Abstract
The pool of the Central European flora consists of a majority of vascular plant taxa that are restricted to very base rich and calcareous soils. Ellenberg indicator values for Germany indicate that this floristic pattern is one of the potentially most powerful determinants of the richness of modern temperate plant communities. Considering the example of the forest flora, which, as the putative natural core of the species pool, exhibits the same skew, it is shown that neither the frequency of suitable soil types nor other correlated ecological factors can explain this striking pattern. Also, the ramification of higher taxa offers no indication of higher evolution speeds in calciphilous plants. As an alternative, it is hypothesized that Pleistocene range contractions have caused the extinction of more acidophilous than calciphilous species, because acid soils were much rarer when refugial areas were at their minimum. If this is correct, one of the most significant ecological patterns in the contemporary distribution of plant diversity must be regarded as a result of ecological drift imposed by a historical bottleneck.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anonymous (1997):Deutscher Waldbodenbericht 1996 Ergebnisse der bundesweiten Bodenzustandserhebung im Wald von 1987–1993 (BZE). Vol. 1 & 2. Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten (BMELF), Bonn.
Bohn U., Gollub G., Hettwer C., Neuhäuslová Z., Schlüter H. &Weber H. (2003):Map of the natural vegetation of Europe. Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Bonn.
Borhidi A. (1995): Social behaviour types, the naturalness and relative ecological indicator values of the higher plants in the Hungarian flora.Acta Bot. Hung. 39: 97–181.
Ellenberg H. (1996):Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen in ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht. Ed. 5. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Ellenberg H., Weber H. E., Düll R., Wirth V., Werner W. &Paulißen D. (1991): Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa.Scripta Geobot. 18: 1–248.
Eriksson O. (1993): The species-pool hypothesis and plant community diversity.Oikos 68: 371–374.
Falkengren-Grerup U., Brunet J., Quist M. E. &Tyler G. (1995): Is the Ca: Al ratio superior to pH, Ca or Al concentrations of soils in accounting for the distribution of plants in deciduous forest?Pl. & Soil 177: 21–31.
Fiedler H. J. &Hunger W. (1970):Geologische Grundlagen der Bodenkunde und Standortslehre. Th. Steinkopf, Dresden.
Fischer A. (1999): Floristical changes in Central European forest ecosystems during the past decades as an expression of changing site conditions. In:Karjaleinen T., Spiecker H. & Lavoussinie O. (eds.), Causes and consequences of accelerating tree growth in Europe,EFI-Proceedings 27: 53–64.
Gönnert T. (1989): Ökologische Bedingungen verschiedener Laubwaldgesellschaften des Nordwestdeutschen Tieflandes.Diss. Bot. 136.
Gough L., Shaver G. R., Carroll J., Royer D. L. &Laundre J. A. (2000): Vascular plant species richness in Alaskan arctic tundra: the importance of soil pH.J. Ecol. 88: 54–66.
Grime J. P. (1979):Plant strategies and vegetation processes. John Wiley, Chichester.
Grubb P. J. (1987): Global trends in species-richness in terrestrial vegetation: a view from the northern hemisphere. In:Gee J.H.R. &Giller P.S. (eds.),Organization of communities, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 99–118.
Hakes W. (1994): On the predictive power of numerical and Braun-Blanquet classification: an example from beechwoods.J. Veg. Sci. 5: 153–160.
Iversen J. (1958): The bearing of glacial and interglacial epochs on the formation and extinction of plant taxa. In:Hedberg O. (ed.), Systematics of today,Uppsala Univ. Årsskr. 110: 210–215.
Hubbell S. P. (2001):The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Monographs in Population Biology 32, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Kerner von Marilaun A. (1896):The natural history of plants 2. Hult, New York.
Kinzel H. (1982):Pflanzenökologie und Mineralstoffwechsel. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Landolt E. (1977): Ökologische Zeigerwerte zur Schweizer Flora.Veröff. Geobot. Inst. ETH Stiftung Rübel Zürich 64: 1–208.
Larcher W. (1994):Ökophysiologie der Pflanzen. Ed 4. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Oberdorfer E. (1992):Süddeutsche Pflanzengesellschaften. Teil IV: Wälder und Gebüsche. Ed. 2. G. Fischer, Stuttgart.
Pärtel M. (2002): Local plant diversity patterns and evolutionary history at the regional scale.Ecology 83: 2361–2366.
Pärtel M., Zobel M., Zobel K. &van der Maarel E. (1996): The species pool and its relation to species richness evidence from Estonian plant communities.Oikos 75: 111–117.
Peet R.K. &Christensen N.L. (1988): Changes in species diversity during secondary forest succession on the North Carolina piedmont. In:During H.J., Werger M.J.A. &Willems H.J. (eds.),Diversity and pattern in plant communities, Junk, The Hague, pp. 233–246.
Polomski J. &Huhn N. (1998):Wurzelsysteme. Haupt, Bern.
Ricklefs R. (1987): Community diversity: relative roles of local and regional processes.Science 235: 167–171.
Rosenzweig M.L. (1995):Species diversity in space and time. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Schimper A.F.W. (1903):Plant-geography upon a physiological basis. Clarendon, Oxford.
Tyler G. (1999): Plant distribution and soil-plant interactions on shallow soils. In:Rydin H., Snoeijs P. &Diekmann M. (eds.),Swedish plant geography, Opulus Press, Uppsala, pp. 21–32.
Ulrich B. &Meyer H. (1987):Chemischer Zustand der Waldböden Deutschlands zwischen 1920 und 1960, Ursachen und Tendenzen seiner Veränderung. Berichte des Forschungszentrums Waldökosysteme/Waldsterben, Reihe B 6, Göttingen, Forschungszentrum Waldökosysteme, Göttingen.
Watts W.A. (1988): Europe. In:Huntley B. &Webb T. (eds.),Vegetation history, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 155–192.
Whittaker R.H. (1960): Vegetation of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon and California.Ecol. Monogr. 30: 279–338.
Zobel M., van der Maarel E. &Dupré C. (1998): Species pool: the concept, its determination and significance for community restoration.Appl. Veg. Sci. 1: 55–66.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ewald, J. The calcareous riddle: Why are there so many calciphilous species in the Central European flora?. Folia Geobot 38, 357–366 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803244
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803244