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Flora of Prespa area database, NW Greece
Abstract
The wider Prespa area (i.e. the Prespa National Park and adjacent areas within the Greek
territory), NW Greece, is one of the most plant diverse in Greece with more than 1,800 recorded taxa in an area of 418 km². This work presents preliminary results from the creation of a database that incorporates all the available information and provides an overall assessment of the flora in Prespa so that it can be used as an aid to research and management objectives. More than 20,000 geo-referenced records have been incorporated in the database enabling the detection of undersampled and altogether neglected sub-areas as well as the plotting of species richness. The database can also contribute, as an applied management tool, to the protection and conservation of the natural environment and vulnerable plant taxa of the area. Sampling in sub-areas that have not been botanically explored as well as the more representative sampling throughout the Prespa area is a priority for the continuation, expansion and enhancement of the database.
Dry and littoral grasslands, shrublands and traditional silvopastoral systems form a major land use on the mountains of Prespa National Park, northwestern Greece, an area with exceptional biodiversity located on the borders with Albania and North Macedonia. On altitudes ranging from 850 to 2330 m a.s.l. and geological substrates of granite, limestone and metamorphic origins, extensive grazing has been shaping the landscapes of the area, particularly affecting 19 out of the 51 habitat types recorded in the Park and its surrounding area according to the European Unions’ Natura 2000 network typology (Directive 92/43/EEC). Over the last years, sheep and goat numbers are drastically reduced, numbers of beef cattle are increasing, and evidence of under- or over-grazing are observed at various sites mainly due to lack or mispositioning of basic infrastructure for grazers. These facts unquestionably affect the dynamics of grazing-dependent habitat types in the study area, including four priority ones, i.e. the “Pseudo-steppes with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea”, the “Species-rich Nardus grasslands on siliceous substrates in mountain areas”, the “Pannonic sand steppes” and the “Endemic forests with Juniperus spp.”. The present contribution discusses (a) the management practices needed to maintain good conservation status of rangelands in the Park and its surrounding area, and (b) the survey and monitoring techniques to apply in order to identify effects on habitat types caused by the changing grazing schemes.
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