Das Androsacetum alpinae – Eine alpine Silikatschuttgesellschaft zwischen Windkanten und Schneetälchen

Abstract

In this paper the result of the analyses of over 250 releves not published so far and covering a wide geographic range from the Aosta Valley (Italy) till the Eastern Alps of Austria is presented. Furthermore the most important publications of the last 100 years dealing with the alliance of the Androsacion alpinae are discussed. Considering all the facts given and own observations it is resigned to propose subassociations of the extremely heterogeneous Androsacetum alpinae but evident arguments for two clearly defined variants on the extreme edges of the Androsacetum alpinae are presented. The first variant of wind edges with short yearly duration of snowcover, is named by the lichens Cetraria nivalis, Cetraria aculeata and Thamnolia vermicularis and, geographical limited, Eritrichium nanum. The ecological opposite pole at sites with longer and long lasting snow cover, often in contact with snowbed vegetation, is characterised by Veronica alpina.