Jiří Sádlo

ABSTRACT The origin of this book was somewhat more complex than is usual amongst titles of this kind. First we aimed to publish a volume of long abstracts from a conference of the “Czech Archaeobotany Working Group” that took place in âeské Budûjovice, South Bohemia, in January 2006. This group is an informal collection of people dedicated to archaeobotany and related disciplines within different institutions in the Czech Republic. This is why archaeobotany is also at the centre of interest in the present book. Over time we came to the opinion that this volume should focus on a wider audience and therefore we asked local specialists from other related disciplines – palaeoecology, archaeozoology, and archaeological anthropology to contribute. Putting it simply we employed an editorial strategy of the progressive filling of gaps in the thematic and chronological framework. Finally we arrived at a form of publication that is slightly more ambitious than a simple conference volume. Its scope is to map current movements in the field of environmental archaeology that focus on the remains of living organisms in the Czech Republic. Therefore we present this “Bioarchaeology in the Czech Republic” volume where all the contributions have been peer-reviewed.

Monografie Vegetace Ceske republiky systematicky shrnuje výsledky vice než osmi desetileti výzkumu nasich rostlinných spolecenstev. Kromě podrobneho popisu floristicke skladby, ekologie, dynamiky a rozsiřeni typů přirozene i clověkem ovlivněne vegetace jsou v ni poprve uveřejněny synopticke tabulky druhoveho složeni a mapy rozsiřeni vsech fytocenologických asociaci nasi vegetace. Ty jsou výsledkem rozsahle analýzy desitek tisic fytocenologických snimků z Ceske narodni fytocenologicke databaze. Na rozdil od podobných zpracovani vegetace jiných zemi, byly vsechny u nas rozlisene asociace přesně formalně vymezeny pomoci floristickeho složeni, což umožňuje využit pocitacový expertni system a jednoznacně přiřadit porosty zaznamenane v terenu k asociacim popsaným v teto monografii. Druhý dil z planovaných ctyř je věnovan převažně bylinne vegetaci clověkem vytvořených a silně ovlivněných stanovisť, jako jsou intravilany měst a vesnic, okoli průmyslových a zemědělských podniků, okraje cest, silnic a železnic, polni kultury, lesni paseky a zdi. Soucasně tento dil přinasi charakteristiku přirozene vegetace skal, suti, lesnich okrajů a porostnich světlin. Tato vegetace je cleněna do 8 fytocenologických třid, 32 svazů a 119 asociaci.

ABSTRACT QuestionPatterns of phylogenetic relatedness of species within community types (phylogenetic structure; PS) are often used to infer processes of community assembly, yet the causes of these patterns remain poorly understood. Here we ask whether PS of extant plant species pools is related to availability of correspoding habitats in the geological history.LocationCzech Republic.Methods We characterized PS of recent species pools of 88 major vascular plant community types occurring in the country, comprising a total of 2306 species, using the mean phylogenetic distance (MPD) between all pairs of species found in each species pool, and compared the PS of these species pools with the relative ages of their habitats.ResultsClustered PS was observed consistently in species pools of historically younger community types of grasslands and other open habitats, which were formed mainly during the late Tertiary as a consequence of climate aridization and cooling, and to which only a limited number of lineages had enough time to adapt. Clustered PS was also typical of species pools of the recent human-made habitats, in which it probably resulted from environmental filtering of pre-adapted lineages. In contrast, overdispersed PS was observed in forests and other plant community types occurring in habitats that are assumed to have existed continuously since the Mesozoic.Conclusions Our analyses suggest that habitat age has a strong effect on PS of species pools of extant plant community types. Based on these results, we argue that history of the analysed species pools at a geological time scale should be considered whenever differences in PS are discussed and interpreted.

Třida Stellarietea mediae zahrnuje jednoletou vegetaci vyvijejici se na narusovaných stanovistich, kterou lze rozdělit na dva hlavni typy. Prvnim typem jsou spolecenstva polnich plevelů, casto oznacovana jako vegetace segetalni. Druhý typ tvoři spolecenstva vznikajici v lidských sidlech a jejich okoli, na mistech s větsi koncentraci zvěře nebo podel cest, silnic a železnic; takova spolecenstva oznacujeme jako ruderalni. Pro vývoj obou skupin spolecenstev je nezbytne pravidelně nebo nepravidelně se opakujici narusovani vegetace i půdniho povrchu (disturbance) ať už polnimi pracemi, nebo mechanickým odstraňovanim porostů, použitim herbicidů, narusovanim půdy a přemisťovanim zeminy.The class Stellarietea mediae includes ve getation of frequently or recently disturbed sites with nutrient-rich soils and a preponderance of annual herbs. It occurs either as weed vegetation on arable land or as ruderal vegetation in human settlements and other disturbed places. It is mainly composed of annual plants. Stellarietea mediae vegetation expanded in central Europe with the advent of Neolithic agriculture. Many species typical of this vegetation are archaeophytes which were introduced mainly from the Near East and Mediterranean during prehistoric period. Species composition of this vegetation was changing with changes in agrotechniques and management of human-made habitats. In modern times several neophytes spread in this vegetation. Today this class encompasses large diversity of plant communities ranging from species-poor monodominant stands to species-rich weed communities in less intensively managed arable fields or gardens.