Patterns of vascular plant endemism in the Western Carpathians in relation to geography, environmental factors and taxon traits
Abstract
The Western Carpathians covering the area of ca 66,000 km2 on the territory of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria are the highest European mountain range north of the Alps. They have long been considered to be an important center of endemism of vascular plants in Central Europe though overall evaluation of endemism in the whole range is still uknown.
The aim of this study is to localize the areas of endemism in the Western Carpathians and to assess their distribution pattern in relation to environmental factors and species traits. Analyses were based on 84 Western Carpathains or Pan-Carpathians (sub)endemic species and subspecies (excluding apomictic groups) and related traits (bedrock, elevation and vegetation affinities; elevation niche breadth; life form; ploidy level).
The occurrences of endemic taxa were scored in 121 operational geomorphological units (OGUs, moutain ranges and intermountain basins), each of them characterized by several environmental variables.