Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2020 number 4

The right bank of the Ob River within the Novosibirsk Region represents a piedmont plain adjacent to the Salair Ridge in the West. This territory features erosive landforms with a dense network of river valleys and draws. Th e ravine-draw networks in West Siberia act as reserves for natural vegetation (Laschinsky et al., 2014). The aim of the study was to describe the sintaxonomical diversity and spatial distribution of dry meadow communities growing on the right bank of the Upper Ob basin within the Novosibirsk Region. The study was conducted in the basins of minor rivers which are the Ob, Berd and Inya tributaries. The study was based on 245 geobotanical relevés. The study area is situated in the forest-steppe zone (Kuminova et al., 1963; Makunina, Maltseva, 2008; Makunina, 2016). According to the ecological-fl oristic classification meadow vegetation is represented by 6 associations, 5 subassociations and 3 variants that belong to 2 suballiances, 4 alliances, 4 orders and 2 classes (Table 1). The most widespread meadows are those of the class Molinio-Arrhenatheretea . Forest meadows of the order Carici macrourae-Crepidetalia sibiricae form the edge of forests patches. Draw bottoms and shaded slopes are the best places for developing moderately moist forest meadows of the association Crepidetum sibiricae , subassociation C. s. typicum , represented by three variants (Table 2). The typical communities of this subassociation occur mainly within the Inya-Berd interfl uve. They are confined to the edges of moist small-leaved forests on the upper and middle parts of draw slopes and in depressions. Th e variant Delphinium elatum combines communities of the moistest habitats and is diagnosed by mesohygrophyte species. They occur in ravines, bottoms and lower parts of draw slopes in the north-eastern part of the studied region. Th e variant Serratula coronata combines the most xerophytic communities of the subassociation. They are common in the central part of the Upper Ob basin and in the areas adjacent to Suzun and Karakan pinewoods. They form the edges of forests. They are composed of mesophytes and mesoxerophytes which are characteristic for the forest-steppe birch and birch-pine forests. The edges of zonal birch and aspen-birch forests on the upper and middle parts of draw slopes of various aspects are represented by natural dry forest meadows of the association Filipendulo vulgaris-Brachypodietum pinnati (Table 3). Flattened watersheds and inter-draw areas are covered with derived communities of stepped meadows of the association Filipendulo vulgaris-Dactylidetum glomeratae of the order Galietalia veri (Table 5). True meadows of the order Arrhenatheretalia are developed on old fallow lands and are represented by communities of the subassociations Cirsio setosi-Phleetum pratensis dactyletosum glomeratae and Festuco pratensis-Dac tylidetum glomeratae trifolietosum pratensis (Table 4). A new association Peucedani morisonii-Calamagrosti etum epigeii ass. nov. hoc loco was described and attributed to the class Festuco-Brometea . Its communities are confined to the light-exposed draw slopes and represent the most xeric stepped meadows in the studied area (Table 6). The nomenclature type (holotypus hoc loco): table 6, rel. 2 (field number 19-372), Novosibirsk Region, Cherepanovsky District, Posevnaya settlement vicinities, 54.30933° N, 83.26871° E, 21.06.2019, author: A.Yu. Korolyuk.