Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2023 number 2

The Priobskoe plateau is characterized by a high diversity of plant communities. It is associated with the specific features of the relief, hydrology and edaphic factors. Currently, a lot of separate works on the syntaxonomy of vegetation have been published for certain areas of the Priobskoe Plateau, but there is't unified checklist of communities. Its compilation will allow assessing the phytocoenotic diversity of the region and identifying “blind spots” in the study of the territory. A database of 1530 published geobotanical descriptions was created in the IBIS 7.2 program in order to analyze the syntaxonomic coverage of the vegetation in the Priobskoe plateau. Based on those, the prodromus of vegetation was compiled, which included 17 classes, 29 orders, 44 alliances and 103 associations. It covers the frequency of associations in the right-bank and left-bank parts of the plateau - separately for the steppe and forest-steppe zones (table). For each association, the position on the soil moisture and richness-salinization gradients was determined using phytoindication scales. This resulted in the creation of the ordination schemes of associations (Fig. 2). The vegetation of the forest-steppe zone on the left bank of the Ob is represented by 63 associations, 35 alliances, 24 orders and 16 classes. Steppes, meadows, forests, halophytic, aquatic and semi-aquatic communities are widespread here. The diversity of aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation is associated with the large number of rivers and lakes. Forest coenoses are formed along the ravine and hollow systems and suffusion depressions. Natural meadows are found in small areas in the edges and clearings of small-leaved forests, ribbon forests, along the fields and idle lands. The tops and slopes of the ravine and hollow systems feature well-preserved steppes. The steppe zone vegetation of the Priobskoe plateau left bank is less diverse. It is represented by 22 associations, 13 alliances, 10 orders and 8 classes. Moisture deficiency results in the dominance of steppe communities and is the reason for the small number of associations representing meadows and forests. To date, complete information on the diversity of the forest, halophytic, aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation in this area is not available. The right-bank part of the Priobskoe plateau is represented by 50 associations, 23 alliances, 14 orders and 6 classes. The vegetation of this territory is close to the left-bank forest-steppe. The main difference is the absence of halophytic communities. This is related to the good drainage of landscapes, which prevents the development of saline soils. Our studies have revealed the diversity of the Priobskoe plateau vegetation. The three areas of the plateau differ from each other markedly in terms of syntaxonomic diversity. This is associated with the differences in natural conditions and the degree of coverage.