Current food biotechnology trends and final gastronomic products in recent times include unusual exotic plants as bases, salads, side dishes or drinks. Considering these trends halophytes could be potentially positioned as a novel source... more
Current food biotechnology trends and final gastronomic products in recent times include unusual exotic plants as bases, salads, side dishes or drinks. Considering these trends halophytes could be potentially positioned as a novel source of gastronomic products and bioactive compounds. Many halophytes are used as food, fodder or medicinal plants. In the Serbia is one countries with well developed halophytic flora. This article aimed to investigate the place of halophytes in actual traditional utilization and make a list of species suitable for food preparation with confirmed use and nutritional value comparable with other countries.
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Cutandia maritima is a circum-Mediterranean species that inhabits sandy dunes along the coast line. It is fairly frequent on the western Adriatic coast but fairly rare and possibly even non-native in the east. In Croatia, it was... more
Cutandia maritima is a circum-Mediterranean species that inhabits sandy dunes along the coast line. It is fairly frequent on the western Adriatic coast but fairly rare and possibly even non-native in the east. In Croatia, it was discovered in 1990 in Crnika Bay on the island of Rab, which was considered until 2005 to be the only site on the eastern Adriatic coast from the Gulf of Trieste in the north to Corfu in the south. In 2009, the species was briefly reported for Velika plaža (Long Beach) in Ulcinj (Montenegro) but without details about the habitat type and synecology. The aim of this paper is thus to provide a deeper insight into the ecology and synecology of C. maritima in the eastern Adriatic part of the distribution area. On Velika plaža in Ulcinj, the species was found along the whole sea-inland gradient of sand dunes, in various types of vegetation: [1210] - annual vegetation of drift lines, [2110] - embryonic shifting dunes, [2120] - shifting dunes with Ammophila arenari...
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Despite the valuable economic benefits of tourism, it must be highlighted that the tourism industry is an important source of stress for the environment with the main influence on tourist destinations. The aim of this study is to... more
Despite the valuable economic benefits of tourism, it must be highlighted that the tourism industry is an important source of stress for the environment with the main influence on tourist destinations. The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of environmental sustainability in tourism as key factors in the competitiveness of tourism using entropy methods. According to the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that the entropy model applied to Environmental sustainability indicators, regarding entropy as a measure of non-uniformity among sustainability indicators of EU countries. The data of the EU were used and Environmental sustainability pillar of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index. The results show that the total entropy of the competitiveness of tourism within the environmental sustainability sub-index of the EU countries speaks in favor of the uniformity of the indicators. The study also reveals significant differences among the EU27 in the domain of the ...
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This study represents a comparative analysis of secondary metabolites content, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity of 24 halophytes from coastal saline habitats of the Balkan Peninsula (Montenegro, Albania, and Greece). Total content... more
This study represents a comparative analysis of secondary metabolites content, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity of 24 halophytes from coastal saline habitats of the Balkan Peninsula (Montenegro, Albania, and Greece). Total content of phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity was determined for dry methanolic (DME) and crude water extracts (CWE) and compared with well-known medicinal plants. The total phenolic content ranged from 13.23 to 376.08 mg of GA/g of DME, and from 33.68 to 511.10 mg/mL of CWE. The content of flavonoids ranged from 12.63 to 77.36 mg of RU/g of DME, and from 12.13 to 26.35 mg/mL of CWE. Total tannins and anthocyanins varied from 0.05 to 2.44 mg/mL, and from 1.31 to 39.81 µg/L, respectively. The antioxidant activity ranged from 1147.68 to 15.02 µg/mL for DME and from 1613.05 to 21.96 µg/mL for CWE. The best antioxidant properties, and the highest content of phenolic compounds, were determined for Polygonum mari...
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Halophytic vegetation is very complex and diverse, and the main factors for its development are salinity and moisture. Investigations into different types of halophytic vegetation have been compiled in vegetation databases as scientific... more
Halophytic vegetation is very complex and diverse, and the main factors for its development are salinity and moisture. Investigations into different types of halophytic vegetation have been compiled in vegetation databases as scientific tools for classification analyses and interpretation of European saline habitats. Two major types of halophytic habitats exist in Europe: inland (continental) and coastal (maritime), with different halophytic plant communities. Inland halophytic vegetation is classified into two main classes: Thero-Salicornietea: annual succulent vegetation of extreme salt-rich soils, and Festuco-Puccinellietea: saline steppe grasslands. Coastal halophytic vegetation is represented by five classes: Saginetea maritimae: ephemeral vegetation, Crithmo-Staticetea: vegetation of salt-sprayed coastal cliffs, Cakiletea maritimae: pioneer vegetation of sandy and shingle beaches, Ammophiletea: tall-grass vegetation on mobile coastal dunes and Helichryso-Crucianelletea maritim...
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Questions: What is the current state of knowledge on the distribution of psammophytic vegetation along the eastern Adriatic coast? Which are the main vegetation types and how do they vary from a floristic and ecological point of view?... more
Questions: What is the current state of knowledge on the distribution of psammophytic vegetation along the eastern Adriatic coast? Which are the main vegetation types and how do they vary from a floristic and ecological point of view? Study area: The eastern Adriatic coast of Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. Methods: We collected all available vegetation releves (a total of 191, published and unpublished) and historical references of sand dune vegetation from the eastern Adriatic coast. Classification and ordination were performed on the dataset and a syntaxonomical overview of the different plant communities along a seashore-inland zonation and their geographical distribution is presented. Results: The classification of the phytosociological data show eight floristically and ecologically well-defined clusters. The first group of embryonic foredunes comprises of the Cakilo-Xanthietum, Euphorbia paralias community and Eryngio-Sporoboletum, whilst the second group is found on the more stable dunes with Euphorbio paraliae-Agropyretum junceiformis, Medicagini marinae-Ammophiletum australis and Scabiosa argentea-Ephedra distachya communities. The latter is newly described and is found only along the Albanian coast. The number of plant communities is lower than in surrounding countries, particularly on fixed dunes. The presence of the EU habitat type 'Crucianellion maritimae fixed beach dunes' (2210) is newly reported for Albania. Conclusions: Sand dunes are important habitats from a nature conservation point of view and they are endangered due to strong human impact. The protection of sand dune habitat types throughout the study area is urgent, since they are still in good condition in Albania, while sand dune plant communities are fragmented in Croatia and under strong human impact in Montenegro
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Aims: A syntaxonomic revision of saline grassland vegetation according to floristic, ecological and biogeographical characteristics. Study area: Southeastern Europe with special emphasis to the Southeastern Balkan. Methods: The set of... more
Aims: A syntaxonomic revision of saline grassland vegetation according to floristic, ecological and biogeographical characteristics. Study area: Southeastern Europe with special emphasis to the Southeastern Balkan. Methods: The set of 2,362 releves from published and unpublished sources originally classified into the classes Thero-Salicornietea, Festuco-Puccinellietea and Molinio-Arrhenatheretea was analysed. Cluster analysis and ordination of the dataset were performed to assess particular vegetation patterns. Diagnostic species of each cluster were determined using the phi-coefficient as a fidelity measure. Results: The analysed dataset could be arranged into four main groups reflecting soil salinity as a key factor for the differentiation of halophytic vegetation. The first group comprised communities of extremely saline and wet soils (Thero-Salicornietea), the second group included highly saline Pannonian grasslands (Puccinellietalia), whereas the third group was rather heterogeneous, grouping different types of saline and alkaline vegetation, mostly on solonetz soil, including vegetation developed on wet saline places, steppe grasslands (Artemisio-Festucetalia) and halophytic vegetation from southern Serbia and R. Macedonia (Puccinellion convolutae). The fourth group comprised sub-Mediterranean grasslands from Molinio-Arrhenatheretea class occurring in habitats of a low salinity level. Conclusions: Variation in different types of halophytic vegetation corresponds to the salinity and moisture gradients. This is an additional attempt of large-scale analysis of the halophytic vegetation focusing on the Southeastern Europe and Balkan in particular. The occurrence of the alliance Puccinelion convolutae was confirmed within saline habitats in southern Serbia. There is an urgent need for conservation of the studied halophytic flora and vegetation
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We compared the zonation of vegetation and connectivity of coastal plant communities between two distinct areas, one in Montenegro and another in Albania, that differ in terms of human impact, mainly through tourism activities. Transect... more
We compared the zonation of vegetation and connectivity of coastal plant communities between two distinct areas, one in Montenegro and another in Albania, that differ in terms of human impact, mainly through tourism activities. Transect plots were used to gather data about plant cover and communities, their zonation and connectivity. For description of communities multivariate methods were used and for distribution zonation we used gamma connectivity and richness of boundaries. We found that the transects of vegetation zonation from Albania, with better preserved sites, were richer in the number of boundaries, with more varied combinations of boundaries and the pattern of zonation was also more diverse. On the other hand, there were two plant communities found only in Montenegro. The more impacted transects on the disturbed beaches from Montenegro were also more unidirectional from sea to hinterland but with less ideal zonation. Plant communities from Albania were distributed more s...
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Continental halophytic grasslands are known for performing of range of ecosystem services especially remarkable in the regions where they are much distributed – in arid and semi-arid areas. Continental halophytic grasslands of the Central... more
Continental halophytic grasslands are known for performing of range of ecosystem services especially remarkable in the regions where they are much distributed – in arid and semi-arid areas. Continental halophytic grasslands of the Central and South-East Europe are not considered as favourable for arable farming, however, traditional animal husbandry plays a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and preserving these natural habitats. The particular interest of this study is the assessment of the chemical composition of biomass and the quality of insufficiently studied halophytic grassland communities of the central Balkans. In addition, the differences in pastoral value were monitored along the geographical gradient, i.e., between grasslands situated in the Pannonian plain (grasslands of Alliance Puccinellion limosae) and those distributed on the south Serbia (Alliance Festucion pseudovinae). The study was carried out at 18 representative sites, focusing on the saline grasslands o...