An ecological assessment of the plant communities at Port Bán Nature Reserve in south-western Ireland

Port Bán Nature Reserve, a peatland in south-western Ireland, is a complex system of cutover lowland blanket bog, wet meadow, willow scrub, heathland and riparian vegetation. The plant communities of the reserve were sampled and described using the Braun-Blanquet stratified random sampling technique, with a view to compiling an ecological inventory of the site to aid future conservation management. A total of 99 species of vascular plants were recorded from an area of twelve hectares. Ordination of the relevé data was carried out using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). The presentation of the vegetation data follows the Braun-Blanquet system. The vegetation described ranged across four phytosociological classes and was placed in seven different plant communities: Narthecio-Ericetum tetralicis, Ulici gallii-Ericetum cinereae, Senecioni-Juncetum acutiflori, Valeriano-Filipenduletum, Myricetum gale, Osmundo-Salicetum atrocinereae and Oenanthe crocata-Salix x calodendron. Each of these communities is discussed in terms of their occurrence at Port Bán and elsewhere in Ireland. In addition, the problems regarding conservation management of the reserve are outlined, with natural succession identified as the largest threat to the reserve's plant communities.