Stepping plant societies

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The broad plantain ( Plantago major ) is a typical representative in the stepping plant communities.
Annual bluegrass ( Poa annua )
Bird knotweed ( Polygonum aviculare ) growing in a pavement crack.

Stepping plant societies are mostly human-made plant societies that are characterized by high mechanical stress caused by stepping. They are mostly in the class Plantaginetea majoris R. Tx. Summarized in 1950. Stepping plant communities are particularly common near settlements. The most common plant species are the broad plantain ( Plantago major ), the annual bluegrass ( Poa annua ) and the bird knotweed ( Polygonum aviculare ).

Stepping plants

The plants of the stepping plant communities are mostly low-growing, need light and tend to be weakly competitive. They can either stand being kicked or are so small that they can avoid being kicked. The latter include prostrate fattening herb ( Sagina procumbens ) and silver moss ( Bryum argenteum ). In many cases, the foot tolerance is based on small size, branching close to the ground, rapid regeneration and elastic and at the same time firm tissue. In heavily trafficked locations, the plants do not reach seed maturity, the seed replenishment takes place from nearby, less disturbed locations. Stepping plants are mostly epizoochoric . In addition to the mechanical stress caused by walking, soil compaction and lack of oxygen in the soil are characteristic site features. These two traits share stepping plant communities with riverside locations, with which they have some species in common.

The characteristic species of the stepping plant communities include:

Syntaxonomy

The syntaxonomic structure of the stepping plant societies is not uniform. Until the 1980s, all societies in the class Plantaginetea majoris R. Tx. (1947) 1950 summarized with the only order Plantaginetea and with the only association Polygonion avicularis.

An alternative classification puts the societies that are dominated by annual plants into the class Polygono arenastri-Poetea annuae, while the societies with predominantly perennial species are placed in the meadows and pastures ( Molinio-Arrhenatheretea ). Here they are either connected to the willows ( Cynosurion ) or form a separate order of Plantaginetalia majoris.

Associations

The following associations are made to the stepping plant societies:

Lolio-Polygonetum arenastri

Wittig summarizes here stepping-stones of Central European settlements, which are characterized by Polygonum arenastrum , Poa annua and Plantago major . Often come Matricaria dicoidea and Lolium perenne ago. The stocks grow on the edge of unsealed parking lots, on courtyards, fallow areas used as playgrounds, on footpaths, paths in green spaces, on street banquets, around tree grates and heavily trodden shear lawns . The society is also known as the Lolium perenne Plantago major society.

Lolio Plantaginetum

This society with Lolium perenne, Plantago major, Polygonum arenastrum and Poa annua is the most common stepping plant society in Central Europe. The rubble cress ( Lepidium ruderale ) is also common in warmer areas . The common salt plume ( Puccinellia distans ) occurs along roads with salt litter . The common dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale ) and the shepherd's pocket herb ( Capsella bursa-pastoris ) are also common as relatively kick-resistant rosette plants, even if they have their focus on other plant communities.

Potentilla anserina society

The goose cinquefoil ( Potentilla anserina ) is dominant in wet areas, such as the goose pastures that used to be common in the past or village ponds . This company leads over to the floodplain .

Plantagini-Polygonetum avicularis

Polygonum aviculare and Plantago major are predominantly found in the most heavily impacted locations .

Mastkraut-Silbermoos-Gesellschaft

Mastkraut-Silbermoos-Gesellschaft between paving stones, with Polygonum aviculare , Sagina procumbens and Poa annua

Sagino procumbentis-Bryetum argentei Diem occurs in cities in the Atlantic-sub-Atlantic influenced areas. Sissingh et Westh. 1940 on. The society has a high need for moisture and is found only in shady places in more continental areas. The two species, prostrate fattening herb ( Sagina procumbens ) and silver moss ( Bryum argenteum ), are not step-resistant, they grow in crevices and cracks and so avoid the stress of being stepped on.

Poa annua society

Poa annua dominates in partially shaded, only moderately trodden locations, which are also regularly weeded or where the soil is loosened. This society occurs particularly at tree slices, in rural areas and at unpaved verges on the sidewalks of older residential areas.

Sclerochloo-Polygonetum avicularis

The most heat-loving stepping plant society is the Sclerochloo-Polygonetum avicularis, the hard-grass stepping turf. It occurs mainly on vineyard and field paths as well as on the edges of sports fields, more in southern Europe. It is on the decline. The characteristic and dominant species is Sclerochloa dura .

supporting documents

  • Rüdiger Wittig: settlement vegetation . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008, pp. 112-121. ISBN 978-3-8001-5642-9
  • Heinz Ellenberg : Vegetation of Central Europe with the Alps from an ecological point of view. 4th, improved edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8001-3430-6 , pp. 788-791.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ladislav Mucina: Polygono-Poetea annuae. In: Ladislav Mucina, Georg Grabherr, Thomas Ellmauer: The plant communities of Austria. Part I: Anthropogenic Vegetation . Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, pp. 82-89. ISBN 3-334-60452-7

See also

Saumbiotop , wayside