Identification of areas of high diversity of rare plant species as a basis for assessment of representativeness and improvement of the nature protected areas network
N. I. Fedorov, A. A. MULDASHEV, V. B. MARTYNENKO, E. Z. BAISHEVA, P. S. SHIROKIKH, O. A. ELIZARYEVA, A. G. KUTUEVA
Ufa Institute of Biology of UFRC RAS, Ufa, Russia
Keywords: редкие и исчезающие виды растений, биоразнообразие, Красная книга, особо охраняемые природные территории, сеточное картирование, ГИС-технологии, Южный Урал, rare and endangered plant species, biodiversity, Red Book, specially protected natural areas, grid mapping, GIS technology, Southern Urals
Abstract
The assessment of the representativeness of the protected areas is necessary to optimize the national and regional protected area networks, as well as to improve the protection of rare and endemic species. In the Republic of Bashkortostan (RB), an analysis of the distribution of rare vascular plant species in need of protection was carried out on the basis of a synthesis of all sources of high-precision geo-referenced data, i. e. the data bases of herbarium specimens and geobotanical relevés. The result of these works was the creation of a graphic database - GIS-map “The rare and endangered species of vascular plants of the Republic of Bashkortostan.” This GIS-map includes three main vector layers: a point layer containing information about 4932 rare species localities, a layer “Protected areas borders” and a grid layer, with cells 6ʹ in latitude × 10ʹ in longitude (10.8 × 10.2 km). Based on these layers and standard procedures of the QGIS 3.4 program, an algorithm has been developed to analyze the patterns of distribution of rare species throughout the region, as well as to identify areas with a high diversity of these species and their covering by the existing nature protected area network. On an example of two grid map cells with a high diversity of rare species the approaches to the identification and delineation of further sites of nature protected areas were considered using space images and a digital elevation model. In order to estimate the protection level of the unique combinations of rare species, the distribution of all set of these species within the existing protected areas was assessed. This allowed to justify the creation of two new nature protected areas. The proposed approach does not exclude, but significantly reduces the volume of field investigations, and can significantly reduce the time and financial costs of creation of new protected areas to optimize the protection of rare and endangered plant species.
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