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Questions: What are the main floristic patterns in the Pannonian and western Pontic steppe grasslands? What are the diagnostic species of the major subdivisions of the class Festuco-Brometea (temperate Euro-Siberian dry and semi-dry grasslands)? Location: Carpathian Basin (E Austria, SE Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, N Croatia and N Serbia), Ukraine, S Poland and the Bryansk region of W Russia. Methods: We applied a geographically stratified resampling to a large set of relevés containing at least one indicator species of steppe grasslands. The resulting data set of 17 993 relevés was classified using the TWINSPAN algorithm. We identified groups of clusters that corresponded to the class Festuco-Brometea. After excluding relevés not belonging to our target class, we applied a consensus of three fidelity measures, also taking into account external knowledge, to establish the diagnostic species of the orders of the class. The original TWINSPAN divisions were revised on the basis of these diagnostic species. Results: The TWINSPAN classification revealed soil moisture as the most important environmental factor. Eight out of 16 TWINSPAN groups corresponded to Festuco-Brometea. A total of 80, 32 and 58 species were accepted as diagnostic for the orders Brometalia erecti, Festucetalia valesiacae and Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis, respectively. In the further subdivision of the orders, soil conditions, geographic distribution and altitude could be identified as factors driving the major floristic patterns. Conclusions: We propose the following classification of the Festuco-Brometea in our study area: (1) Brometalia erecti (semi-dry grasslands) with Scabioso ochroleucae-Poion angustifoliae (steppe meadows of the forest zone of E Europe) and Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati (meadow steppes on deep soils in the forest-steppe zone of E Central and E Europe); (2) Festucetalia valesiacae (grass steppes) with Festucion valesiacae (grass steppes on less developed soils in the forest-steppe zone of E Central and E Europe) and Stipion lessingianae (grass steppes in the steppe zone); (3) Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (rocky steppes) with Asplenio septentrionalis-Festucion pallentis (rocky steppes on siliceous and intermediate soils), Bromo-Festucion pallentis (thermophilous rocky steppes on calcareous soils), Diantho-Seslerion (dealpine Sesleria caerulea grasslands of the Western Carpathians) and Seslerion rigidae (dealpine Sesleria rigida grasslands of the Romanian Carpathians).

Nine hundred and eight-nine relevés from calcareous petrophytic steppes in Ukraine and its adjacent territories were assessed with the help of expert systems to determine the syntaxonomic affiliation of the plant communities at class and order levels. At least 488 relevés belonging to the class were analyzed using the TWINSPAN algorithm, and 8 distinctive clusters were obtained, recognized as alliances of the order . A new alliance, , was ascribed to the Crimean Mountains and the presence of two alliances, and was confirmed as new for this vegetation in Ukraine. Unlike in the Pannonian Basin, alliance communities mentioned in the literature do not occur in Ukraine. has been provisionally transferred from to the order . Furthermore, we distinguished alliances by their geographic locations and their climatic (thermoregime, cryoregime, light in communities) and edaphic (carbonate content, salinity, and acidity) features.

The main aim of this article is to characterize vegetation data of dry grassland communities on sedimentary outcrops of the Dniester Canyon (Ukraine) ecologically and to provide their syntaxonomy. For this purpose, we collected 155 relevés, and included published data from Ukrainian and Moldovian literary sources. We used cluster analysis, including the nomenclatural types of previously described relevant associations from the study area and adjacent territories. As a result, we recognized two associations of the order Alysso-Sedetalia and six of the order Stipo pulcherrimae-Festucetalia pallentis. Two associations of pioneer communities with therophytes and succulents were transferred from the endemic alliance Sempervivo ruthenici-Schivereckion of the class Asplenietea trichomanis to the widely spread alliance Alysso-Sedion of the class Sedo-Scleranthetea. Five associations of petrophytic steppes were transferred from different alliances within the classes Festuco-Brometea (Genisto tetragonae-Seselion peucedanifoliae, Festucion valesiacae) and Sedo-Scleranthetea (Alysso-Sedion) to the alliance Galio campanulati-Poion versicoloris within the class Festuco-Brometea. We also described the new association Cephalario uralensis-Agropyretum cristati. Furthermore, we tested for ecological differences between these associations using ecological scales of the Ukrainian flora and measured soil parameters. We conclude that the relief, geological structure, soils, and climate parameters determine the distribution and diversity of the communities as well as their particular floristic features.

The upper Rhone valley in the Swiss canton of Valais is one of the driest and most continental of the inner-alpine valleys and harbours a rich xerothermic flora. We studied syntaxonomy and ecology of dry grasslands and their species richness patterns. In 2018 we recorded 28 vegetation plots (10 m ) and three nested-plot series of 0.0001 to 100 m on the south-facing slopes above the village of Ausserberg. Mean richness of all species ranged from 1.7 on 1 cm to 47.3 on 100 m , with little contribution of bryophytes and lichens. The species-area relationship for total richness closely followed a power function. Modified TWINSPAN yielded a three-cluster solution, which could easily be matched with three orders of the class (xeric, rocky), (xeric, non-rocky) and (meso-xeric). The subdivision of the xeric types into two orders is new for Swiss dry grasslands, where these types up to now had been joined in a single alliance within the