Semi-dry grasslands are of high nature conservation interest both at national and European scales due to their high biodiversity and species richness. For effective conservation, however, the variation in floristic composition and distribution of these grasslands need first to be described. In Hungary, there is currently no comprehensive survey and classification of semi-dry grasslands. Therefore, the aim of this study was to (i) describe the variation in species composition of Hungarian semi-dry grasslands by a country-scale cluster analysis based on a large database; (ii) describe the types (clusters) and compare these descriptions with those in the phytosociological literature, and finally (iii) formulate a new syntaxonomical system for Hungarian semi-dry grasslands. For this analysis 699 relevés were selected in which the percentage cover of at least one of the grasses Brachypodium pinnatum, Bromus erectus, Danthonia alpina, Avenula adsurgens, A. pubescens or A. compressa reached >10%. A geographical stratification of the dataset was performed and then it was split randomly into two equal parts (training and test datasets). Following outlier exclusion and noise elimination, clustering was performed separately for both datasets. The optimal number of clusters was determined by validation. The number of valid clusters was the highest at the level of ten clusters, where seven clusters appeared to be valid. The valid clusters are separated geographically; however, there are considerable overlaps in the species compositions. According to our results, all the grasslands belong to the Cirsio-Brachypodion alliance. The seven valid clusters are assigned to five main groups of semi-dry grasslands in Hungary: 1. Brachypodium pinnatum (and partly Bromus erectus) dominated, species rich meadow-steppe-like grasslands occurring on deep loess in central Pannonia, identified as Euphorbio pannonicae-Brachypodietum Horváth 2009; 2. Brachypodium pinnatum dominated mountain grasslands restricted to the Bükk Mountains; identified as Polygalo majoris-Brachypodietum Wagner 1941; 3. mostly Bromus erectus dominated grasslands on shallow, calcium/rich soils of the Dunántúl region, proposed as a new association Sanguisorbo minoris-Brometum erecti Illyés, Bauer & Botta-Dukát 2009; 4. Brachypodium pinnatum and Danthonia alpina dominated stands occurring mainly in the Északi-középhegység Mts, characterized by species of nutrient poor soils, proposed as a new association Trifolio medii-Brachypodietum pinnati Illyés, Bauer & Botta-Dukát 2009; 5. transition towards meadows and successional stands dominated mainly by Brachypodium pinnatum.
A phytosociological study of the West Carpathian mesic hay meadows and pastures (order Arrhenatheretalia elatioris) was performed and is the first unified investigation into the vegetation diversity in the area, which is situated in three countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland). Because of the differences in the current classification systems used in different countries it was not possible to make a single selection of the Arrhenatheretalia relevés from the databases, so a data set containing relevés originally assigned to three orders encompassing this vegetation in hay meadows and pastures in the area (Arrhenatheretalia elatioris, Molinietalia and Nardetalia strictae) was established. This data set was classified using cluster analysis. Only the cluster corresponding to the order Arrhenatheretalia elatioris at the level of three clusters was further classified in the same way as the whole data set. The ecological interpretation of the classification was based on altitude, Ellenberg indicator values and geological bedrock. The clusters were also compared with the syntaxonomical assignment of the relevés by their authors. The classification at the level of 12 clusters reflected the most widespread vegetation types of mesicmeadows and pastures recorded in the area. The vegetation of extensive pastures, corresponding to the association Anthoxantho odorati-Agrostietum tenuis, seemed to be more similar in floristic composition to the mesic meadows of Arrhenatherion elatioris than to the intensive pastures of Cynosurion cristati, where it was traditionally classified, which has important conservation consequences because of the different position of these units in conservation systems such as Natura 2000. Higher altitude meadows were divided into four vegetation types including meadows corresponding to the association Gladiolo imbricati-Agrostietum capillaris, which is a frequent community in the Polish Carpathians that does not occur in the other regions. Montane meadows currently classified in Polygono bistortae-Trisetion flavescentis were less clearly distinguished, probably because of their patchy distribution in theWest Carpathians. The differences in vegetation diversity of meadows and pastures between particular countries were confirmed, with Gladiolo imbricati-Agrostietum capillaris occurring predominantly in the northern part of the West Carpathians and Anthoxantho odorati-Agrostietum tenuis virtually absent here. The ecological determinants of variation in montane meadows are discussed.