic of the Mediterranean climate, does not occur here and is characterized by a semi- dry season . The mean annual temperatures vary between 5 and 7 ° C, and the mean January temperatures are around −2 ° C. Only the highest parts of the coastal Dinarides are characterized by a short frost period (one to three months).
Geology and tectonics
Large geological units
The center of the Dinaric Mountains between the basin of the Adriatic Sea to the Pannonian Plain or Danube Plain is structurally determined by the uniform and extremely powerful carbonate platform of the outer Dinarides , known as the high karst zone , or also known as the high Dinarides , but the geological structure is in the northeast inner Dinarides in the Central Bosnian-West Serbian area are characterized by complex geological conditions and the structural boundary to the Rhodope massif in the highly complex Morava-Vardar Graben is correspondingly complicated.
At the edge of the Adriatic, the Dinarides border on the Mediterranean in the narrow South Adriatic-Ionian Zone and on the Danube Plain in the complex, neogene-filled Pannonian Basin (Plain).
The Dinarides are composed of four main geological units, the age of which increases from the coast (outside) to the inland (inside). The main part of the Dinaric geosyncline is formed almost exclusively by carbonate and dolomitic sediments ( Devonian to modern).
The distribution of carbonates and their position to non-carbonates varies as a consequence of different sedimentation conditions, such as the different geological evolution of individual parts of the Dinaric geosyncline.
The outermost edge is determined by the relatively soft and flat Cretaceous limestones in the Adriatic-Ionic fold belt, which are severely disturbed by the strong neotectonic activity (earthquake zone) . In Montenegro and neighboring Albania, the Pindos- Cukali zone still occurs with highly flaky limestone and flysch sediments. The narrow, strongly folded and not very thick outermost units sit on the mighty and extensive, uniform high karst cover as the morphologically defining structure of the entire Dinarides.
The thickness of the Cretaceous and Jurassic limestone is here up to over 4 km. The karst formation of the extremely pure and hard limestones reaches below sea level and is characterized by a well-developed karst hydrology .
Outside the high karst zone, in the area of the Durmitor cover , Werfen slate is associated with limestone as stratified rock, the eastern Prokletije is even made up largely of slate. In addition, there are still sand and igneous rocks , which are seldom massively developed. In addition to Paleozoic slates, Triassic limestones are only lens-shaped, mostly in the highest parts of the Komovi and Central Prokletije .
Emergence
The Dinaric Mountains, like the Alps, were created by the collision of the African - Arabic plate and the Eurasian plate in the Oligocene , which continues to this day. By paleogeographic and structural unit with the Hellenides that the Pindos reach their greatest heights, they become a Orogen summarizes the Dinaric-hellenidischen Orogen . The structural system of the Dinarides (serbo- Croat . Dinarsko gorje, Dinaridi ) is part of the Perimediterranean Alpine and thus also a part of the Young Alpine Eurasian mountain systems, whose continuity due to neotectonic activity from the Pliocene to the Quaternary , as a generator of today's geological structures , is interrupted.
Originally there was an ocean called Tethys in place of today's Mediterranean . The Tethys came into being at the beginning of the Jurassic, when the supercontinent Pangea broke up into the two supercontinent Laurasia and Gondwana . During the Mesozoic Era , the Tethys was narrowed by the northward movement of Gondwana, gradually breaking up Gondwana and the Tethys into smaller units that anticipated the physical geography of today's Mediterranean. The appearance of the Tethys changed through continental approach, collision and other shifts of the tectonic plates. With the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in the Jurassic and the Cretaceous as well as the further distance of Eurasia from North America and the rapprochement of Africa, the Alpine orogeny began in the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary . A second uplift began during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The interaction of the Eurasian and African plates made the Tethys Ocean much smaller. During the Cenozoic , the Tethys closed completely when the Indian and Arab plates collided with Eurasia. The last remnants of the Tethys were the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. With the beginning of the Tertiary the individual movements of different micro-plates in the Mediterranean became more complicated, among which the Apulian plate with the northern part of the Adriatic plate became decisive for the genesis of the Dinarides. The Apulian plate is a continental crust that connects Africa with Eurasia and separates the western from the eastern Mediterranean basin. When it penetrated into the southern area of Europe from the Eocene about 53 million years ago through a direct northward movement of Africa with the northern spur of the Adriatic plate, the actual uplift of the Alps began like the Dinarides.
Outline and relief
Geotectonic relief types
In terms of their relief and morphology , the Hochdinarides can be classified as:
- Folds or chain mountains in the northwest (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia)
- Plateau or ceiling mountains in the southeast (Herzegovina, Montenegro, northern Albania) are divided.
Chain mountains
The chain mountains include all Dinaric mountain ranges northwest of the Neretva. As typical fold mountains, they are characterized by linear mountain ridges that lie in the so-called Dinaric strike direction (from northwest to southeast). Typically pronounced in the Dinara and Velebit.
Plateau Mountains and Horste
The Dinaric mountains southeast of the Neretva are characterized by so-called old areas (often named after the Eastern Alpine Rax landscape ), which characterize the type of plateau area , which has not changed much since the Tertiary , and clump-like elevations as well as extensive plateaus . Typical of the plateaus and eyries of the Prenj, Zelengora, Maglić, Bioč, Durmitor, Sinjajevina, Moračke Planine, Orjen (Krivošije, Bijela Gora Rudine), Western and Central Prokletije (Maja Radohines Group, Jezerca Group, Bjelić).
Climate geographic subdivision
In terms of climatic and regional geography, a classification based on climatic, cultural geographic and economic geographic characteristics is made into:
- Littoral (coastal) Dinarides
- (Inland) or high Dinars
- Northeast Dinars possible.
Sub-Adriatic Dinarides
The Adriatic fold mountain belts of the outer Dinarides of the Dalmatian Sub- Adriatic Dinarides (also littoral Dinarides) prevent access to the inland as a steep wall and are an effective climatic divide. In the past, the high plateaus were mainly cultivated in the form of transhumance .
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Gorski Kotar |
Central Dalmatia |
Rudine and Rumija |
High Dinars
The densely wooded central high Dinars of the west Montenegrin-Bosnian-Croatian high karst zone as well as the Bosnian-west Serbian and north Montenegrin limestone and slate zone are sparsely populated highlands with a pronounced alpine pasture.
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Lika, Western Bosnia |
Central Bosnia |
Herzegovina, Montenegro |
Northeast Dinarides
The inner Bosnian and Serbian limestone and serpentine mountains are ore-rich mountains. In you, alpine farming prevails.
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East Bosnia-West Serbia |
Sandžak Serbia |
Geomorphological and hydrographic relief types
For the powerfully developed karst platform of the outer Dinarides of the littoral and high Dinarides as well as the river and water-rich Inner Dinarides , three hydrogeographic zones, two of which form karstological types, can be made due to their hydrological characteristics :
- the zone of the Dinaric holocarst (no drainage zone),
- the fluviokarst zone of the Hochkarst or Merokarst (zone of gorges and canyons, including Neretva Canyon, Tara Canyon, Moraca Canyon etc.)
- the fluvial zone (normally developed fluvial relief types).
Dinaric holokarst
The monotonous and poorly structured, the Dinaric Mountains of Croatia, South Bosnia, Herzegovina and Old Montenegros, belonging to the drainless and therefore most developed karst of the Mediterraneum, are included in the so-called Holokarst. Through the Großpoljen , sinkholes , dry valleys and seepage rivers, they have all the components of a developed underground karst river. By Karen fields are difficult to access and repellent.
The Dinaric Holokarst by hull surfaces structured that a so-called in-mitteldalmatinisch Bosnia range hull staircase form. In the stepped staggering of the hull areas in the form of the large Dinaric Poljen, which as central hydrological nodes determine the inflow and outflow of the karst groundwater level , which changes depending on the hydrological conditions , they form the most important agronomically usable areas in the Dinaric Holokarst.
Merokarst or fluvial karst of the Hochdinarides
The high Dinars of Southeastern Bosnia, Northern Montenegro and Northern Albania, made up of carbonates, are divided by inserting slate masses through canyon valleys (Cetina, Krka, Neretva, Morača, Cijevna, Valbona, Tara, Piva). They therefore have superficial runoff at least in the montane and planar levels. Sources are relatively rare only in the high alpine zones, as karst forms are pronounced here too. Since Poljen and sinkholes occur not as numerous as in the Dinaric Holokarst dominate among the karst large molds Glaziokarstformen and Eiswirkung overmolded Karst plateau, which is in the form of round hump landscapes embellish or occur in the over-molded by Eiswirkung Karen.
Fluvial Dinaric relief type
The water-rich Dinaric mountains of central Bosnia, northeast Montenegro and southwest Serbia have well-developed water networks (Kupa, Una, Vrbas, Bosna, Lim, Drina, Western Morava, Ibar) and correspond to the fluvial Dinaric relief type.
geomorphology
Hydrology and fluvial morphology
Due to the abundance of rainfall, the Dinarides are a mountain range rich in water, especially in the central parts. The most important rivers are from north to south: Kupa , Una , Sana , Vrbas , Bosna and Drina , all of which drain into the Black Sea via the Save . Only four river systems flow to the Adriatic: Krka , Cetina , Neretva and Morača . Gorges, gorges and canyons are characteristic of all Dinaric rivers. These include, for example, the deepest and longest gorge in Europe, the Tara Gorge and the well-known Plitvice Lakes located in a section of the gorge .
In addition to the normal fluvial relief types, karst rivers are also pronounced. These seepage rivers , known as Ponornica , are characterized by heavily pouring karst springs (for example the Buna spring in Herzegovina) and karst hydrological seepage in swallowing holes (Ponor). The most famous seepage rivers are the Reka in Slovenia, the Gacka in Croatia and the Trebišnjica in Bosnia.
Karst
The outer Dinarides in particular are characterized by their strong karstification , which is particularly noticeable in Croatia (in the historical regions of Lika , and along the Croatian coastal region), Herzegovina in Bosnia and Montenegro. Due to the karst hydrological peculiarity, only one river system crosses the Dinaric high karst, the Neretva . The mighty high karst cover of the outer Dinarides is formed from over four kilometers thick Jurassic and Cretan limestones. The associated karst geomorphological and karst hydrological phenomena of the Dinaric Karst made the mountains the classic prototype and the first study area of the karst landscapes and founded the development of karstology as a scientific discipline in the late 19th century .
Through the geographer Jovan Cvijić, not only were the geomorphological technical terms of landscape forms in the Dinaric Karst taken from local names worldwide, but also the pioneering work for the explanation of the geological development of karst landscapes was created. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, it was not yet known that the Dinarides, the geologically most complex karst landscape on earth, could not be explained by a simple scientific model. Due to plate-tectonic compression and deformation and the different degrees of uplift, the Dinaric Karst has a stair-like large relief structure with closed basins that can be traced in stages from the Adriatic coast into the interior. In many of these basins there are poljes, which due to their size dominate the karst morphology and hydrology. In no other landscape on earth is there a comparable pattern of a large number of complexly connected large tectonic poles. They shape the large relief of the Dinarides, but in the narrower sense they are only typical here. The geomorphological cycle models of the Karst developed by Alfred Grund (1903) and Jovan Cvijić (1918) based on the Dinarides were therefore not globally transferable, but enriched the discussion in the geomorphological research on the genesis of relief over several decades dominating the climatic epoch. Geomorphology . Within the representatives of this research direction , Julius Büdel (1973) tried to interpret the complex trunk stairs in the south-east Dinaric Poljentreppe within climatic geographic patterns. Today, however, the geomorphological complexity of the Dinaric Karst is cited in addition to the tectonic findings mentioned, also on the effect of the Messinian salinity crisis, the sea level oscillations in the Pleistocene and the fluvial, glacial or periglacial clastic sediment transports of adjacent flysch landscapes.
Glacial morphology
Pleistocene glaciation
The Pleistocene glaciation was most intense in the Dinarides throughout southern Europe. Numerous glacial lakes of the Hochdinariden are next to the overgrown karen and ridges their most haunting testimonies.
The Quaternary snow line , especially in the Dinarides in the Riss and Würm, was about 1000 m below the recent one , which is now assumed to be over 2900 m and thus well above the highest elevation of the mountains. All the major mountain groups were also glaciated during the Ice Ages.
In addition to karst glaciers , larger valley glaciers formed occasionally , which, with favorable topographical and climatic conditions, reached a length of more than 10 km. Glaciers of the Dinarides were of significant size, especially in Prenj, Durmitor, Prokletije and Orjen.
Went Jovan Cvijić still early 20th century by a massive, today's glaciation in the Alps clearly exceeding freezing out, recent studies on Quartärgeschichte in Durmitor and Prokletije, which is 15 km were the maximum glacier lengths here.
A special anomaly of the Mediterranean high mountain glaciation in the Ice Age occurred in the southern coastal mountains of the Dinarides. The snow line in the Orjen fell below 1200 m in the Pleistocene, and an area of up to 150 km² was covered by ice at the highest glacial level.
Today's glaciers and firn fields
All of the Dinaric mountains are well below the climatic snow line , but recently smaller glaciers and firn areas have also formed. They are always located in steep and shielded north-west and north-east-sided hollows under microclimatic favor far below the actual climatic snow line.
In the Durmitor there is the Debeli namet Kar glacier at 1750 m altitude, and in the Prokletije there is a glacier in the Buni e Jezercës valley and two small Kar glaciers east of the Jezerca peak and an avalanche glacier above the Grbaja valley in the Karanfil mountain range.
These small Kar glaciers are only 200 to 500 m long, but show the typical accumulation forms of a terminal moraine and, as active glaciers, are clearly differentiated from firn areas .
In general, the glaciers of the Dinarides are considered to be the deepest of the sub-Mediterranean mountains. More recent studies show that they are not so badly affected by global warming, as they are not so strongly affected by general temperature trends due to abundant winter snowfalls and a relief in relief. However, compared to the Little Ice Age, only one of nine former glaciers in the Durmitor has remained to this day.
Biogeography - phytogeography
Development of the Dinaric flora
The genesis of the Dinaric flora took place over long geological periods and climatic geological changes during tertiary, glacial and post-glacial phases. No old Mesozoic representatives of the paleotropic vegetation have recently been found (such as in the floras of East Asia or Argentina). The basic stock, especially of the forest flora that is particularly rich in Europe, has been known since the Chalk (for example Quercus , Fagus , Castanea , Alnus , Salix ). The (more thermophilic) tertiary European “tropical flora”, which is more thermophilic than today, was much richer in tropical elements than today, where only a small number of relict species ( Adiantum capillusveneris ), genera ( Dioscorea ) and families ( Gesneriaceae ) survived.
Extra-tropical tertiary forms, on the other hand, are represented in a high number of species (for example Scopolia , Sibiraea , Thelygonum , Picea omorika , Pinus peuce , Forsythia europaea , Syringa vulgaris ). The greater biodiversity of the Dinarides to the Alps and the Pyrenees compared to other European countries is promoted by a greater petrographic heterogeneity than in the Pyrenees and, compared to the Alps, by the embedding between species-rich Florence centers of the subtropical Mediterranean regions to a conspicuous endemic abundance with a high species potential.
Plant geographical classification, endemism and altitude levels
The vegetation of large ecosystems and the development of vegetation zones , as well as the formation of so-called floristic regions, is the result of the regional flora evolution in terms of flora history , which was promoted in particular by bio-ecological components in the climate and landscape design.
Within such floristic regions (referred to as biome in terms of flora geography ), the relief and the relationships resulting from the location, especially to the seas, result in a differentiated subdivision based on climatic factors and aspects of the natural area. For the Dinarides, these are the so-called telluric factors that have a formative influence on the vegetation, the distance to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the design in the relief, which have an impact on geo-ecological components of soil and water balance and on the location requirements of the plants.
Basically, the geological and climatic components in particular are connected in the Dinaric habitat. The warmest and rainiest habitats are in regions with a pronounced karst nature. Due to the resulting surface dryness and the not very deep soils, they are typical locations for drought-resistant species as well as geophytic or annual forms of life . Mint and euphorbias , as well as numerous types of grass ( Stipa , Bromus , Sesleria , Festuca , Nardus ) often dominate here .
The central Dinarides, which are still rich in rain, but also cold in winter, have deep soils on varied geological substrates and are characterized by closed forest vegetation. Therefore, all typical species of the montane forest flora are rich in species. The high regions are then increasingly made up of limestone and dolomite rock. Here, as in the rocky areas, there are again the Dinaric limestone grasslands and rock types with a high proportion of Dinaric or Balkan (sometimes amphiadriatic) endemics. In these high altitude are species of the genera Edraianthus (tufts bells, u. A. Edraianthus serpyllifolius ), Gentiana (gentian, u here. A. Gentiana Dinarica ), Helio sperm (ray seed u. A. Helio sperm pusillum ) Scabiosa (Marsh, u. A. Scabiosa silenifolia ) and the species of the genus Sesleria ( Blue grasses, including Sesleria robusta ) are most noticeable. Some of these genus have their global distribution focus here.
However, there are also tall herbaceous corridors, snow valley societies (snow soil societies) and, in general, numerous elements with greater demands on the water balance. Important centers of the glacial relic flora can be found in communities of snow valleys, which develop on shaded northern locations on limestone rubble and block heaps as arctic-alpine plant formations that are adapted to periglacial soils and that are adapted to the periglacial soil . Snow valleys on lime belong to an independent plant-sociological Dinaric association, the Salicion retusae (after the stump-leaved willow ). In karst mountains, this is linked to the Drepanoclado uncinati-Heliospermetum pusilla association, which is due to strong temperature inversion in deeper depressions of the glacial karst , especially in the cooler and rainy NW in Slovenia and Croatia due to a stronger mixture of forest, tall herbaceous and limestone grass elements clearly distinguishes the classic limestone snow valleys of the Alps. Snow valleys on silicate correspond completely to the alpine type in Salicetum herbacea, which is characterized by the herb willow . However, they are limited here exclusively to the volcanic Vranica in Bosnia and on the Balkan Peninsula is otherwise only widespread again in the Šar Planien as well as in the Pirin and Rila. In general, species of the Eurasian (around) polar - arctic-alpine disjoint mountain plants are also numerous in the Dinarides. From their centers of distribution in Prokletije and Durmitor, they become impoverished to the edges, but are only displaced by Oro-Mediterranean high mountain flora types on the summer-dry, wind-shaped sub-Adriatic peaks in Dalmatia and the Montenegrin coast (in particular Biokovo, Lovčen, Rumija).
In terms of plant geography, the Dinaric region falls into the Holarctic and is divided into a sub-Mediterranean and a Mediterranean flora region: all synecological elements (plant sociological societies), biocenoses (communities) and zonobioms (plant formations corresponding to the climate) of the Dinarides with a moderate climate belong to the Balkan subtropical plant region . The Dinarides are the core of the Illyrian flora sub-region (after the Roman province of Illyria ) opposite the eastern Balkan (often also French after the Roman province of Moesia ).
The Adriatic coastal zone, which occupies the more or less wide area of Dalmatia, southwestern Montenegro and Albania, is designated as part of the Mediterranean flora region as the so-called Adriatic region .
The climatic zonal altitudes of the Dinaric Mountains can be subdivided into two ecological types and a transition zone based on their location to the Mediterranean: the oro-Mediterranean elevation and the alpine elevation.
The Adriatic Floral Province
The Adriatic flora province corresponds to the northern Mediterranean type. Characteristic for the northern Adriatic coast and the low coast of Albania is in particular the lack of typical hardwood trees. It is rather deciduous oaks that characterize Istria, the Kvarner Gulf, and the Albanian lowlands. The Dalmatian coast, like the Montenegrin Riviera, then belong to the hard-leaf zone with original stone-oak forests. Due to the occurrence of severe episodic frosts due to ingress of cold air and periodic Bora events, these too are depleted of heat-loving and frost-sensitive species. For example, Viburnum tinus may be missing regionally (e.g. in the Bay of Kotor).
Only the warmest Dalmatian islands of central and southern Dalmatia, u. a. Hvar and Mljet are part of the Euro-Mediterranean zone. On the very dry central Adriatic islands around Palagruža , extreme dry vegetation with a desert-like character has developed. This therefore already belongs to the xeromediterranean altitude level. As a contrast to these islands of the Central Adriatic, which are in the rain shadow of the Apennines, the remains of laurel forest formations appear on the rivers in the Kvarner Gulf, which are favored by incline rain, and in the Bay of Kotor . Here, too, demanding chestnut forests have developed in terms of their water supply.
Oromediterranean Dinaric elevation
The most oceanic, but due to the Mediterranean rhythm also summer-dry and Karst-shaped mountain ranges close to the Adriatic, correspond to the ecological altitude level of the Mediterraneum , whose numerous warmth and drought -loving species developed in the Adriatic province of the Mediterranean flora region and comparable circum- Mediterranean development centers of the mountain vegetation . The Adriatic vegetation province comprises only the narrow strip of littoral mountain ranges with the richly indented coasts of Croatia , coasts of Montenegro and the low coast of Albania, but is only typical north of the Bojana estuary with the characteristic warmth-loving forests and species-rich bush formations. In the lower zones, the evergreen Mediterranean hard-leaf region with the dominant landscape type of maquis is characteristic; the original hardwood forests have been practically completely displaced by anthropogenic replacement societies. Sea beach pine as well as the Italian cypress , which was introduced from the Levant in particular in the southeast Adriatic, are striking. In the wettest parts of the Adriatic coast in the Kvarner Gulf and the Bay of Risan there are laurel forests of oleander and laurel ; From around 250 m a.s.l. in the north and 400 m a.s.l. in the south, deciduous bush formations, which are floristically referred to as the Šibljak formation, take over. The Šibljak is a degradative form of lukewarm oak (especially Hungarian oak ), hop beech or oriental hornbeam forests and thus an anthropogenic substitute society. Due to the previously widespread arson and grazing pressure, the Šibljak societies were of great agronomic importance for the herd-keeping population of Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia (in particular oak pasture and the cutting of oak leaves as fodder).
Warmth-loving, deciduous tree species are also characteristic of the oro-Mediterranean forest vegetation ( downy oak , Macedonian oak , sweet chestnut , hop beech ). The tree line here is mainly formed by drought-resistant conifers ; these are the typical oro-Mediterranean forest border dry forests , which are built up in the southeast by endemic snake-skin pines and especially in Croatia as well as in Herzegovina and southwestern Montenegro by the silver fir (in the northwest also with spruce); a low bush of dwarf mountain juniper leads above the last forests to the species-rich old Mediterranean limestone grasslands.
The Oromediterranean mountains, which also have a so-called old-Mediterranean (analogous to the alpine level of the temperate zone) treeless level with drought-adapted grass communities (especially Sesleria robusta ), are particularly species-rich with the Velebit , Biokovo and Orjen . What they have in common is that the altitude levels are strongly affected by hurricane-like winter storms of the bora winds and Mediterranean winter cyclones (so-called boragenic plant communities with extremely sparse vegetation cover are therefore characteristic).
The highest peak in Dalmatia in the Orjen , on which all Mediterranean vegetation formations from the coastal zone to the old Mediterranean level can be found, is an example of the Eu-Mediterranean elevation of the Dinarides . Many endemic species of forest vegetation on the Balkan Peninsula have their closest vicarious relatives in the Colchian, Pontic or Hyrcanic floral provinces and forest types of Asia Minor or the Caucasian east coast of the Black Sea . These include Crimean peony or the Greek maple . Due to the numerous conspicuous related species, the vegetation levels in the Caucasus and the Southeast Dinarides also have numerous similarities, as Oleg Sergeevič Grebenščikov was able to show in an interesting comparison. However, the lower forest levels in particular are much more similar, while the subalpine and alpine altitude levels are more differentiated and only have a few arkot-alpine species in common.
As long-term pioneer societies, limestone cliffs are particularly endemic-rich societies in which relict species such as the Neumayer jug fruit - Amphoricarpos neumayerianus , Felsen-Moltkie - Moltkia petraea as well as the particularly numerous species of the mint family , with the species-rich species from the subfamily of the Nepetoideae . The species of rock lips and savory herbs are represented with many endemics among these often extremely aromatic and medicinal plants . Character society of the oro-Mediterranean limestone cliffs in the northwest is the Micromerion croaticae H-at, which is replaced in the southeast by the class Amphoricarpetalia Lkšić (named after the character of the tertiary endemic of the Neumayer jug fruit). Rock lips are characteristic in both. Quendel-leaved mountain mint ( Clinopodium thymifolium ) and mountain savory ( Satureja montana ) with the closely related endemics Satureja horvatii and Satureja orjenii are particularly considered to be extremely aromatic .
| Altitude level | Altitude belt | Altitude | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu-mediterranean | Low altitude | 0-400 | Hard-leaf vegetation with holm oak and olive tree . Laurel - oleander bush formationin humid places. |
| supra-Mediterranean | Middle position | 400-1100 | semi-evergreen oak forest with Macedonian oak ( Quercus trojana ) and oriental hornbeam ( Carpinus orientalis ). In oaks - and Balkan oak forests ( Quercus frainetto ). In damp and shady locations, chestnuts - downy oak forests , as well as warmth- loving hop beech and downy oak forests. Silver fir and hazel trees are pioneer species and grow on dry and sunny log heaps . |
| oro-Mediterranean | 1100-1450 | Warmth-loving beech forest with fir trees. On rocky areas, drought-loving snakeskin pine and Dinaric karst block dump fir forests, some with Crimean peony . | |
| alti-Mediterranean | High altitude | 1450-1700 | At the tree line , beech , snake skin pine and Greek maple . The Mediterranean Alpine level - old Mediterranean - is characterized by dry juniper heaths and Sesleria robusta grass communities with many endemic species ( e.g. Iris orjenii , Viola chelmea ) . On coarse boulders and rocks, shrub communities with chasmophytic limestone crevices (for example Aquilegia dinarica , mountain savory , Asplenium trichomanes , Amphoricarpos neumayerianus ). |
| kryoro-Mediterranean | 1700-1900 | A real cold Mediterranean climatic zone level is not developed in the highest mountains of the Dinaric coast. Due to high winter precipitation and stormy Bora summit winds, small snow valleys with Greek-Anatolian, Iranian-Turanian and Armeno-Tibetan xerophytes develop under extensive snow layers . The latter include the semi-desert snow valleys with predominant onion monocotyledons , which are adapted to rocky soils, dry summers and hurricane-like bora and sirocco winds. |
The Illyrian Floral Province
The most striking peculiarity of the Illyrian Flora Province is the special diversity of forest flora. Even in the forest types known from Central Europe such as the beech and hornbeam forests, there are other types of character in the much more diverse analogous Dinaric forests . For example, the carnation root ( Aremonia agrimonoides ) belonging to the rose family is so typical that Dinaric beech forests form the association Aremonio-Fagion , the hornbeam forests with the warmth-loving monocotyledonous lily ( Erythronium dens-canis ) form the association Erythronio-Carpinion . Corresponding Dinaric character types are not known from Central Europe, but can still be found in a somewhat impoverished version on the Apennine Peninsula, with which the Dinaric flora and vegetation have many similarities in terms of flora and fauna.
- The Illyrian province has four endemic genera: Petteria , Halacsya , Haberlea , Jankaea . Endemics are: Picea omorika (Serbia, Bosnia), Pinus peuce (mountains between 41 ° -43 ° N), Saxifraga ferdinandi-coburgii , Degenia velebitica (Velebit), Petteria ramentacea (Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Northern Albania), Daphne malyana (Montenegro, Albania), Ramonda serbica , Ramonda nathaliae (Montenegro), Dinaric pointed keel Oxytropis dinarica (Croatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia with 3 subspecies), Prenj pointed keel Oxytropis prenja (Prenj Mountains, Herzegovina), Greek maple Acer heldreichii ssp. visianii (Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania), Forsythia europaea (Northern Albania, Kosovo), Felsen Moltkie Moltkia petrea , Kärntner Wulfenie Wulfenia carinthiaca ssp. blecicii (Montenegro, Northern Albania), Scaly Marguerite ( Leucanthemum chloroticum ), Portenschlagiella ramossissima (Montenegro), Amphoricarpos neumayerianus (Orjen), Cicerbita pancicii , Lilium jankae , Dioscorea balcanica (Montenegro, Northern Albania), Iris orjenii (Montenegro).
- Tertiary relic species of the Illyrian-Balkan province are: Ostrya carpinifolia , Juglans regia , Syringa vulgaris , Corylus colurna etc. Such tertiary relict plant communities are mostly found in ravines that served the flora as a refuge in the cold phases of the Ice Age: u. a. Neretva , Drina , Tara , Cijevna , Morača .
- Arcto-alpine glacial relics are characteristic of the highest mountain groups in the Durmitor, Komovi, Prokletije / Northern Albanian Alps. They colonize snowy habitats, often in the vicinity of snow and ice fields, as well as shielded rock faces.
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The main mass of the Dinarides belongs to the so-called Central European flora region as the Illyrian flora province and is determined by deciduous, deciduous oak-oriental beech forests , limestone beech forests and mountain conifer forests. The montane level, such as the tree line of these oceanic and snowy High Dinarides of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Montenegro and Northern Albania, is only made up of optimally developed, particularly species-rich (both in terms of herb and tree flora) and abundant fir-beech forests educated. With tree heights of spruce and fir of over 60 m, both the highest known spruce in Europe (63 m, Sutjeska National Park , Bosnia) and the highest known fir in Europe (60 m, Biogradska Gora National Park , Montenegro) are found in the primeval forests of the Dinarides.
In the limestone high mountains from Prenj to the Northern Albanian Alps, the hardy and extremely frugal snake skin pine occurs, especially on the sunny side above the beech step . Since it forms park-like open forests, these have an undergrowth of alpine or old Mediterranean species due to the very gaps in the crown, in which the light-loving species Sesleria robusta , Viola chelmea , the real cowslip , the shield-leaved buttercup and the delicate chessboard flower stand out.
The oceanic and mostly moist central and high Dinarides show an ecological analogy to Central European mountains, especially the Alps. With an alpine flora inventory that mainly comes from the Ice Age flora, they are differentiated from the analogous alpine vegetation types by the great wealth of Balkan endemic species (in particular, in the grass and rock communities of the central Dinarides there are centers of radiation (these are centers of species development) endemic plant species - Verbascum , Edraianthus , Aquilegia etc.). The Dinarides are also the global development center for the genera Heliosperma (Caryophyllaceae) and Edraianthus (Campanulaceae). Of ten species of the genus Heliosperma , seven can be found in the Dinarides. As with the genus Edraianthus , local endemics only occur in Heliosperma on individual mountain ranges .
While the forest vegetation corresponds to boreal and central European tree and forest types of the Holarctic region, an explicit wealth of tree species distinguishes here from the Central European mountain forests, which were very impoverished during the Ice Age ( tree hazel , Greek maple , fallen leaf maple , oriental hornbeam , Hungarian oak , turkey are striking ).
The so-called battle zone of the forest is dominated by subalpine maple-beech forests. From the Southeast Dinarides to the Parnassus, the Greek maple occupies an important position in these areas, replacing the sycamore maple in subalpine forest areas. It is the hardest deciduous tree in the Balkans and is the only deciduous tree that can compete with mountain pines or, in the north, with spruce on the forest and tree line . Due to early manhood and an almost annual high seed formation, Greek maples can hold their own even under difficult environmental conditions and heavy and frequent snow activity. They find themselves in drier karst mountains in snow hollows or colonize rugged rock habitats on open slopes.
In the Prokletije, endemic border forests of the five-needle Macedonian pine appear for the first time , which lead to the spruce border forests of the continental Dinarides. A large number of glacial relics such as silver arum and edelweiss are characteristic of the alpine level of the High Dinarides .
| Altitude level | Altitude belt | Altitude | description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| modern | traditionally | Prokletije | Bjelasnica | ||
| planar |
Lowlands - stage |
Lower and valley areas | <300 | <300 | Lowlands of the north-eastern slope to the Pannonian lowlands and the Save plains; Potentially dominating societies of the pedunculate oak are often overprinted by substitute societies and agricultural areas. |
| Kollin |
Hill country - level |
300-1000 | 300-600 | Upper limit of the grape-oak forests to the west and the Hungarian oak to the east of the Drina; Oak-hornbeam forest as a character formation; widely influenced by the cultural landscape | |
| submontane |
Highland - stage |
1000-1200 | 600-1000 | In the east the beech forest loves warmth with dog-tooth lily ; in the west woodruff beech forest with Lamium galeobdolon | |
| montane | Mountain level ( Montanstufe ) | Middle position | 1200-1500 | 1000-1650 | Optimal Dinaric fir-red beech forests ( Aremonio-Fegetum ) with clove root ( Aremonia agrimonoides ); in the central Dinarides mostly with Norway spruce ; in the east additionally beech mountain forests with Greek maple |
| high montane | 1500-1850 | 1650-1850 | Upper limit of deciduous forest ; only the Greek maple grows in the highest forest level to a handsome deciduous tree, beech only as saber-growing bush forms; Increase in the dominance of conifers; Norway spruce in the west, snake skin pine and Macedonian pine in the east; | ||
| subalpine |
High mountain - stage |
High altitude | 1850-2300 | > 1850 | Tree line; the lower limit is marked by the upper limit of distribution of European beech and in particular Greek maple and snake-skin pine ; typical mountain pine step, which has often been broken up by pasture measures |
| alpine | 2200-2600 | Border of closed vegetation; generally free of forests; Dinaric associations of alpine lawn and rock vegetation; in the east the alpine association to Oxytropidion dinaricae in the west to Seslerion tenuifolie ; endemic rock communities Amphoricarpion (east), Micromerion croaticae (west) | |||
| subnival | > 2600 | largely snow-covered in the course of the year; Small glaciers in Durmitor and Prokletije; Valeriana bertiscae as a character species | |||
A so-called vicariism occurs between the Northwest and Southeast Dinars . For example, the Kitaibel columbines living in rock crevices can only be found in the north-west Dinaric area between Velebit and Dinara, while the related Dinaric columbine is found in comparable locations in the south-east Dinarides between Čvrsnica and the Orjen . Numerous species are either restricted to the northeast Dinarides such as Crocus malyii , Primula kitaibeliana or Degenia velebetica or to the southeast Dinars such as Daphne malyana , Lilium albanicum , Irisrichbachii or Amphoricarpos neumayerianus .
Transitional elevation to continental climates
Only in the less conspicuous continental mountains of the northern slope and the mountains in northern Montenegro, southwest Serbia and eastern Bosnia that adjoin the steppe regions of the Danube Plain, extensive boreal coniferous forests of Norway spruce and Scots pine also take over large areas of the mountain zones ( e.g. Zlatibor , Tara National Park , Kopaonik ).
For the humid in summer and extremely cold in winter, northeastern continental Dinarides, which overlook the Pannonian lowlands, are characterized by the penetration of floral elements from the Eastern European steppes and the dominance of boreal forest elements (Norway spruce , Serbian spruce , Scots pine ).
Biogeography - zoogeography
The Dinaric Mountains form a compression zone between the Palearctic Zone and the Mediterranean Sea via the so-called “ Adamović Line ”. During the Ice Ages, the arctic, alpine and boreal fauna migrated to the immediate Mediterranean coast. Species proportions of endemic Bakan elements and alpine and arctic-alpine as well as closely related species form the basis of high diversity. The xerothemic faunas of the southern Balkan peninsula (Greece) mostly reach their northern distribution in the littoral Dinarides, which extends maximally to the northwest Dinarides. The fauna belongs to the most species-rich region in Europe. In particular, reptiles, amphias, aranchids and birds are rich in species. The individual countries are also rich in day butterflies. In the south, xeromontane species predominate. In the north, on the other hand, predominantly alpine species occur. In the highest mountains above 2,000 m, purely alpine species such as Boloria pales or Erebia gorge are observed. A few arcto-alpine butterfly species still reach the summits of Durmitor and Prokletije. In particular, Erebia padnrose and Pyrgus andromedae . Polyommatus dardanus, which is dependent on periglacial layers with a shaggy man's shield ( Androsace villosa ) as a larval habitat, is rare . A few years ago, Pyrgus cacaliae was also found for the Dinarides. The red apollo ( Parnassius apollo ) is more widespread among the noble butterflies . Papilio alexanor is only observed in the warmest coastal zones , where the tropical strawberry tree butterfly ( Charaxes jasius ) is more common.
Besides the Alps, the Dinarides are the only mountain range in Europe into which the Alpine salamander ( Salamandra atra subsp. Prenjensis ) extends. This land-living, viviparous amphibian needs high humidity and is not tied to open water in its reproduction. Therefore, the alpine salamander is missing in the air-drier mountains or in those with few hiding places. Unlike in the Alps, the alpine salamander is therefore only irregularly distributed in the Dinarides. In some cases there are gaps in the distribution of 200 km between the individual populations. There is a particular wealth of reptiles in the Dinarides, the region with the most species being the Prokletije triangle - the Bojana estuary - the Bay of Kotor. Among the rock lizards mosor rock lizard ( Dinarolacerta mosorensis ) and Dalmatian Spitzkopf lizard ( Dalmatolacerta oxycephala ) endemic. The largest lizard is the giant emerald lizard ( Lacerta trilineata ) of the coastal zone. At higher altitudes, it is replaced by the Eastern Green Lizard ( Lacerta viridis ). The most common venomous snake here is the sand otter ( Vipera ammodytes ). In addition, adder ( Vipera berus ) and, more rarely, the meadow viper ( Vipera ursini subsp. Bosniensis ) are common. Cross and meadow otters are bound to more humid mountains and higher altitudes.
The Dinarides are an important habitat for the golden eagle in Europe. The greatest density of breeding pairs found was found in Montenegro with 30-50 breeding pairs in 2015 (e.g. cf. Germany 2015 32-37), where the golden eagle breeds in the Durmitor in the canyons of Tara and Piva. Golden eagles are breeding birds even in the littoral mountains that have been developed for tourism, such as Orjen. Short-toed eagles also breed here. The most important wetlands are the Neretva valley, as well as Lake Skadar and the mouth of Bojana. In addition to Dalmatian pelicans , up to 300 breeding bird species are counted there. One of the few purely European monotypical genus with main distribution in the Dinarides is the paleo-endemic Martino snow mouse . This small mammal predominantly inhabits the high altitudes above 1500 m, where it occurs mainly in sinkholes between block heaps. Due to the suspected competition with the snow mouse , its area is shrinking. Large mammals such as wolves , lynxes and foxes also live in remote mountain areas . Roe deer , chamois , brown hare and wild boar are also common.
The number of brown bears is said to have decimated sharply, especially in Albania, at the end of the 1990s.
Settlement and traffic
colonization
The Dinarides are generally sparsely populated. Smaller cities only exist where there are better traffic routes and larger levels of land. The larger ethnic groups resident here are Albanians , Bosniaks , Croats , Montenegrins , Serbs and Slovenes . Remote grazing is particularly developed in Montenegro and Herzegovina , transhumance in the coastal mountains ( Orjen ), and alpine farming in Bosnia . The houses in the densely wooded central Dinarides are mostly made of wood with steep roof ridges, while limestone is used in the Hochkarst.
railroad
The Dinarides present particularly difficult conditions for communicative penetration of the Balkan Peninsula because of the mountain ranges running from northwest to southeast across the connection between the Danube Plain and the Mediterranean Sea. After the first transversal connections in the north were completed in the 19th century: the kuk Südbahn reached the Adriatic Sea on the Spielfeld-Straß-Trieste Centrale route in 1857 , the Karlovac-Rijeka route was opened by the Hungarian State Railways in 1873, so it took a while until 1976 that the southernmost transversal line of the Balkan Peninsula, the Belgrade – Bar railway line, was completed after 100 years of planning. Likewise, the Una Railway and the Sarajevo – Ploče line were only built as standard gauge lines in the second half of the 20th century . Austria-Hungary had run the Narenta Railway in Bosnian narrow gauge as the Dalmatian Railway through Dubrovnik and Zelenika into the Bay of Kotor in occupied Bosnia . The Bosnian narrow-gauge network was further expanded after the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, but gradually reduced from the 1960s and closed completely in 1977. The routes run especially in the two southernmost routes along the deeply cut valleys, which in places hardly have a valley bottom.
Cultural history
Culture and customs
The Dinarides have been tribal areas at least since the Middle Ages and especially since the Turkish era, in which a patriarchal way of life is practiced in a large family organization - Zadruga . These were patrilineal associations based on blood or fictitious kinship (e.g. blood brotherhood - pobratimstvo ) and, in their classic form, represent fratristic associations, that is, associations of brothers and their families. In the wake of the Ottoman rule in southeast Europe after the Blackbird Battle, the extended family, as a kind of self-help organization of the Christian Rajah, became the generally dominant principle of life organization in economically and socially difficult, uncertain times. It has remained in some regions to this day.
As a characteristic of the Dinaric patriarchal way of life, the social phenomenon of "heroism" is particularly pronounced. The tribal constitution in so-called segmentary social structures was the basis of the coexistence of people in large parts of the Dalmatian hinterland, in Montenegro, and in the neighboring Serbian and Albanian landscapes. The economic basis of existence in these, for the most part inaccessible mountain regions, was cattle breeding, and the shepherd's existence is one of the reasons for the unbroken defensive strength of the Dinaric population, which is referred to as "Dinaric violence" (after Gerhard Gesemann ).
An essential means of expressing this mindset can be found in the cultivation of epic song , which is performed at the Gusle vom Guslar . This lecture mediates between the living and the deceased, especially the deceased heroes, and has been best preserved in the centers of Balkan patriarchalism in the Dinaric highlands of Montenegro, Herzegovina and northern Albania. This is where the traditional forms of coexistence and ancestral cult have been preserved for the longest. The Guslaren appear here as mediators of the hero cult, which illustrates the world of the dead heroes to the living.
Cattle farming
The history of the development of cattle farming in the Dinarides can be traced back to antiquity. Phenomena and effects on the natural area of Southeast Europe can hardly be described in a comprehensive manner. The special natural conditions of the Dinaric Karst also make it difficult to assess the damage caused by herd cattle breeding, which has been evident in the Dinaric mountain region since historical times, due to excessive pasture use. This is also indicated by archaeological information that does not reveal any forest cover in the Hochkarst during the Quaternary / Holocene transition. Due to industrialization and the loss of traditional forms of economy, extensive herding in the Karst has been declining significantly. The barren nature here is most likely to have led to the abandonment of the traditional economic system and ultimately to an emigration of the population. Among the shepherd animals, Buša , Pramenka and Bosnian mountain horse as well as numerous goat lofts are to be mentioned. Both Buša and the Bosnian Mountain Pony are pet forms that are well adapted to extensive forms of farming and agility in difficult terrain. For the Buša a direct descent from Neolithic cattle was documented. It represents the most original domesticated breed of cattle.
Pasture forms adapted to the natural environment developed through remote grazing, nomadism and alpine farming. In addition, social, political and economic developments strongly influenced the phenomena of the livestock industry. Taking advantage of the natural conditions, the cattle-breeding, cultural behavior of the Balkan peoples uniformly shaped their social and cultural development. A side by side, partly in the immediate vicinity, and close interweaving of the various forms of pasture farming has created a differentiated use of space that was also based on ethnic characteristics. The Aromanians (Serbian Tsintsars), mainly spread south of the Danube, were considered to be the principal representatives of a nomadic ethnic group. They played an important role in long-distance trade on the Balkan Peninsula in the 19th century. Nomadic migrations were widespread until World War I. The emergence of the nation states from the bankrupt estate of the Ottoman Empire after the Berlin Congress in 1878 and the Balkan Wars in 1912/13 required a change in the remote grazing industry, which was not inhibited by any territorial borders within the Ottoman Empire. Herds migrations between summer pastures in Prokletije and winter pastures, adapted to the respective political realities and agricultural developments, took place, for example, to the Save Lowlands, the Albanian lowlands, the Kampania of Thessaloniki, the Moravian lowlands and the Metohija. Ultimately, such herd migration with hiking trails of up to 300 km as the crow flies was abandoned by switching to alpine farming.
The border of the original herd migration extended northwards into Herzegovina, Montenegro, Metohija (Kosovo), southern Serbia and Bulgaria south of the Balkan Mountains. Only in regions where agriculture does not seem to be suitable for any other type of economy due to the natural environment has it been able to last longer. In Herzegovina, for example, forms of transhumance and remote grazing were still evident after the Second World War. Continental areas of the Dinarides belong to the area of alpine pasture farming (Slovenia, Gorski Kotar, Bosanska Krajina, Central Bosnia, Sandžak, North Montenegro and Western Serbia). Forms of Mediterranean alpine farming can be found in Velebit, Herzegovina and West Montenegro.
Economic passive space
Due to the population density as well as the insufficient development with modern traffic routes, the Dinarides are still an economic passive area. Migration movements took place in the active areas of the Sava-Danube lowlands, the touristically valued Dalmatian coast or abroad. In particular, large areas of land were emptied after the First and especially after the Second World War and, most recently, due to the civil wars when Yugoslavia fell apart. In addition to emigration due to the war, economic emigration remained an immanent characteristic. During the 1960 and 1970s, a particularly large number of Yugoslavs emigrated from the central passive area of the country as guest workers to Germany and other countries in the West. Even after the recruitment stop in 1973, the settlement areas of the Dinarides remained in the negative population balance. Historically the least densely populated are the high karsts of Herzegovina and western Montenegro. Population densities of less than 20 people per square kilometer are not uncommon here. The very inhospitable Montenegro is the least populated country in southern Europe. Just over 640,000 inhabitants (48.7 inhabitants per km²) live on almost 14,000 km².
literature
- KV Petković: New Insights into the Construction of the Dinarides. Lecture given in the Geological Society, Vienna, March 1, 1957. In: Yearbook of the Federal Geological Institute. 101, 1, 1958, ISSN 0016-7800 , pp. 1-24, (PDF); 2.58 MB; Retrieved August 2, 2010 .
- Josip Ridjanović: New Observations on the Ice Age Effects in the Orjen Mountains (Yugoslavia). (= Würzburg Geographical Works. 20). Geographical Institute of the University, Würzburg 1967.
- Lubomir von Sawicki: The Ice Age glaciation of the Orjen in southern Dalmatia. In: Journal of Glacier Science. 5, 1911, ZDB -ID 243658-9 , pp. 339-355.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Derek C. Ford 2007: Jovan Cvijić and the founding of karst geomorphology . Environmental Geology, Vol. 51 (5), 675-684. ISSN 0943-0105 here p. 683 (springer: PDF)
- ↑ Page of the Hydrometeorological Institute of Montenegro
- ^ Jacques Blondel, James Aronson, Jean-Yves Bodiou, Billes Boeuf 2010: The Mediterranean Region - Biological Diversity in Space and Time . Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-955798-1 here p. 1
- ^ Derek Ford: Jovan Cvijić and the founding of karst geomorphology. In: Environmental Geology. 51, 2007, p. 683.
- ↑ Julius Büdel: Relief generations of the Poljenbildung in the Dinaric area. In: Erdkundl. Knowledge. H. 32, Wiesbaden 1973, pp. 134-140.
- ↑ Derek Ford, 2007, p. 683.
- ↑ a b Milovan Milivojevića, Ljubomir Menkovića, Jelena Ćalić: Pleistocene glacial relief of the central part of Mt. Prokletije (Albanian Alps) . In: Quaternary International . tape 190 , no. 1 , November 1, 2008, p. 112-122 , doi : 10.1016 / j.quaint.2008.04.006 (English, Quaternary Stratigraphy and Evolution of the Alpine Region and the Mediterranean area in the European and Global Framework).
- ↑ Miroslav Marković: Geomorphological evolution and neotectonics of Orjen . Ed .: Geological Institute. Dissertation, Belgrade 1973 (English).
- ^ Recent behavior of the Debeli Namet glacier, Durmitor, Montenegro . In: Philip. D. Hughes (Ed.): Earth Surface Processes and Landforms . tape 32 , no. 10 , p. 1593-1602 , doi : 10.1002 / esp.1537 (English).
- ↑ Sulejman Redžić, 2003: The Syntaxonomy and syngenesis of the Elyno-Seslerieta Br.-Bl. 1948 in the Balkan Peninsula. Annali di Botanica nuova series, 3: 53-74. Here p. 67
- ^ Ivo Horvat, Vjekoslav Glavac, Heinz Ellenberg: Vegetation Southeast Europe . (= Geobotanica Selecta. Volume IV). Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-437-30168-3 .
- ↑ Boštjan Surina, Branko Vreš: The Association Drepanoclado uncinati-Heliospermetum pusilli ( Arabiedtalia caeruleae. Thlaspietea rotundifolii ) in the Trnovski gozd Plateau (Slovenia, NW Dinaric Mts). In: Hacquetia. 8/1, 2009, pp. 31-40.
- ↑ Vladmir Stevanović, Snežana Vukojičić, Jasmina Šinžar-Sekulić, Maja Lazarević, Gordana Tomović, Kit Tan: Distribution and diversity of Arctic-Alpine species in the Balkans. In: Plant Systematics and Evolution. 283, December 2009, pp. 219-235. (PDF)
- ^ Armen Takhtajan: Floristic Regions of the World . University of California Press, Berkeley 1986.
- ^ Ivo Horvat , Vjekoslav Glavač , Heinz Ellenberg : Vegetation Southeast Europe. 1974.
- ↑ Vladimir Stevanović: Analysis of the CentraI European and Mediterranean orophytic element on the mountains of the W. and CentraI Balkan Peninsula, with special reference to endemics . In: Bocconea . tape 5 , 1996, pp. 77-97 (English, pdf , herbmedit.org/Home.html).
- ↑ P. Cikovac: DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF DINARIC CALCAREOUS FIR FORESTS IN THE HIGH-KARST ZONE. In: FUTURE WITH FOREST. Belgrade 2010, pp. 55-56. (pdf) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ivo Trinajstić: Oromediterrane plants Geographic Region. In: Sauteria. Volume 4, 1988, pp. 133-139. (PDF)
- ↑ Oleg Sergeevič Grebenščikov: The Vegetation of the Kotor Bay Seabord (Montenegro, Yugoslavia) and some comparative studies with the Caucasian seaboard of the Black Sea. Bjull Mskovsk. Obsc. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol. 65, Moscow 1960, pp. 99-108.
- ^ OS Grebenščikov: Vegetation structure in the high mountains of the Balkan peninsula and the Caucasus, USSR. In: Arctic and Alpine Research. Volume 10, No. 2, 1978, pp. 441-447 (online: JSTOR)
- ↑ Hans Leibundgut: European primeval forests of the mountain range. Haupt, Bern 1982, ISBN 3-258-03166-5 .
- ↑ Pavle Fukarek (ed.): Južnoevropske prašume i visokoplaninska flora i vegetacija istočno-alpsko-dinarskog prostora. In: Posebna Izdanja Prirodno Matemacikog Fakteta Bosne i Hercegovine. vol. XV, knj. 4, Sarajevo 1969.
- ^ Hannes Mayer : Forests of Europe . Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-437-30441-0 .
- ↑ Marjan Niketić, Vladimir Stevanović: A new species of Heliosperma (Caryophyllaceae) from Serbia and Montenegro. In: Bot. Joun. Linne. Soc. 154, 2007, pp. 55–63 doi: 10.1111 / j.1095-8339.2007.00643.x (PDF)
- ↑ Aquila chysaetos breeding pairs 2015 in Europe (PDF)
- ↑ (Academia: PDF)
- ↑ IUCN Martino's snow vole
- ↑ Eckehard Pistrick: In the archaic mountains of Albania . In: Southeastern Switzerland . July 6, 2010, p. 22 .
- ↑ Gabriella Schubert: On the epic tradition in the Serbian-Montenegrin cultural self-image . Österreichisches Ost- und Südosteuropa-Institut, In: Österreichische Osthefte. Year 47, Vienna 2006, pp. 501-517. ISSN 0029-9375
- ↑ a b c Gabriella Schubert, 2006, p. 502.
- ^ Gerhard Gesemann: Heroic way of life: On the literature and essence of the Balkan patriarchalism . Wiking, Berlin 1943.
- ↑ Gabriella Schubert, 2006, p. 510.
- ^ Preston Miracle & Derek Sturdy 1991: Chamois and the Karst of Herzegovina (PDF) . Journal of Archaeological Science 1991 (18): 89-108
- ↑ Pavle Cikovac 2002: Sociology and site-dependent distribution of fir forests in the Orjen Mountains (Montenegro). [accessed Nov 28 2018 (PDF)]
- ↑ Population density of Europe
