Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2022 number 3

Intermountain basins in Khakassia and southern part of the Krasnoyarsky Krai represent an interesting steppe region of Russia. This territory extends in the latitudinal direction for more than 350 km - from the Arga ridge in the north to the piedmonts of the Western Sayan in the south. As in many mountainous steppe and forest-steppe regions, four environmental gradients are responsible for vegetation patterns: moisture, stoniness, salinity, and sand content in soils. The high diversity of habitats is the reason for the high diversity of plant communities and species, among which there are many endemics. In numerous publications, since 1998, 22 associations have been given for the studied territory. Ecological analysis of these associations using plant indicator values (Korolyuk, 2006) showed that some of them do not differ in position on the main gradients. This requires an explanation and analysis of differences in floristic composition of syntaxa. The purpose of the work is to revise current syntaxonomical scheme of Nazarovsko-Minusinskaya intermountain depression using formalized methods or relevés analysis.

The main floristic differences of meadows of West Siberia plain, and of Altai-Sayan mountain region were revealed to be geomorphologically determined. The concept of syntaxa-“cores” uniting moderately disturbed meadows has been formulated. Their areas correspond to 5 geomorphological regions: the forest zone of West Siberian Plain, the northwestern foothills of Altai-Sayan mountain region, hyperhumid low mountains, hyperhumid middle mountains, and humid middle mountains. Dissimilarities of meadows in one region are caused by edaphic and anthropogenic factors, i.e. the recent fallow past, long-term overgrazing, relatively poor soils, periodically over wetted habitats, slightly salinized habitats. Taking into account the above ideas, the scheme of floristic classification has been corrected. The phytocoenotic diversity of studied area meadows is represented by 21 syntaxa belonging to 16 associations and 9 subassociations of 2 alliances from 2 orders of the Molinio-Arrhenatheretea class. Short descriptions of these syntaxa have been carried out. 15 syntaxa have been described for the first time or validated.

We studied the seed set of a perennial herbaceous short-rhizome polycarpic plant Galeobdolon luteum (yellow archangel) in open pollination and various options of mechanic pollination (bag directly, parthenogenesis test, cross pollination). Our surveys were carried out in 2020-2022 according to generally accepted methods in natural conditions of the Moscow region. It has been shown that G. luteum produces from 48 to 128 ovules and from 10 to 108 completed seeds per one shoot. In natural pollination, we found only two variants of coenobia (schizocarpic fruit): completed seeds are not formed in the fruit at all, or the fruit includes 4 fully formed nutlets. Our studies did not reveal the ability for apomictic seed setting in this species. In flowers of G. luteum, autogamous pollination is possible with rather sharp and significant fluctuations of flowers under the influence of various environmental factors (gusts of wind, raindrops, etc.). It was revealed that within the inflorescence of G. luteum, with simultaneous flowering of several flowers, geitonogamy is possible due to the presence of a self-compatibility system and visiting flowers by pollinating insects. In abundant cross pollination, the seed set of G. luteum is higher than in open pollination, which is due to the ingress of a larger number of pollen grains on the stigmas of flowers than with insufficient pollination carried out by insects.

On the basis of 25 years of observations (1990-2014), the types of ecological-cenotic strategies have been determined for laxicaespitose grasses Arrhenatherum elatius and Dactylis glomerata on spoil banks in the Kuznetzk Basin. In 1989-1990, seven agrophytocenoses were created on levelled open-cut spoil banks of “Listvyanskiy” coal mine. Seeding of D. glomerata and A. elatius was carried out on Quaternary and Perm deposits as a part of mixtures of grasses or grasses with legumes. Determining ecological-cenotic strategies was based mainly on revealing the following aspects: above-ground phytomass, projective cover, lifespan, hummock size, numger of generative shoots, ontogenetic spectrum. D. glomerata acts as a violent species in the grass mixtures on deposits of different geological age for the initial 14 years. But D. glomerata is an ecotopic patient species in the grass mixture with Onobrychis arenaria, in sowing with Trifolium pratense, and in the thickened clover-grass mixture (with a higher seeding rate). A. elatius acts as violent species in the grass mixtures on deposits of different geological age for the initial 4-5 years after seeding. During the subsequent years in the grass mixtures, as well as for all years in the mixture with Onobrychis arenaria, A. elatius acts as a phytocenotic patient species. The following features were also noticed. Both species, D. glomerata and A. elatius, persisted in all communities for all years of observatioin. The generative shoots of D. glomerata were emerging rather late, for the 3-4 years of life, which guaranteed fruiting of the shoots. For both species, the ontogenetic spectra laked the senile individuals (and for and A. elatius even the subsenile ones). In particular years, A. elatius was producing large quantities of generative shoots, about 100 per m²; and the numbers of individuals per m² were reaching 800 on account of seedlings.

Data on the species diversity of representatives of the genus Pseudokephyrion Pascher in water bodies of Western Siberia, their distribution by zones and subzones are summarized. To date, 17 species and intraspecific taxa are known for the region, represented by 16 species of the genus Pseudokephyrion from the Dinobryaceae family. Representatives of this family are found in mosaics throughout Western Siberia. A greater number of species (12) were found in the middle taiga; 11 taxa were identified in the forest-steppe zone; in other zones, the number varied from 1 to 5. No species were found in the steppe and forest-tundra. In lakes and streams of various types, 14 species of this genus were identified. To date, 11 species of this genus are known in the watercourses and reservoirs of the Siberian Uvaly Natural Park.

The results of a taxonomic analysis of the lichen flora of the North-Eastern Okhotsk region (Magadan Region), which currently includes 412 species belonging to 1 division, 1 subdivision, 4 classes, 5 subclasses, 15 orders, 45 families and 133 genera, are presented. The majority of the species belongs to the class Lecanoromycetes (404 species or 98 %), which is represented by 4 subclasses - Acarosporomycetidae, Lecanoromycetidae, Ostropomycetidae and Umbilicariomycetidae. The basis of the lichen flora is represented by the Lecanorales order, which unites 10 families, 53 genera and 190 species (46 % of the total species diversity). The average number of species in the family is 9.2 in the studied lichen flora. The level of species richness exceeding this indicator belongs to 12 families, numbering a total of 313 species or 76 % of the flora. The average number of species in a genus is 3. In the studied lichen flora, 24 genera have an indicator higher than this value; they include 235 species or 57 % of the total flora. The largest genus Cladonia in the lichen flora of North-Eastern Priokhotye includes 44 species. The spectrum of the leading families of lichen flora is typical of the lichen flora of the Boreal zone of the Holarctic. Boreal features are indicated by the leading position of such families as Parmeliaceae, Cladoniaceae, Physciaceae, Lecanoraceae, Peltigeraceae, genera Cladonia, Peltigera. The high position in the spectrum of the families Rhizocarpaceae, Umbilicariaceae, Stereocaulaceae, Lecideaceae, including epilithic species, indicates the mountain character of the lichen flora. Thus, the studied lichen flora should be characterized as mountain-boreal.

The article presents a brief autobiography and scientific activity of Alexey Gorbunov, a leading researcher at the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main results of scientific activity are lightened and prospects for further research are outlined.