Plant diversity of subalpine rangelands in the Grammos mountain of Greece

One of the greatest challenges for management of rangelands and natural ecosystems is the combination of preservation and utilization of natural resources. This goal is imperative for the subalpine rangelands of the Grammos mountain in Greece, due to the important natural environment of the region and grazing, which is traditionally the most important activity. In this paper the aim was to record the plants and vegetation of the study area and to investigate the relationship between grazing and plant diversity. Based on the intended management project of the subalpine rangelands of Grammos, 10 rangeland units were detected. In each one of them, stocking rate, grazing capacity and plant diversity with the use of the indices of Shannon-Weiner, equitability and plant richness, were measured. We identified three groups of rangeland units according to the grazing pressure. Shannon- Weiner index of diversity was found higher in the overgrazed rangeland units than to the lightly grazed ones. The indices of equitability and plant richness were independent of the grazing pressure.