Bagušinskaitė, Agnė, Jukonienė, Ilona. 2024. Historical and current status of the glacial relic – dwarf birch (Betula nana L.) – in the Šepeta peatland. Šepeta. History of the lost mire: 112–125. Vilnius. https://doi.org/10.35513/NRC.2024.2.08
https://gamtostyrimai.lt/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024_Pelke_08_Bagusinskaite.pdf
Summary
In the Šepeta peatland, dwarf birch (Betula nana L) was first recorded in 1921 by Prof. Tadas Ivanauskas, the famous Lithuanian naturalist. Later mentions of B. nana are found in scientific works by A. Minkevičius, H. Wojtusiakowa and K. Regelis, which appeared in the first half of the 20th century. It was in 1940, during the complex research expedition led by K. Brundza, that B. nana and its distribution in the Šepeta mire received the greatest scholarly attention. Thirteen specimens of B. nana collected from the Šepeta mire are known to be stored in Lithuanian and foreign herbaria. Historical records prove B. nana to have been widespread in this peatland in the past. In the last century, as a result of the intensified peat extraction continuing from the 1960s, most of B. nana habitats were irreversibly destroyed. At present, B. nana is still growing in the unexploited middle part of the peatland and at three sites outside it. The B. nana population, which is in a relatively good condition due to the minimal anthropogenic impact, can be still preserved in the locality further south of the peatland.
Key words: bog vegetation, Etlia Liba Trapidaitė. Halina Wojtusiakowa, herbaria, Kazys Brundza, Konstantinas Regelis, vegetation complexes.
Language: Lithuanian; Abstract – English
E-mail: agne.bagusinskaite@gamtc.lt
ilona.jukoniene@gamtc.lt
Nature Research Centre
