Historical records on distribution of Luzula spicata in the Ukrainian Carpathians from past publications and herbarium specimens were analyzed. This arctic-alpine species formerly occurred at the uppermost elevations in three mountain massifs: the Chornohora, Marmarosh and Chyvchyny Mts. It was confined to acidic sandstone and conglomerate rocks on mountain summits and ridges with the lowest thermal conditions. Thorough recent surveys of all the eight previously documented localities allowed to reconfirm the occurrence of L. spicata in one station only, namely near the summit of Mt. Pip Ivan (1990 m a.s.l.) in the Chornohora Mts where its small population has survived. Apparently, the species has become extirpated elsewhere in the Ukrainian Carpathians. A map of current and extinct localities is provided, as well as an image of the recent herbarium specimen. Luzula spicata is one of the most cryophilic species of the Carpathian flora and its Ukrainian localities refer to the lower limit of the species altitudinal range. Therefore, its decline and extinction can be attributed to climate change that has also been reported from other mountain systems of Europe. Analysis of past data showed that most probably the species has already been gradually dying off since the end of the so-called "Little Ice Age" (i.e. 100–150 years ago) that was followed by progressive warming. Luzula spicata is a poorly competitive species confined to rocky habitats with scarce vegetation cover. It is vulnerable both to the direct impact of warming and to replacement by taller graminoids or dwarf shrubs encroaching on the alpine habitats in the course of the climate-induced succession. Because L. spicata is on the brink of extinction, it should be included in the next edition of the Red Data Book of Ukraine as Critically Endangered (CR).

Keywords: cryophilic species, climate change, locality, extinction, Carpathians

Full text: PDF (Eng) 3.17M

1. Chervona knyha Ukrainy. Roslynnyi svit (Red Data Book of Ukraine. Plant Kingdom). Ed. Ya.P. Didukh. Kyiv: Globalkonsaltyng, 2009, 912 pp.
2. Chopyk V.I. Vysokohirna flora Ukrainskykh Karpat. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1976, 270 pp.
3. Chrtek J., Křisa B. A taxonomical study of the species Luzula spicata (L.) DC. sensu lato in Europe. Bot. Not., 1962, 115: 293–310.
4. Chrtek J., Křisa B. Luzula. In: Flora Europaea. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980, vol. 5, pp. 111–116.
5. Dahl E. The phytogeography of Northern Europe: British Isles, Fennoscandia, and adjacent areas. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, 297 pp. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511565182
6. Deyl M. Plants, soil and climate of Pop Ivan. Synecological study from Carpathian Ukraine. Opera Bot. Čechica, 1940, 2: 1–290.
7. Ellenberg H., Weber H.E., Düll R., Wirth V., Werner W., Paulissen D. Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa. 2 Auf. Scripta Geobot., 1992, 18: 1–258.
8. Free M., Robock A. Global warming in the context of the Little Ice Age. J. Geophys. Res., 1999, 104: 19,057– 19,070. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900233
9. Frei E., Bodin J., Walther G.R. Plant species’ range shifts in mountainous areas – all uphill from here? Bot. Helv., 2010, 120(2): 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-010-0076-y
10. Grinţescu I. Fam. Juncaceae. In: Flora Reipublicae Socialisticae România. Bucureşti: Edit. Acad. Reipubl. Soc. România, 1966, vol. 11, pp. 527–604.
11. Grulich V. Red List of vascular plants of the Czech Republic. 3^rd edition. Preslia, 2012, 84: 631–645.
12. Kirschner J. Juncaceae 1: Rostkovia to Luzula. In: Species Plantarum: flora of the World. Canberra: Australian Biol. Resources Study, 2002, part 6, 237 pp.
13. Kobiv Y. Response of rare alpine plant species to climate change in the Ukrainian Carpathians. Folia Geobot., 2017, 52(2): 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-016-9270-z
14. Kobiv Y., Prokopiv A., Nachychko V., Borsukevych L., Helesh M. Distribution and population status of rare plant species in the Marmarosh Mountains (Ukrainian Carpathians). Ukr. Bot. J., 2017, 74(2): 163–176. https://doi.org/10.15407/ukrbotj74.02.163
15. Krechetovych V.I., Barbarych A.I. Rodyna Sytnykovi (Juncaceae). In: Flora URSR. Kyiv: Vyd-vo AN URSR, 1950, vol. 3, pp. 21–61.
16. Kyyak V.H. Mali populyatsii ridkisnykh vydiv roslyn vysokohirya Ukrainskykh Karpat. Lviv: Liga-Press, 2013, 248 pp.
17. Landolt E. Ökologische Zeigerwerte zur Schweizer Flora. Veröffentlichungen Geobot. Institut. ETH, 1977, 64: 1–208.
18. Matuszkiewicz W. Przewodnik do oznaczania zbiorowisk roślinnych Polski. Warszawa: Wyd-wo Nauk. PWN, 2002, 537 pp.
19. Mirek Z. Zasięgi wysokościowe roślin naczyniowych w Karpatach i ich klasyfikacja. Wiadom. Bot., 1989, 33: 57–64.
20. Moravec J. Rostlinná společenstva České republiky a jejich ohrožení. 2nd ed. Severočeskou Přírodou. Suppl., 1995: 1–206.
21. Olshanskyi I. Two Juncaceae species, that disappeared from Ukrainian Carpathians. In: 7^th Planta Europa Conference book of abstracts. Kolympary: Orthodox Acad. Crete, 2014, p. 35.
22. Pauli H., Gottfried M., Reiter K., Klettner C., Grabherr G. Signals of range expansions and contractions of vascular plants in the high Alps: observations (1994– 2004) at the GLORIA master site Schrankogel, Tyrol, Austria. Global Change Biology, 2007, 13: 147–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01282.x
23. Pawłowski B., Walas J. Les associations des plantes vasculaires des Monts de Czywczyn. Bull. Acad. Pol. Sci. Lett. B, 1949, 1: 117–181.
24. Rehman A. Materiały do flory Wschodnich Karpat zebrane w r. 1871 i 1872. Spraw. Kom. Fizjogr., 1873, 7: 1–39.
25. Spinoni J., Szalai S., Szentimrey T., Lakatos M., Bihari Z., Nagy A., Németh Á., Kovács T., Mihic D., Dacic M., Petrovic P., Kržič A., Hiebl J., Auer I., Milkovic J., Štepánek P., Zahradnícek P., Kilar P., Limanowka D., Robert R., Cheval S., Birsan M.-V., Dumitrescu A., Deak G., Matei M., Antolovic I., Nejedlí P., Štastný P., Kajaba P., Bochnícek O., Galo D., Mikulová K., Nabyvanets Y., Skrynyk O., Krakovska S., Gnatiuk N., Tolasz R., Antofie T., Vogt J. Climate of the Carpathian Region in the period 1961–2010: climatologies and trends of 10 variables. Int. J. Climatol., 2015, 35: 1322– 1341. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4059
26. Tkachyk V.P. Flora Prykarpattya. Lviv: NTSh, 2000, 254 pp.
27. Vyznachnyk roslyn Ukrainskych Karpat. Ed. V.I. Chopyk. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1977, 433 pp.
28. Wołoszczak E. Drugi przyczynek do flory Pokucia. Spraw. Kom. Fizjogr., 1888, 22: 184–220.
29. Zapałowicz H. Roślinna szata Gór Pokucko-Marmaroskich. Spraw. Komis. Fizjogr., 1889, 24: 1–390.
30. Zarzycki K., Trzcińska-Tacik H., Różański W., Szeląg Z., Wołek J., Korzeniak U. Ecological indicator values of vascular plants of Poland. Kraków: W. Szafer Inst. Bot., Polish Acad. Sci., 2002, 183 pp.