06D6
Continental communities of glasswort swards (Salicornia prostrata)
Relationships with habitat classifications. EUNIS: D6.16 Interior Central European and Anatolian glasswort swards; PAL. CLASS.: 15.115 Continental glasswort swards; HD 92/43: 1530 *Pannonic salt steppes and salt marshes; Bondev (1991): 146 Halophytous grass communities with a prevalence of Puccinellieta convolutae, Limonieta gmelinii, Aeluropeta littoralis, Salicornieta europaeae etc., partly of secondary origin.
Conservation status. BDA, BC, HD.
Category. Critically endangered [CR – A1, 2 C3 D3 E3 F2 G2 H3].
General characteristics. The habitat encompasses annual halophytic communities dominated by Salicornia prostrata, distributed in the continental areas of Bulgaria. In Europe they occur mainly in the valleys of big rivers, especially in the basin of the Danube and on the northern beaches of the Black Sea. They develop on the periphery of places that are swampy in the spring and where the water evaporates in summer and brings salts to the surface. These communities are very typical for the shallow water bodies of the Hungarian pusta. When the water regime changes the structure of the soil also changes, hence the communities cover more limited areas or completely disappear. In Bulgaria such coenoses occur in Karaboaz lowland near the Danube (northwards from Gulyantsi town): the association of Salicornietum prostratae is found on the territories of the former Vidra and Desna swamps. In the past, these coenoses occurred on the peripheries of the swamps. Cosequently, after the drainage of the swamps the areas covered by the above mentioned conenoses increased up to 1000/1500 decares as a result of secondary salination of the soils. Due to anthropogenic reasons today only small patches of these coenoses have remained, mainly in the shallow draining canals. Therefore these communities are threatened by extinction. The coenoses under consideration are monodominant communities of Salicornia prostrata on chloride solonchaks, with a salinity of up to 35 g/l. Some additional halophytes sometimes participate in these coenoses: Juncus gerardii, Hordeum hystrix, Spergularia media, etc.
Characteristic taxa.
- Vascular plants: Atriplex hastata, Crypsis aculeata, C. schoenoides, Hordeum hystrix, Juncus gerardii, Lepidium ruderale, Puccinellia distans, Salicornia prostrata, Spergularia media.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Danubian plain: Karaboaz lowland, between Gulyantsi town and Dabovan village.
Conservation importance. The habitat has specific ecological requirements and is therefore of very limited distribution. Its occurrence inland parts of Bulgaria is unique because such communities are typical for the Black Sea coast of the country.
Threats. Strongly fragmented distribution; changes in the water regime in the lowlands along the Danube (draining of swamps, redirection of river beds), ploughing, trampling by domestic animals, secondary salination as a result of a decrease in the level of underground waters due to the general aridisation of the climate.
Conservation measures taken. The habitat in included in Annex №1 of the Biodiversity Act and is of conservation priority. The locality in Karaboaz lowland in included in the protected site Karaboaz of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. To proclaim the locality of the habitat as a protected area; restoration of some of the drained swamps in Karaboaz lowland.
References. Ganchev et al. 1971; Tzonev 2002.
Author: Rossen Tzonev
