Aims: The spring habitats of Central Europe are insular biotopes of high ecological value. Although subject to severe exploitation pressures, they do not yet have a comprehensive protection status in Switzerland. Contributing to this challenge is the controversy involved with their syntaxonomic classification. In the context of the development of a regional conservation strategy and the establishment of a national inventory of Swiss springs, we carried out a regional survey of spring vegetation and aimed to translate this into a classification system.Study area: Montane and subalpine zones of Parc Ela (Grisons, Switzerland).Methods: We selected 20 springs to cover different regions, elevations and bedrock types within the park. In each of them we recorded complete vascular plant and bryophyte composition as well as a range of environmental variables in three 1-m² plots that were placed to reflect the heterogeneity within the spring. After running an unsupervised classification with modified TWINSPAN, the distinguished vegetation units were characterized in terms of diagnostic species, species richness and environmental variables and placed within the syntaxonomic system.Results: Species richness was high (total species 264, mean 21.7 species in 1 m2). The two most important environmental gradients of the ordination were elevation/water conductivity and insolation/water pH/soil reaction EIV. We distinguished seven communities within two main groups.Conclusions: All unshaded springs, including those over siliceous bedrock, could be assigned to a broadly definedCratoneurion. The petrifying springs were not strongly distinguishable floristically from other base-rich springs. The forest springs, although often not clearly differentiated from their unshaded counterparts, could be provisionally divided into the alliancesCaricion remotaeandLycopodo europaei-Cratoneurion commutati. As there is a certain threat to these habitats in the park due to anthropogenic influence, protection measures are recommended, most importantly the appropriate management of alpine pastures.Taxonomic reference: Juillerat et al. (2017) for vascular plants, Meier et al. (2013) for bryophytes.Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance; DCA = detrended correspondence analysis; EIV = ecological indicator value; FOEN = Federal Office of the Environment (Switzerland); NCHO = Ordinance on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage; SD = standard deviation; TWINSPAN = Two Way Indicator Species Analysis; WPA = Federal Act on the Protection of Waters.
