Grassland typological characterisation: a case study in Romania

Nowadays grasslands have to be considered as multifunctional resources, their importance being expanded from the animal feed resource to landscape, tourism, biodiversity etc. The purpose of this work is to highlight the suitability of the typological approach for the assessment of mountain grassland vegetation. The typological approach is one of the most complete approaches because it brings pieces of information both from phyto-ecological and agronomical point of view that can be used for the proper planning of exploitation and conservation management. Two subalpine grasslands from Muntele Mic Massif, a Natura 2000 site, part of Retezat – Godeanu Mountain, sector of the South Carpathians chain, have been assessed. The analysed grasslands are placed at different altitudes, respectively 1800 m and 1600 m a.s.l. Both grasslands are framing in a Nardus stricta typological series. Biodiversity is higher at 1800 m level in comparison with 1600 m. From the point of view of the life forms, both the grasslands are dominated by hemicryptophytes. The most dominant chorotypes are European species followed by the circumpola