Effect of ecological factors on the zonation of wetland vegetation

Abstract

The influence of some ecological factors to aquatic and marsh vegetation was studied during 1998-2000. Three basic vegetation units (Caricetum buekii, Typhetum latifoliae and Ceratophylletum submersi) and three transitional communities were defined in the belt transect, which was established along the moisture gradient. The content of available soil nutrients in individual vegetation types differed only in case of the Ceratophyllum submersum community, where a higher magnesium and nitrogen content accumulated due to specific environmental conditions. Water and marsh vegetation is usually characterised by a pronounced spatial and temporal dynamics. In the studied area, its zonation was dependent from the terrain morphology, and both depth and duration of floods. The fluctuation of ground and surface water table during a three-year period caused changes in the occurrence and cover of several species (e.g. Carex buekii, Typha latifolia, aquatic macrophytes). Pronounced changes in the cover of some species occurred even within a single vegetation season due to the long-term sink of water table below the ground surface.