17.3 Data Collection in Bucegi Natural Park
The identification of the effects of climate change and of the different potential
threats affecting the protected area was based on the results of a survey conducted in
2010, addressed to 97 subjects (landowners, land users and significant stakeholders)
involved in the management of Bucegi Natural Park.
Estimation of the potential vulnerability of Festuca supina (Cioca ˆrlan 2009)
grasslands to the potential impacts of climate change was based on analysis of
16 plots of 25 m
2 , identified on the plateau of the mountain between 2010 and 2012.
All 16 plots of habitat type 6150 were located at an altitude between 1,900 and
2,300 m, with low temperatures (annual average temperature between À2.5 and
3
C), sufficient humidity (1,100–1,400 mm/year) and a minimum snow coverage
of 200 days per year (Pus ¸caru et al. 1956; Donit ¸a ˘ et al. 2005).
The following parameters were used: species richness, species abundancedominance and species potential sensitivity. The species conservation value was
defined according to the Red List of Higher Plants of Romania (Oltean et al. 1994)
and to the Annex II of the Habitats Directive. Species nomenclature is in accordance with The Plant List (2010).
The assessment of the potential sensitivity of species to climate changes used the
following criteria: the life span, biological form, the requirements in terms of
humidity, heat and nutrients, evaluated according to the groups of biological
forms and to scales for moisture, heat and nutrient requirement, used in determining
the ecology of species in Romania (Popescu and Sanda 1998; Cioca ˆrlan 2009).
17.4 Potential Pressures and Consequences of Climate
Change in Bucegi Natural Park
The results of the survey addressed to owners, users and stakeholders involved in
the management of Bucegi Natural Park revealed four categories of climate change
pressures, associated with either the phenomenon of global warming or with rainfall
imbalances or severe weather and seasonal disturbances: increase in temperature,
decrease in rainfall, seasonal changes in precipitation and temperature and increase
of extreme weather phenomena. Their effects can threat directly and indirectly
plants diversity and habitats quality (Fig. 17.2).
The habitat type 6150, which was considered in this study comprises of alpine
grasslands of Festuca supina, which form dense vegetation, composed of many
plant taxa (122–130), widely dominated by Festuca supina (65–85 %), with
10–22 % Agrostis rupestris All. and Potentila ternata Freyn (Fig. 17.3). It is an
oligotherm habitat, a glacial relict, which shelters 26 taxa with conservation value
listed in the Red List of Higher Plants of Romania (Oltean et al. 1994).
The dominant species are perennial, and dependent on moderate humidity
(mesophilic), the presence of snow (hemicryptophyte and chamaephyte) and low
17 Potential Impact of Climate Change on Alpine Habitats. . .
261
The identification of the effects of climate change and of the different potential
threats affecting the protected area was based on the results of a survey conducted in
2010, addressed to 97 subjects (landowners, land users and significant stakeholders)
involved in the management of Bucegi Natural Park.
Estimation of the potential vulnerability of Festuca supina (Cioca ˆrlan 2009)
grasslands to the potential impacts of climate change was based on analysis of
16 plots of 25 m
2 , identified on the plateau of the mountain between 2010 and 2012.
All 16 plots of habitat type 6150 were located at an altitude between 1,900 and
2,300 m, with low temperatures (annual average temperature between À2.5 and
3
C), sufficient humidity (1,100–1,400 mm/year) and a minimum snow coverage
of 200 days per year (Pus ¸caru et al. 1956; Donit ¸a ˘ et al. 2005).
The following parameters were used: species richness, species abundancedominance and species potential sensitivity. The species conservation value was
defined according to the Red List of Higher Plants of Romania (Oltean et al. 1994)
and to the Annex II of the Habitats Directive. Species nomenclature is in accordance with The Plant List (2010).
The assessment of the potential sensitivity of species to climate changes used the
following criteria: the life span, biological form, the requirements in terms of
humidity, heat and nutrients, evaluated according to the groups of biological
forms and to scales for moisture, heat and nutrient requirement, used in determining
the ecology of species in Romania (Popescu and Sanda 1998; Cioca ˆrlan 2009).
17.4 Potential Pressures and Consequences of Climate
Change in Bucegi Natural Park
The results of the survey addressed to owners, users and stakeholders involved in
the management of Bucegi Natural Park revealed four categories of climate change
pressures, associated with either the phenomenon of global warming or with rainfall
imbalances or severe weather and seasonal disturbances: increase in temperature,
decrease in rainfall, seasonal changes in precipitation and temperature and increase
of extreme weather phenomena. Their effects can threat directly and indirectly
plants diversity and habitats quality (Fig. 17.2).
The habitat type 6150, which was considered in this study comprises of alpine
grasslands of Festuca supina, which form dense vegetation, composed of many
plant taxa (122–130), widely dominated by Festuca supina (65–85 %), with
10–22 % Agrostis rupestris All. and Potentila ternata Freyn (Fig. 17.3). It is an
oligotherm habitat, a glacial relict, which shelters 26 taxa with conservation value
listed in the Red List of Higher Plants of Romania (Oltean et al. 1994).
The dominant species are perennial, and dependent on moderate humidity
(mesophilic), the presence of snow (hemicryptophyte and chamaephyte) and low
17 Potential Impact of Climate Change on Alpine Habitats. . .
261