On the delimitation of the Mesobromion and Xerobromion in Belgium and French Lorraine

Within a broader study of the chalk and limestone grasslands in Belgium, Luxemburg and northern France, the limestone grasslands of the Meuse valley in Belgium and in French Lorraine were investigated. Floristic data as well as environmental variables were taken into account for the delimitation of species and relevé groups. Discriminant analysis and canonical correlation analysis proved to be very helpful in the interpretation of the detected groups as well as for the reconsideration of interrelationships between recognised syntaxa. The present results are consistent with the hypothesis that the limestone grasslands in French Lorraine, even those previously assigned to the Xerobromion, belong to the Mesobromion, and that the limestone grasslands in Belgium belong either to the Mesobromion or to the Xerobromion in an impoverished form.