Wetland plant communities of turloughs in southeast Galway/north Clare, Ireland in relation to environmental factors

Turloughs are seasonal wetlands in Ireland and are priority habitats under the EU Habitats Directive. A number of previously described turlough plant communities were surveyed and, using objective floristic analysis, nine communities identified. Within these nine communities, there was gradation from one community to the next. Overall, there was a broad division between sedge-dominated and grass/forb-dominated communities that is recognised by other authors. The variants in these communities differ, however, between the various authors indicating that there may be gradation from one community to the next in relation to subtle differences in environmental variables. A number of environmental variables that may affect these communities were investigated and depth of deposits over bedrock, soil moisture, date of emptying of the turlough, and water phosphorus and nitrogen were found to correlate with the turlough plant communities in this study.