Ruderal vegetation of Montenegro

As part of bilateral cooperation, we conducted two visits of the Slovenian team to Montenegro and one visit of the Montenegrin colleague to Slovenia. Most of the work was fieldwork and included the inventory of ruderal vegetation. In 2023, in September, we surveyed ruderal vegetation in the city of Podgorica and its surroundings. We visited several parts of the area where we expected a higher probability of the presence of different anthropogenic habitats (e.g. abandoned construction sites, garbage dumps, roadsides), and we also tried to cover as large an area as possible. We conducted 65 vegetation inventories of communities that are optimally developed in late summer and autumn. We identified 28 different vegetation types, most of which we have already classified into previously described associations based on publications in scientific literature. Three colleagues from Slovenia (F. Küzmič, U. Šilc and S. Behrič) and a colleague from Montenegro (D. Stešević) participated in the surveys, and two of her students from (M. Šoškić and A. Popović) joined us. In May 2024, we surveyed ruderal vegetation in the cities of Podgorica, Cetinje, Donji Štoj, Nikšić and Berane. In each of the cities, we visited several locations where we expected ruderal vegetation stands (e.g. abandoned construction sites, garbage dumps, roadsides), and we also tried to cover as large an area as possible. We made 70 vegetation surveys of communities that are optimally developed in late spring and summer. We identified 35 different vegetation types, most of which we have already classified into the syntaxa described so far based on publications in scientific literature. Three colleagues from Slovenia (F. Küzmič, U. Šilc and S. Behrič) and colleagues from Montenegro (D. Stešević, M. Stanišić Vujačić, M. Šoškić in A. Popović) participated in the recording, and a group of students from Montenegro also joined us as part of an elective course in which they perform field exercises in botany and phytosociology. During the visit of our colleague Marina Šoškić from Montenegro (December 2024), we determined selected herbarium collections from field work in Montenegro in 2024. At the same time, we also determined a new species for Montenegro - Stellaria ruderalis. During the visit, Marina Šoškić also examined and revised herbarium specimens of species from the genus Ornithogalum from Slovenia, as she is working on this genus in Montenegro and the surrounding area as part of her doctoral studies. Within the framework of bilateral cooperation, we also compiled an overview of the records of ruderal communities that have been recorded so far, which have not yet been published (some from the field notes of Montenegrin collaborators, some from our joint collaborations in previous years). The resulting table was partially annotated with the number of inventories of each community, its classification in the system, and its interpretation in the context of European phytosociology.