Botany in Bulgaria
To many botanists Bulgaria is the least known and least traveled
portion of the “new Europe.” The Republic of Bulgaria
(110,980 km2) is part of the Balkan chain of mountains.
Bulgaria is bounded by Balkan nations of Macedonia and Serbia
to the West, Romania along its northern border (the Danube river),
the Black Sea on the east coastline, and Turkey and Greece beyond
another set of mountains on Bulgaria’s southern border.
Thus, it is simultaneously almost a Mediterranean country (only
a few hundred miles from the Mediterranean sea, it receives weather
patterns from the Mediterranean), a Black Sea nation, and a Danubian
nation as well as having extensive Balkan mountains. The southern
and western portions are forested (Fig 1 and 2). The average elevation
is about 480 m. The Balkan Mountains cross the country from the
northwestern corner to the Black Sea and form the watershed between
the Danube River and the Aegean Sea. The northern side of the
Balkan Mountains slopes gradually to the Danube River to form
the northern Danubian Plateau. Transitional plains lie to the
south of the mountains and are an important agricultural region.
The Rhodope Mountains, which form the boundary with Greece on
the south, rise to the country's highest point, Musala Peak, at
2,925 m.
The mountains contain a large number of ecosystems. The Black
Sea coastal areas range from marsh lands in the north to wide
beaches with a sloping shelf that create a marine benthic habitat.
(Note that extensive pollution beyond the control of Bulgaria
occurs both in the Black Sea, where it is at the receiving end
of circulation from Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania
as well as down from the Danube, draining 9 nations into Bulgarian
Danubian waters.) The principal river draining Bulgaria is the
Danube. Several other rivers, including the Iskur and the Yantra,
flow into the Danube. The Maritsa River flows east to Greece and
Turkey across the Thracian Plain. Other important rivers are the
Kamchiya, which empties into the Black Sea, and the Struma and
Mesta, which flow south to the Aegean Sea. Most of Bulgaria has
a continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. The
climate in general is more severe than in other European areas
of the same latitudes, although a Mediterranean climate, with
dry summers and mild, humid winters, prevails in the valley of
the southwestern Rhodope Mountains. Climate can be defined as
average January temperatures ranging from 2° C near the Black
Sea to -17° C in central Bulgaria. July temperatures range
from 16° to 27° C. The average rainfall is about 630 mm
per year, ranging from a low of about 190 mm in the northeast,
to a high of about 1,900 mm in the Rila Mountains. The wettest
period is early summer in most of the country and autumn or winter
in the southern valleys. Snowfall is generally light except in
the mountains.
Protected areas are generally forests or marshes. They include
about 10% of the land area in 753 protected reserves. There are
16 biosphere reserves and 5 RAMSAR sites. The known number of
higher plants is said to be 3,572 (FAO, 2008). Forests cover
3,625,000 ha of which 267,000 are primary, 2,028,000 ha are modified
natural, 992,000 ha are semi-natural and 41,000 are plantations.
This is an increase since independence in 1989 (FAO, 2005).
A large and rich region of agricultural productivity lies in
the valleys between the mountains and in the delta of the Danube.
This area has been in cultivation for at least 9,000 years (Thracian
and pre-Thracian cultures). The many nations who have dominated
Bulgaria have prized exports from these soils (Greek, Roman, Turkish
and USSR). Presently tobacco, fruits and vegetables are chiefly
grown. A high value export product is the attar of the Bulgar
rose (Rosa damascena and Rosa alba) grown in
valleys in central Bulgaria, which is not a native variety, but
was imported several centuries ago to service the Western European
perfume business. I was fortunate to witness the late May rose
production with many miles of central Bulgaria in full bloom.
The forest products are largely exported lumber with no value
added. This is deeply troubling since the limited forests are
protected by various reserves.
The outstanding institution with ongoing botanical research is
the Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany
in the capital Sofia. Universities, most notably the Universities
of Sofia, of Plovdiv, of Soumen, and of Stara Zagoraalso, do some
botanical research beyond their teaching. The Institute of Botany
maintains field facilities in the Western Rhodope Mountains, and
near Dolni Lozen village. The Institute of Botany does research
in the following areas: Flora and florogensis, Phytocoenology
and Ecology, and Applied Botany (medicinal plants, regeneration
of rare and endangered species, pollution effects on plants).
They also have extensive collections of plant fossils, bryological
and mycological, and vascular plants. Note that fossil pollen
is a paleo-specialty.
There have a series of botanical investigations at the Institute
of Botany since its inception in 1947 when it merged with the
Royal Institute for Science and Sofia Botanical Gardens. The staff
is 100 persons with 47 Ph.D.s. The Institute of Botany has produced
“The Flora of the Republic of Bulgaria” in
11 volumes, “The Fungi of Bulgaria” (1991-)
in 4 volumes, “Synopsis of Flowering Plants of Bulgaria”
(1980) “Guide to Mosses in Bulgaria” (1992),
“Synopsis of Plant Communities in Bulgaria”
(1995), “Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms in Bulgaria”
(1998), “Cenozoic Plants of Bulgaria” (Eocene
to Pliocene) (2005), “Atlas of Bulgarian Endemic Plants”
(2006) and various proceedings of botanical conferences as well
as other publications. The journal Phytologia Balcanica
(since 1975) deals with taxonomy and biosystematics, chorology,
floristics, evolution, phytocoenology, paleobotany, palynology,
plant anatomy, embryology, ecology, and chemistry of medicinal
and aromatic plants. The mean number of annual publications is
52.
Obviously since Bulgaria is involved in the botanical research
of the European Union and NATO there are cooperative programs
with these nations for mapping (as in Natura 2000) and in CORINE,
in the UNESCO_MAB programs, the EU Danubian and Balkan Flora programs.
Also there are FAO and UNEP cooperative programs ongoing, as well
as a Black Sea Association of Institutes. The European Initiative
for Euro + Med Plant Base, Periodic Review of Bulgarian Biosphere
Reserves, National Grassland Inventory Project, European Native
Seed Conservation Network, Conservation and Sustainable Use of
Biodiversity in Strandzha Mountain (UNESCO_MAB), Transboundary
Cooperation Bulgaria-Greece (PHARE), European Pollen Bank, Evolution
of Climate in the Neogene (NECLIME), and Mapping of the Flora
of Europe (Finland) are international cooperative projects undertaken
by the Institute of Botany.
This is one in a series of national botanical profiles conceived
by the International Outreach Committee of the Botanical Society
of America to educate botanists about international efforts in
botany.
The map below shows the ecological zones, as shown on the FAO
global map of ecological zones produced as part of the FRA 2000.
Please refer to FRA Working Paper 20 for further information on
the Global Ecological Zone map.
The designations employed and the presentation of material in
this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory,
city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation
of its frontiers or boundaries.
Map source: Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, base map:
ESRI
Forest cover map
The designations employed and the presentation of material in
this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory,
city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation
of its frontiers or boundaries.
Map source: Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, base map:
ESRI
The above map is an extract from the Global Forest Cover map
produced as part of FRA 2000. Please refer to FRA Working Paper
19 for a background to the production of the map.
Botany in Bulgaria
By
Anitra Thorhaug
Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
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