Bioclimates of altitudinal vegetation belts of the Russian mountains
M.V. BOCHARNIKOV
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: ecosystem, altitudinal zonation, orobiome, climate, cluster analysis, maps
Abstract
A bioclimatic justification is made for the diversity and structure of vegetation cover of the Russian mountains. On the basis of identifying the climatopes of the altitudinal-belt subdivisions underlying the spectra of mountain systems and analyzing a related development of vegetation cover of orobiomes with climatic conditions, the possibilities for its formation within the framework of altitudinal spectra have been determined. A global CHELSA model has been used to obtain reference bioclimatic parameters. The average annual temperature, the temperature of July and January, annual precipitation and precipitation of July, radiation balance, continentality index and ombrothermic index of July have been used as key bioclimatic parameters. A diversity of altitudinal-belt subdivisions (belts and sub-belts) has been determined on the basis of the altitudinal zonation of vegetation and the hierarchical structure of the botanical diversity of mountains and the types of zonation formed by them. On the basis of calculating the mean values and standard deviations of heat and moisture availability within the entire climatic area occupied by background communities in terms of orobiomes, their climatopes have been determined and a clustering has been carried out. As a result of comparing the climatopes at higher hierarchical levels, thermoclimates (extremely cold, very cold, cold, moderately cold, and moderately warm), and ombroclimates (moderately continental humid, moderately continental very humid, continental humid, and extracontinental semi-humid) have been determined. Mapping of climatope diversity made it possible to determine the relationship between the typological structure of altitudinal-belt spectra of vegetation with modern climate on a unified ecosystem basis.
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