Dmitar Lakusic

University of Belgrade

Wetland ecosystems are important habitats for the growth and survival of numerous terrestrial orchids in Europe. This study reviews the current knowledge on the orchids of wetland vegetation in the Central Balkans. The orchid flora was analyzed from taxonomic, phytogeographical, ecological and conservation aspects. The most important taxa include t...

We investigated taxonomic and endemic richness, patterns of spatial distribution, cenotic and spatial diversification, and chorological and life form spectra of montane coniferous forests in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. We collected information on 1435 taxa (1351 at the level of species and 84 subspecies) with 65,289 species-occurrence...

Monitoring the presence of invasive species in natural wetlands is crucial for numerous reasons, including their negative impact on biodiversity, conservation and the ecosystem services provided by these important fragile areas. The aim of this paper was to investigate the presence and distribution of the highly invasive liana Echinocystis lobata (...

Stipa dasyphylla (Lindem.) Trautv. (Poaceae, Pooideae, Stipeae) is generally found from Central Asia (northwards to southern part of West Siberia), through European part of Russia to Central Europe (westwards to Switzerland and Germany). Hitherto, from Balkan Peninsula it was documented only from one locality in Greece. There were also some persona...

Groups of recent speciation are characterized by high levels of introgression and gene flow, which often confounds delimitation of species on a DNA basis. We analyzed nuclear DNA sequences (ETS spacer and the AGT1 gene) obtained from a large sample of the C. calocephala complex from the Balkan clade of Centaurea sect. Acrocentron (Compositae, Cardu...

Despite the fact that dry grassland vegetation on ultramafics has been the object of continuous research in previous centuries, there remains a knowledge gap in regard to the initial stages of vegetation on ultramafic substrates. The Stipadominated dry grasslands of Serbia and Kosovo representing various initial phases in the overgrowth of ultramaf...

Teucrium montanum is a species widely distributed in Europe, occurring also in North Africa and Asia Minor. Because of its wide distribution and high morphological variability, many taxa related to T. montanum have been described. In this paper we discuss and lectotypify the following six names of taxa described or reported for the Balkan Peninsula...

The high diversity of ruderal vegetation in urban environments is well known. Although it has been a subject of numerous studies in Serbia, in recent years it has been slightly overlooked, although, due to the dynamics of ruderal habitats, constant research is required. We investigated ruderal vegetation in 20 cities across Serbia during a period o...

The aim of this study was to investigate the floristic composition and diversity of seven urban habitat types in 24 Serbian cities with different climatic affiliation. In each of the 24 cities, we selected 1 ha plots representing a habitat from one of the following groups: square, boulevard, residential area with compact and with open building patt...

A morphometric-based taxonomic revision of the Siler montanum group (Apiaceae) from Italy and the Balkan Peninsula was carried out. Multivariate and univariate analyses were performed on 47 morphological characters including seven ratios, and based on the study of 328 dried herbarium specimens. According to our results, the characters employed in t...

This study represents the first data gathering and analysis of the floristic composition of ruderal vegetation in Serbia, published over the last 70 years. The dataset included 748 relevés of ruderal communities and a total of 716 plant species and sub-species. The study showed that the most abundant were widespread taxa, especially taxa of the Eur...

Prikaz tipova staništa od značaja za Evropsku uniju prisutnih u Crnoj Gori. Za svaki tip prikazane su glavne indikatorske biljne vrste, koje su neophodne da se prepoznaju na terenu, kako bi se pravilno interpretirao svaki tip staništa sa referentne liste za Crnu Goru.

Several natural hybrids between Teucrium montanum L. and T. polium L. have been described in certain parts of the area where this two species are in sympatry. A new population with intermediate individuals that share morphological characteristics of both T. montanum and T. polium is found in Croatia (Bisko near Trilj), and most likely represent a h...

Several names belonging to the Sesleria sect. Argenteae (Poaceae) were discussed in this paper and, where necessary, typified. Lectotypes were designated for the names Sesleria nitida var. brevidentata, S. nitida var. intermedia, S. nitida var. tenoreana f. macrostachya, and S. nitida var. tenoreana f. visianii. Neotypes were designated for the nam...

Southern European mountain ranges have long been recognized as important hotspots of genetic diversity and areas of high endemism. Reflecting the geographical complexity of these mountain ranges, many European high-mountain species exhibit disjunctions on a variety of geographical scales. One of the long-neglected, poorly investigated and unresolve...

We provide information on the typification of the names described by Josif Pančić in his Elenchus plantarum vascularum quas aestate a. 1873 in Crna Gora, published in 1875. Also, we present a brief description of Pančić’s field trip to Montenegro emphasizing when and where the gatherings of the material used for describing taxa new to science were...

Edraianthus tarae, a taxonomically intricate stenoendemic plant species from the canyon of the river Tara (Montenegro), is reviewed using morphological and genome size data. Several morphological features distinguish this taxon from typical members of Edraianthus, which led to its segregation into its own genus, Protoedraianthus. Our formal morphom...

Several related yellow-flowered houseleek species which occur on the Balkan Peninsula are divided into two complexes: Sempervivum ciliosum (S. ciliosum, S. jakucsii, S. klepa, S. octopodes, and S. galicicum) and the S. ruthenicum complex (S. ruthenicum, S. leucanthum, S. kindingeri, and S. zeleborii). Due to strong phenotypic plasticity and a limit...

Many terrestrial orchid species are known to grow in forest ecosystems, but the patterns of their diversity and habitat specialization have not been sufficiently explored. Niche parameters and factors influencing the distribution, abundance and composition of forest orchids in the central Balkans were investigated in the present study. Outlying mea...

In the original publication of the article, there were two minor errors identified. They are as follows:

Terrestrial orchids in Europe inhabit a variety of vegetation types, both the forest and scrub types and herbaceous vegetation. The richness and composition of orchid species and subspecies in relation to vegetation types in the central Balkans (western Serbia) were investigated in the present study. In total, the phytocoenological affiliation of 5...

The paper propose nine new nomenclature combinations and indicate eight new synonyms. There are 12 taxa (species and subspecies) of vascular flora which are new for the flora of Serbia (of which nine are autochthonous and three allochtonous plants). An old or unreliable literature records for three autochthonous and one allochthonous plant in the f...

In the most recent taxonomic literature, Centaurea crnogorica and C. gjurasinii, two neglected yellow-flowered taxa of C. sect. Acrocentron, have been treated as heterotypic synonyms of C. chrysolepis. Based on morphometric study, and study of type specimens and living plants from the locus classicus of C. gjurasinii and the only known population o...

The inventory of woody vegetation is of great importance for good forest management. Advancements of remote sensing techniques have provided excellent tools for such purposes, reducing the required amount of time and labor, yet with high accuracy and the information richness. Sentinel-2 is one of the relatively new satellite missions, whose 13 spec...

Edraianthus (Candolle 1830: 130) Candolle (1839: 149) (Campanulaceae Juss.) is a genus of 10–14 species with a centre of distribution in the Balkans, while disjunctions occur in the central and southern Apennines (peninsular Italy), Sicily, and the southern Carpathians (Stefanović et al. 2008).

This paper presents the results of a detailed study of leaf blade anatomical traits of populations of the Sesleria juncifolia complex from the Balkan Peninsula. The measurements were performed on cross sections of 302 tiller leaf blades from 24 populations. We calculated basic descriptive statistics for each character state. Principal component and...

Melampsora epitea, known to cause rust on the complex of Salix retusa prostrate willows distributed in the subalpine and alpine belt of the mountains of Central Europe, is here documented for the first time in Montenegro and North Macedonia growing at six localities. It is not new for Serbia, but the records come from a newly reported host, namely...

In the Central, Eastern and the Southern parts of Balkan Peninsula a two group of yellow flowered Sempervivum species can be distinguished. The first group, provisionally named here as „Sempervivum ciliosum complex“, includes taxa: S. ciliosum Craib, S. galicicum (A.C.Sm.) Micevski, S. klepe Micevski, S. jakucsii Pénzes and S. octopodes Turrill, wh...

Sempervivum ciliosum belongs to the group of yellow-flowered houseleek species (S. ciliosum complex) endemic for the territory of the Balkan Peninsula. Concerning the traditional taxonomy of genus Sempervivum, there are several taxa included in the above-mentioned group (S. ciliosum, S. jakucsii, S. klepa, S. octopodes and S. galicicum). However, d...

Considering the great importance of Ramsar Site for biodiversity, we measured the invasibility - the habitat characteristic that refers to the susceptibility to invasions, in six Ramsar Sites of the southern part of the Pannonian Plain. We selected 18 invasive neophytes of different life forms, due to their different habitat preferences, to cover a...

An account of the discovery of the Albanian stenoendemic Asyneuma comosiforme and brief nomenclatural history of the genus Asyneuma provide a background for the re-assessment of recent molecular findings, which advocate the transfer of A. comosiforme to the genus Campanula. Objections to this transfer are raised, and additional morphological detail...

Campanula versicolor is a constituent of the Campanula pyramidalis complex, distributed in the central and southern Balkan Peninsula with a small disjunct range in SE Italy. The taxonomy of the broadly defined C. versicolor was controversial in the past due to high morphological variability of the populations across the range. We used microsatellit...

The majority of aquatic vegetation studies in the Middle Danube Basin (Serbia) were done independently during the last two decades, including data from small areas, which resulted in several classification solutions. The main purpose of this paper was to develop a numerical classification of the aquatic vegetation in Serbia, without fitting the ege...

The activity ‘Natura 2000 Habitat Mapping of the Skadar Lake National Park’ (hereinafter the activity) has been requested by The Nature and Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro (NEPA), as part of support by the CSBL project ‘Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity at Lakes Prespa, Ohrid and Shkodra/ Skadar', implemented by GIZ and...

Question Certain parts of the growing season have been proposed as optimal for recording relevant relevés of forests and dry grasslands and so the monitoring of these vegetation types has become more time and cost effective. Is it possible to propose an optimal period during the year for making relevant relevés of emergent wetland vegetation? Loca...

The paper presents three new nomenclature combinations related to representatives of the orchid family. In addition, 14 taxa (species, subspecies and hybrids) of vascular flora which are newly registered for Serbia (of which 8 are autochthonous and 6 allochtonous plants) are presented. A confirmation of old or unreliable literature records for four...

The Balkan Peninsula represents one of the three southern European glacial refugia where biodiversity persisted throughout the climatically unstable Quaternary. This study considered the ‘refugia within refugia’ model, which assumes the environmental heterogeneity over time and space in larger refugia. To better understand patterns shaped during th...

The heterogeneity of the ultramafic vegetation of the Central Balkans is rather great. Although this vegetation has been continuously investigated, some gaps are still to be filled. For example, the lack of available data on ultramafic vegetation of the Republic of Macedonia is evident. In that light, we have investigated different relic Stipa spec...

Teucrium montanum L. is evergreen microphyllic xeromorphic dwarf shrub. It is distributed in the Balkan Peninsula, extending from the sea coast to altitudes of over 2100 m a. s. l. with the highest number of occurrences in the zone between 500 and 1000 m. Due to its high morphological variability, several species have been described in the Balkan...

The investigated areas in northwestern Serbia and Šumadija are part of peri-Pannonian Serbia, and cover 3,020 km2 of land. The most important mountain massifs in this region are Povlen, Maljen, Suvobor, Ovčar, Kablar, Jelica, Vujan and Rudnik. The summits of these mountains reach altitudes ranging from 864 m (Suvobor) to 1,347 m (Povlen). Elevation...

Festuca valesiaca complex represents Eurasian group of species (F. callieri , F. dalmatica, F. panciciana, F. rupicola, F. stojanovii, F. stricta, F. trachyphylla, F. valesiaca, F. wagneri , etc.), with center of distribution and diversity in the steppe regions of Asia and Eastern Europe. The group is taxonomically intricate, and it is hard to diff...

Vegetation class Phragmito-Magnocaricetea is considered to be one of insufficiently studied vegetation types in the area of Balkan Peninsula, in terms of composition, structure, distribution and ecology. In order to determine syntaxonomic relationships within the studied vegetation class, we conducted hierarchical classification analysis (UPGMA) to...

A new species of Centaurea sect. Acrocentron (Cass.) DC. (Asteraceae) found growing in dry, steppe‐like habitats on the Zlatibor mountain in western Serbia is described as Centaurea zlatiborensis. This novelity is compared with all other species of C. sect. Acrocentron known from Serbia and a diagnistic key to these is provided. Centaurea zlatibore...

Capitulate inflorescence is a specific, strongly adaptive and rare feature in the genus Campanula. We studied morphologically eight capitulate Campanula taxa from the Balkans (1537 individuals/52 populations) and one more species from Caucasus at the molecular level (using chloroplast markers trnGUCC-trnSGCU and psbA-trnH, 130 individuals/58 popula...

Stipa crassiculmis subsp. picentina Martinovský, Moraldo & Caputo (Poaceae, Pooideae, Stipae) was found for the first time in the Balkan Peninsula. It was recorded in the northern part of the Republic of Macedonia, in the Pčinja River gorge (Badar Gorge), between Veles and Katlanovo on ultramafic substrates. To date, S. crassiculmis subsp. picentin...

As a European endemic restricted to a few European countries, Geum bulgaricum is here treated as a “target species” or “species of European concern”. Although of great international significance, its distribution is insufficiently known. Based on several years of field studies and analyses of herbarium and literature data, we have determined that G...

Stipa ucrainica P. A. Smirn. (Poaceae, Pooideae, Stipeae) was found for the first time in the northern part of the Republic of Macedonia, in the Pcˇinja River gorge between Veles and Katlanovo. This population is very isolated from the core distribution area of the species and is found on ultramafic substrate. This is the hitherto only known locali...

Sesleria (Poaceae) is a species-rich, taxonomically difficult genus due to high morpho-anatomical variability and weak differentiation of many species. It is distributed throughout western Eurasia and North Africa with highest taxonomic diversity on the Balkan Peninsula. Of the more than 40 species only two are diploid, all others are tetra- to dod...

Along with being a centre of plant species diversity and endemism, the Balkan Peninsula is one of the parts of Europe with the highest number of orchid taxa. However, the orchid flora in the central Balkans has not been sufficiently studied. The paper presents the distribution of ten rare and threatened taxa of Orchidaceae in the central Balkans an...

An important step in managing invasive species is determining the factors responsible for their current and potential distribution, especially when species distribution is climatically determined like in Reynoutria taxa case. The main aim of this paper was to integrate all available distribution data of the Reynoutria taxa in SE Europe and to predi...

Campanula versicolor is a member of the Campanula pyramidalis complex. It is distributed in the southern Balkan Peninsula, with a small disjunct range in SE Italy (Puglia and Basilicata administrative regions). Due to its high morphological variability, 17 taxa have been described (at specific and infraspecific level). However, the taxonomic status...

Although it is well known that dry open rocky grassland vegetation on shallow serpentine (ultramafic) soils represents one of the most interesting, highly endemic, and often studied vegetation types, the authors of several detailed studies of Balkan serpentine flora and vegetation suggested that the vegetation cover of Balkan ultramafics needs furt...

As ornamental plant originated from Central America, Datura inoxia Mill. has been introduced to many areas beyond its natural range. However, in many places, mainly in the Mediterranean region D. inoxia has escaped from cultivation and is being established as an alien. In relevant botanical literature its occurrence on the Balkan Peninsula has not...

In this paper we typify and discuss 14 species and infraspecies names belonging to Sesleria sect. Argenteae (Poaceae). Lectotypes are designated for the names S. alba, S. anatolica, S. anatolica var. rossica, S. anatolica var. voronovii, S. doerfleri, S. gigantea, S. latifolia, S. latifolia var. serpentinica, S. pontica, S. robusta, S. sillingeri,...

Amorpha fruticosa L. represents one of the most dangerous invasive neophytes spreading quickly in many countries and cities of southeastern Europe where it aggressively penetrates into newly invaded sites and establishes permanently. It prefers moist and periodically flooded terrains, being therefore a serious threat for fragile wet habitats. Consi...

The anatomical structure of the leaf and stem of nine Micromeria species from the Balkan Peninsula was investigated with the aim to establish the adaptive characteristics and traits that could be useful in the identification of species and subgeneric classification. The species included in the anatomical analysis were:Micromeria albanica (Griseb. e...

Eranthis hyemalis is a critically endangered species in Serbia, where it is protected by national law. The only confirmed finding place of the species in Serbia was the Bagremara forest near Backa Palanka. It was assumed that the species disappeared from other recorded localities, or else the data were not confirmed. During a field study in 2016, w...

The chemical composition of the essential oils of Seseli gracile Waldst. & Kit. from natural habitat (Đerdap Gorge, Serbia) and from cultivated plants (Belgrade, Serbia) were characterized. The essential oils of the root, aerial parts, inflorescence and fruit were analyzed by GC/MS and GC/FID. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were the main compounds in the...

22nd EVS International Workshop, Rome, 9-11 April 2013.

Orchids are known for their species richness, intriguing ecology, rarity and the fact that they grow in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Although numerous studies about their ecology have been carried out concerning calcareous areas, little is known about orchids that occur in serpentine habitats. The aim of this study was to investigate the ecol...

Endophyllum sempervivi, known to cause rust on Sempervivum and Jovibarba species, is here documented for the first time in Serbia, on Jovibarba heuffelii growing at two localities (in the gorge of Studenica River and on Mt. Treska). Aside from Serbia, an additional report of infected J. heuffelii plants is made for Romania (on Mt. Domogled). The pa...

Sesleria ujhelyii is a neglected taxon, described by Strgar (1973) from the material collected in Bosnia and Herzegovina, site Dariva on Miljacka River. It belongs to taxonomically interesting Sesleria juncifolia species complex, an endemic Balkan-Apennine group. Despite of clear diferences in leaf anatomy with respect to other taxa belonging to th...

A recent molecular study (Banasiak et al. 2016) reconstructed the phylogeny of all the genera belonging to tribe Scandiceae Spreng. subtribe Daucinae Dumort., showing that the genus Laserpitium Linnaeus (1753: 248) is polyphyletic. Banasiak et al. (l.c.) split Laserpitium into 5 genera: Laserpitium L., Ekimia Duman & Watson (1999: 200), Laser Borkh...