Contribuţii Botanice - 2010, XLV: 13-24 Grădina Botanică “Alexandru Borza” Cluj-Napoca ASSESSMENT OF SPECIES COMPOSITION: ENDEMICS, RELICTS AND RED-LISTED PLANTS (TRACHEOPHYTAE, BRYOPHYTAE, AND FUNGI) IN FOREST NATURAL HABITATS OF ROMANIA Adrian OPREA 1 , Irina GOIA 2 , Cătălin TĂNASE 1 , Culiţă SÎRBU 3 1 Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Grădina Botanică „Anastasie Fătu”, str. Dumbrava Roşie, nr. 7-9, RO-700487 Iaşi, România 2 Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Facultatea de Biologie şi Geologie, Catedra de Taxonomie şi Ecologie, str. Republicii, nr. 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, România 3 Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină Veterinară, str. M. Sadoveanu, nr. 1, RO-700487 Iaşi, România e-mail: aoprea@uaic.ro Abstract: Our study attempts to complete the description of the forest natural habitats (sensu Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC) recorded in our country, with the rarest, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, extinct in the wild, glacial or Tertiary relict species, as well as the endemic or near-endemic plant species and fungi. 230 species of vascular plants, 90 bryophytes and 31 fungi have been identified as being the rarest, the most threatened, relict or endemic/near endemic in the forests of Romania. Most of the species listed in the Red Data Book and various Red Lists live in deciduous forests – 198 species, especially vascular plants and bryophytes; 81 species (23.07%) are distributed in coniferous forests, while 72 species (20.5%) are located in mixed forest. In Romania the most favourable state of forests in terms of plant conservation (number of threatened, rare, relict, and endemic/near endemic plants) is found on the upper hills, as well as in the lower and middle levels of the mountain areas. But the forests situated in the middle and lower parts of hills, as well as in the plains, have a much more reduced diversity, in terms of number of species of vascular plants, bryophytes and fungi, as a result of strong human impact. Some of the natural habitats that circumscribe Romanian forests (e. g. 91AA, 91V0, 91Y0, 9410, etc), are the most exposed to anthropic-zoogenic pressures of all kinds. The largest number of threatened, rare and endemic/near endemic, or relict species of vascular plants and bryophyte are distributed in the forest-steppe areas in the east, south and south-west part of Romania (Steppe & Continental Bioregions), as well as along the chain of the Carpathian Mountains (Alpine Bioregion). Key words: Romanian forests, Red-listed species, diversity conservation, Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC, Bern Convention. Introduction Earth’s forests have an important role in the life of humanity, not only for timber products but also as other vegetal and animal resources and as a part, one that is irreplaceable, of our environment. Nowadays, forests represent c.30% of the whole terrestrial surface [18], being an important part of the Biosphere. A favourable state of the development of forests is found especially in the upper hilly regions, as well as in the lower and middle levels of the mountains. Phytosociological composition of the zonal forest belts is fairly intricate, registering various forest formations: e.g. spruce forests (with Picea abies), mixed forests of beech (Fagus sylvatica with other broad leaved species or conifers) and various coniferous species, more or less pure stands of beech, more or less pure stands of oaks (Quercus spp.) and mixed forests of various species of oaks, stands of Turkey oak (Quercus cerris), stands of Hungarian oak (Q. frainetto), mixed forests of Turkey and Hungarian oaks, and stands of Q. pedunculiflora. Azonal forest formations comprise, for the most part, the riverine forests: with black alder (Alnus glutinosa), white alder (A. incana), black poplar (Populus nigra) and white poplar (P. alba), various species of willow (Salix spp.), etc. All of these forest types comprise numerous plant and fungal species, some of them being