Microscopic signs indicative of drowning are not specific to drowning but also to any other form of suffocation where mechanical obstruction is involved. Our study aimed to evaluate both macroscopic and microscopic findings across different groups sharing a common mechanism of death but differing causes and to compare the diatom test with pathohistological examination.Twenty-nine adult Wistar rats, weighing within recommended ranges, were divided into four groups (L1-L4). The diatom test followed established guidelines for diatoms in water from the Bosna River. Microscopic examination revealed diatoms in the lungs of rats in L3 and L4 groups. Pathohistological findings showed varying degrees of changes including consolidation and inflammatory cell infiltration, dominated by lymphocytes and macrophages, with some samples also showing eosinophilic leukocytes.Significant differences were observed between animals whose cause of death was mechanical asphyxia (suffocatio) and those that were submersed for1 hour versus those that were submersed for 72 hours after death. Diatoms identified in group L4 samples 3, 4, and 5 included Navicula sp. (U3 and U6) and Ulnaria ulna (U4).Our findings suggest combining the diatom test with pathohistological analysis to support a drowning diagnosis. Further examination of other organs could enhance result reliability.

Abstract The paper provides an overview of all freshwater red algae species recorded to date in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on fieldwork and analysis of all available previously published data, it was determined that a total of 15 taxa from eight genera have been recorded to date: Bangia (1), Audoinella (3), Batrachospermum (2), Peludicola (1), Shaethia (1), Lemanea (4), Paralemanea (2) and Hildenbrandia (1). All taxa were found in clear, cold, well-oxygenated water. Bosnia and Herzegovina is very rich in different types of aquatic habitats. More than 100 sites were visited during the field research, but there are still many potential habitats where freshwater red algae can be found, which will be explored in the coming years. This work is the first step toward establishing long-term monitoring and listing of protected and threatened red algae in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A new freshwater fossil diatom taxon Rimocostatus bugojnicus gen. et sp. nov, from Miocene sediments at the Gračanica site, Bugojno palaeolake in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is described. The main morphological feature of the genus is the presence of marginal rimoportulae with simple, round external openings positioned on interfascicles on the valve mantle and stalked, large, wide internal slits, positioned on every costa. Marginal and valve face fultoportulae are absent. With these characteristics, the species shows similarities to both marine and freshwater species, known from recent, and primarily from fossil, diatom deposits. Thus, Rimocostatus bugojnicus gen. et sp. nov. is an important find for understanding the evolution of centric diatom species.

This paper presents new records and noteworthy data on the following taxa in SE Europe and adjacent regions: red algae Lemanea rigida and Paralemanea torulosa, mycorrhizal fungi Amanita simulans and Terfezia pseudoleptoderma, parasitic fungus Microbotryum vinosum, saprotrophic fungus Sarcoscypha jurana, stonewort Chara tenuispina, mosses Brachytheciastrum collinum and Meesia longiseta, monocots Dactylorhiza romana and Neotinea maculata and dicots Adenophora liliifolia, Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Tanacetum corymbosum subsp. cinereum are given within SE Europe and adjacent regions.

This paper presents new records and noteworthy data on the following taxa in SE Europe and adjacent regions: red algae Lemanea fucina and Paralemanea annulata, parasitic fungus Anthracoidea pratensis, saprotrophic fungi Cyathus olla, Massaria campestris, and Xylaria sicula, stonewort Chara canescens, liverworts Gymnomitrion commutatum and Porella baueri, moss Acaulon triquetrum, monocots Anacamptis laxiflora, Cephalanthera damasonium, and Himantoglossum robertianum and dicot Jacobaea othonnae are given within SE Europe and adjacent regions.

UDK: 582.323: 574.4(497.6)(234.422)          551.438.22(497.6)(234.422) Peatland ecosystems in Bosnia and Herzegovina represent a relict remain of the vegetation, flora and fauna from the glaciation periods. Peatlands are widespread on the North, where they occupy large areas of northern Europe, Asia and Canada. Occurrence of this type of ecosystems in Bosnia and Herzegovina contains an indication of nature conservation in general and represents an extraordinary natural value. The status of peatland ecosystems in the Balkans should be carefully monitored especially today, at the time of the already recognizable effects of climate change. The preserved structure and functionality of these ecosystems might indicate satisfactory degree of resilience to climate change, but adverse state warns on the need to take appropriate actions. Multiply drivers as overexploitation of natural resources, water, air and soil pollution and spread of invasive alien species, also have a negative effect on peatland ecosystems. In order to assess the conditions of peatland ecosystems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, researches were carried out on Vranica and Zvijezda mountain in central Bosnia. Researches was conducted including the following communities: Sphagno-Piceetum montanum Stef 1964, Sphagnetum recurvo-subsecundi Grgić et al. 1991, Menyanthi-Sphagnetum Grgić et al. 1991 Scirpetum silvatici Ht et H-ić, Calthaetum rostratae Lakušić et al. 1991, Abieti-Piceetum illyricum Fuk. 1960 Stef. 62 s.l ect. To investigate existing conditions state of the peatland ecosystems, floristic elements and life forms were determined for every plant species. A comparison of previous and today’s state of these communities was conducted, associated with analysis of Ellenberg’s indices for temperature, light, soil reaction etc. According to Lakušić et al., 1991., these type of ecosystems in Bosnia and Herzegovina was satisfactory. However, today's finding shows severe changes. The loss of peatland habitats was recorded in the entire area of research. The main identified drivers are deforestation, habitat conversion and drainage of watercourses. In order to protect this type of ecosystems and important indicator species it is necessary to implement different conservation and restoration activities.

Aims: We studied the syntaxonomic position, biodiversity, ecological features, nature conservation value and current status of dry grasslands investigated by Josias Braun-Blanquet more than 60 years ago. Study area: Inner-alpine valleys of Austria. Methods: We sampled 67 plots of 10 m2, following the standardized EDGG methodology. We subjected our plots to an unsupervised classification with the modified TWINSPAN algorithm and interpreted the branches of the dendrogram syntaxonomically. Biodiversity, structural and ecological characteristics of the resulting vegetation units at association and order level were compared by ANOVAs. Results: All the examined grasslands belong to the class Festuco-Brometea. From ten distinguished clusters, we could assign four clusters to validly published associations, while the remaining six clusters were named tentatively. We classified them into three orders: Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (Armerio elongatae-Potentilletum arenariae, Phleo phleoidis-Pulsatilletum nigricantis, Medicago minima-Melica ciliata community, Koelerio pyramidatae-Teucrietum montani), Festucetalia valesiacae (Sempervivum tectorum-Festuca valesiaca community); Brachypodietalia pinnati (Astragalo onobrychidis-Brometum erecti, Agrostis capillaris-Avenula adsurgens community, Anthericum ramosum-Brachypodium pinnatum community, Ranunculus bulbosus-Festuca rubra community, Carduus defloratus-Brachypodium pinnatum community). Conclusions: The ten distinguished dry grassland communities of the Austrian inner-alpine valleys differ in their ecological affinities as well as their vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen diversity. We point out their high nature conservation importance, as each of them presents a unique habitat of high value. Taxonomic reference: Names of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens follow Fischer et al. (2008), Frahm and Frey (2004) and Nimis et al. (2018), respectively. Syntaxonomic reference: Names of orders and classes follow Mucina et al. (2016), references for associations and alliances are given in the text. Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance; DCA: detrended correspondence analyses; EDGG: Eurasian Dry Grassland Group; EIV: ecological indicator value; FL: Fließ; GR: Griffen; GU: Gulsen; KA: Kaunerberg; LA: Laudegg castle in Ladis; MA: Marin; NM: Neumarkt in der Steiermark; OM: Obermauern; PÖ: Pöls; PU: Puxer Loch; TWINSPAN = Two-way indicator species analysis; ZS: Zinizachspitze.

This paper presents new records and noteworthy data on the following taxa in SE Europe and adjacent regions: cyanobacteria Anagnostidinema amphibium, mycorrhizal fungus Tricholoma frondosae, stonewort Chara connivens, mosses Dicranum polysetum and Ulota intermedia, and dicots Eclipta prostrata, Paeonia daurica subsp. daurica, Ruta graveolens and Sorbus bosniaca.

This paper presents new records and noteworthy data on the following taxa in SE Europe and adjacent regions: diatom alga Stauroneis neofossilis, parasitic fungus Anthracoidea arenariae, horsetail Equisetum hyemale, liverwort Harpanthus flotovianus, mosses Fissidens exilis and Rhizomnium punctatum, monocots Epipactis helleborine subsp. orbicularis, Himantoglossum calcaratum subsp. rumelicum and Schoenus nigricans and dicots Calluna vulgaris, Mahonia aquifolium and Willemetia stipitata subsp. albanica.

The Balkan Vegetation Database (BVD; GIVD ID: EU-00-019) is a regional database, which was established in 2014. It comprises phytosociological relevés covering various vegetation types from nine countries of the Balkan Peninsula (Albania – 153 relevés, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1715, Bulgaria – 12,282, Greece – 465, Croatia – 69, Kosovo – 493, Montenegro – 440, North Macedonia – 13 and Serbia – 2677). Currently, it contains 18,306 relevés (compared to 9.580 in 2016), and most of them (82.8%) are geo-referenced. The database includes both digitized relevés from the literature (65.6%) and unpublished data (34.5%). Plot size is available for 84.7% of all relevés. During the last four years some “header data information” was improved e.g. elevation (now available for 83.4% of all relevés), aspect (67.7%), slope (66%), total cover of vegetation (54.3%), cover of tree, shrub, herb, bryophyte and lichen layers (27.1%, 20.1%, 40.2%, 11.5% and 2.1%), respectively. Data access is either semi-restricted (65.6%) or restricted (34.4%). Most relevés (84.6%) are classified to syntaxa of different levels. The database has been used for numerous studies with various objectives from floristic, vegetation and habitat-related topics, to macroecological studies at the local, regional, national, continental and global levels. During the last four years, BVD data were requested from 111 different projects via the EVA and sPlot databases.

Abstract. Water resources and associated ecosystems are becoming highly endangered due to ongoing global environmental changes. Spatial ecological modelling is a promising toolbox for understanding the past, present and future distribution and diversity patterns in groundwater-dependent ecosystems, such as fens, springs, streams, reed beds or wet grasslands. Still, the lack of detailed water chemistry maps prevents the use of reasonable models to be applied on continental and global scales. Being major determinants of biological composition and diversity of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, groundwater pH and calcium are of utmost importance. Here we developed an up-to-date European map of groundwater pH and Ca, based on 7577 measurements of near-surface groundwater pH and calcium distributed across Europe. In comparison to the existing European groundwater maps, we included several times more sites, especially in the regions rich in spring and fen habitats, and filled the apparent gaps in eastern and southeastern Europe. We used random forest models and regression kriging to create continuous maps of water pH and calcium at the continental scale, which is freely available also as a raster map (Hájek et al., 2020b; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4139912). Lithology had a higher importance than climate for both pH and calcium. The previously recognised latitudinal and altitudinal gradients were rediscovered with much refined regional patterns, as associated with bedrock variation. For ecological models of distribution and diversity of many terrestrial ecosystems, our new map based on field groundwater measurements is more suitable than maps of soil pH, which mirror not only bedrock chemistry but also vegetation-dependent soil processes.