Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2021 number 5

The results of a seven-year study of two populations of the rare orchid Cypripedium calceolus L. located in different ecotopes (in the forest and in the swamp) on the territory of the Komi Republic are presented. It was revealed that the size of the shoots of this species is influenced by the weather conditions of both the current and previous growing seasons, while the specifics of the action of weather factors depending on the growing conditions are noted. The number of generative shoots in the studied populations is positively associated with the temperature and humidity of August of the previous growing season, and frosts have an additional effect on their number. The number of shoots in different growing conditions during the study period changed synchronously and was positively associated (as well as the number of juvenile plants) with the weather (temperature and precipitation) at the beginning of the growing season. At the same time, the population of C. calceolus , growing in different ecotopes, differed in a number of characteristics: the spatial placement of shoots, their size, the number of flowers per shoot, etc. This indicates that all population parameters are strongly influenced by the local conditions of the site. In a more shaded habitat (forest), the population of C. calceolus remained stable during the seven years of study, whereas in the swamp the population was more dynamic. There was an increase in its number and active seed renewal. Despite the different seed productivity of the fruit in the two populations, the actual seed productivity of the generative shoot was the same in the same years of research.