Istvan Urak

Conserving the Oligothroph Meadows Flora and Fauna in Eastern Transilvania, Romania

Argiope.

The oligothroph meadows "Mohos", situated in eastern Transilvania, is a unique and extremely threatened biotop, being the last glaciar refugee for several threatened species, most of them recorded only from these habitats.

Here it can be found together the three Round Leaf Sundew species from Romania (Drosera rotundifolia, D. obovata and D. anglica). Other glaciar relict plant species identified in these meadows are: Andromeda polifolia, Schcuchzeria palustris, Empetrum nigrum, Oxycoccos quadripetala. The plant associations like Sphagneto-Eriophoretum vaginati, Eriophoreto-Sphagnetum, Pinetum silvestris vaccinietosum, Pinetum silvestris-Eriophoretosum vaginati, Pineto-Betuletum caricetosum echinatae, Alnetum glutinosae caricetosum elongatae, C. remotae, Piceto-Betuletu and, Betulerum vaccinietosum, hide a unique invertebrate fauna. During the previous investigations we found extremely rare spider (Scotina celans, Zelotes clivicola, Gnaphosa nigerrima) and beetles (Trechus marginalis, Pterostichus nigrita, Pterostichus vernalis) species, some of them were identified for the first time in Romanian fauna.

Our project will survey the populations of threatened plant and invertebrate species in oligothroph meadows in eastern Transilvania, Romania. The team is going to raise conservation awareness among local people and the country’s decision-makers, for protecting these threatened habitats, and involving a new wetland reservation.

The team will make species inventories, assessment of threat factors, action plans for conservation and proposals for protection.