New associations with Eriophorum vaginatum L. in the Russian Arctic

Abstract

We studied tussock communities with Eriophorum vaginatum attributed to the class Oxycocco-Sphagnetea Br.-Bl. et Tx. ex Westhoff et al. 1946 and predefined class Carici arctisibiricae–Hylocomietea alaskani class. prov. (Matveyeva & Lavrinenko 2021) Two new associations – Ledo decumbentis–Eriophoretum vaginati Lapshina ass. nov. (with 3 variants) and Pleurozio schreberi–Eriophoretum vaginati Lavrinenko et Lavrinenko ass. nov. (with subassociations typicum, shagnetosum lenenses, and sphagnetosum russowii) have been described in the bog class. The first association is confined to the southern tundra subzone of the West Siberian sector of the Arctic, while the second one to the East European sector of the Arctic, where the subassociations alternate along a gradient from the north of the typical tundra subzone to the south of the southern tundra subzone. The new association Arctagrostio latifoliae–Eriophoretum vaginati Lavrinenko O. et Lapshina ass. nov. has been categorized as zonal tundra vegetation. We compared these associations with syntaxa of the communities with Eriophorum vaginatum that were previously described in bog and zonal positions in the Siberian Arctic and Alaska.