NEW CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT FLORA OF AGIGEA MARINE SAND DUNES NATURAL RESERVE

Since founding of Agigea Marine Sand Dunes Reserve in 1939, the environmental conditions have changed significantly especially due to building of Constanta South – Agigea Harbour. Microclimate and soil condition have changed in the last 70 years in the protected area and led to disappearance of significant number of plant species, many of them specific to littoral zone. The latest scientific paper which inventories the flora of the natural reserve (Mititelu et al. 1992) presents a list of 418 species of spontaneous plants, which actually represents an accumulation of the results of floristic studies accomplished in the natural reserve between years 1928 and 1992. The floristic inventory of Mititelu et al. includes numerous species that have disappeared many years ago from the natural reserve area. A critical revision of the floristic inventory is accomplished by Sarbu et al. (2006) who eliminates 72 of the 418 taxa inventoried by Mititelu et al. (1992). Even if the number of taxa was reduced to 346, we believe that the number of plants is currently much smaller in the strict perimeter of the reserve (10,55 ha) which means that the floristic inventory needs revision. Our floristic study carried out in the natural reserve in the period of April 2010 - March 2011 led to identification of 241 vascular plant taxa (spontaneous, subspontaneous, naturalized or introduced accidentally or deliberated in the reservation). The paper presents both a floristicinventory of the reservation and brief considerations concerning rare and threatened plants and about invasive and potentially invasive alien plant species which threaten the specific flora of the sand dunes.