Synanthropic flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains

Abstract

The aim of the research was to study the composition and the characteristics of the synanthropic flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains. The territory is located in the north-west of the Altai mountains (See Fig. 1). It is represented by the Kolyvan Ridge and a part of the adjacent Pre-Altai Plain with low stony arrays along the Alei river, the Loktevka river, the Belaya river and the Charysh River (within geographical coordinates 50°45'-51°45'N, 81°35,-82°46'E). About 300 years ago, on this territory there were discovered deposits of non-ferrous metals and ornamental stones. The start of mining originated from the beginning of deforestation and plowing of the adjacent steppe territories. Besides agricultural use, touristic and recreational use of the territory is being intensively developed nowadays. However, the western lowlands of the Altai mountains are the main areas for keeping the biological diversity of the Altai-Sayan region, especially the steppe biome. Therefore, synanthropic plants of this region need to be studied due to the anthropogenic pressure on natural ecosystems that creates a problem today. We have been studying the synanthropic flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains since 1996. This research includes the results of our field studies published earlier [Maslova OM, 2003] and recently (the herbarium is kept at ALTB and KUZ), as well as data of other researchers [Ebel AL, 2012; Silant’eva MM, 2013; Kopitina TM, Terehina TA and Nekrasova NV, 2003; Kleshcheva E, Korolyuk A and Lashchinsky N, 2005; Usik NA, 2014]. In the synanthropic flora, we included species which are adventive on the studied area and apophytes encountered in disturbed habitats. We analyzed systematic and typological structure of the synanthropic flora to identify its characteristics. The flora of the western lowlands was tested according to hemerobility [Kunick W, 1974; Klotz S, 1984; Frank D and Klotz S, 1990; Pestryakov BN, Cherosov MM and Ishbirdin AR, 2011] and hemeroby [Zverev AA, Sheremetova SA and Sheremetov RT, 2018] scales in the app IBIS (version 7.2). We established that the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains is represented by 1105 species, 455 genera and 109 families of vascular plants. The synanthropic fraction of the flora embraces 272 species, 173 genera and 41 families. Families Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Lamiaceae are prevalent while Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Cyperaceae are losing their leading positions, traditional for the natural flora (See Table 1). Such genera as Chenopodium (8 species); Potentilla (7); Centaurea, Artemisia, Cirsium, Rumex (6 species each); Cuscuta, Plantago and Trifolium (including Amoria) (5 species each) are equally represented. The arealological analysis was carried out on the basis of the modern settlement of species; 11 types of areas were identified in the synanthropic fraction (See Table 2). Among alien species, Holarctic species hold the first place while Palearctic species prevail among apophytes. Ecological analysis was executed for the synanthropic fraction as a whole and its individual parts (apophytes and alien species) for two factors: the relation of plants to the conditions of moistening (See Table 3) and the stony substrate. In the synanthropic flora, xeromesophytes and mesophytes are prevalent. According to the stony factor of the substrate, two ecological groups were revealed: optional petrophytes (29.4%) and non-petrophytes (70.6%). There were 6 floristic complexes identified in the eco-coenotic structure of the synanthropic flora: ruderal, steppe, meadow, valley, shrub and forest. 105 adventive species and 44 apophytes are attributed to the ruderal complex. These are plants that are widespread in the anthropogenic habitats. Among them are apophytes, such as Amaranthus retroflexus L., Arctium lappa L., Carduus crispus L., Chelidonium majus L., Chenopodium album L., Convolvulus arvensis L., Cynoglossum officinale L., Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl, Dracocephalum thymiflorum L., Lactuca serriola L., Polygonum aviculare L., Psammophiliella muralis (L.) Ikonn., Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem. et Schult., Sisymbrium loeselii L., and Spergularia rubra (L.) J. Presl et C. Presl. Some apophytes (123) are also found in natural (or intact) communities. The steppe complex includes 34 species encountered in common (Lappula consanguinea (Fisch. et C.A. Mey.) Guerke, Orobanche cumana Wallr., Sisymbriumpolymorphum (Murray) Roth) and stony steppes (Artemisiafrigida Willd., Erysimum cheiranthoides L., Potentilla bifurca L., Teloxys aristata (L.) Moq.). The meadow complex comprises 22 species from dry (Achillea millefolium L., Amoria repens (L.) C. Presl, Bromopsis inermis (Leyss.) Holub, Calamagrostis epigeios (L.) Roth, Medicago falcata L., Trifolium pratense L.) and saline (Cirsium esculentum (Siev.) C.A. Mey., Melilotus dentatus (Waldst. et Kit.) Pers., Polygonum patulum M. Bieb.) meadows. The valley complex contains 23 species (Calystegiasepium (L.) R. Br., Cirsium setosum (Willd.) Besser, Lycopus europaeus L., Potentilla anserina L.). The shrub complex (34 species) is extremely heterogeneous (Cuscuta lupuliformis Krock., Fallopia convolvulus (L.) A. Love, Galium vaillantii DC. et DC., Sonchus arvensis L., Artemisia glauca Pall. ex Willd.). The forest complex (10 species) is represented by the plants of forest meadows and forest edges (Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop., Dactylis glomerata L., Leucanthemum vulgare Lam., Prunella vulgaris L., Rumex acetosella L.). From the synanthropic flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains, 31 species are included in the Black Book of Siberian flora. On the whole, the adventive species in the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains rise up to 11.6%. To compare, the part of the alien species in the flora of Altai Region is 13.7%, in the Altai Republic - 10.6%, in Kemerovo Region - 11% and in the Baikal Siberia - 13%. In regional floras of Eastern Europe the part of alien species reaches 2025%. The low level of urbanization and the absence of large transport routes restrains the spread of synanthropic plants. On the contrary, the increasing use of the territory for recreational and touristic purposes leads to the intensification of the anthropogenic flora transformation. We found out that to analyze the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains, any scale of hemerobility and hemeroby is not suitable, specifically the scales of hemerobility developed for East Germany (DHEM), the Northern Volga region (IHEM) and the Yakutia (YA_HEM). This fact arises from a low compliance of these scales (IHEM - 58.5%; YA_HEM - 46.6%; DHEM - 47.2%) to the floristic list of the area being subject of studies. A high compliance was proved by using the hemeroby scale developed for the south of Siberia whose data amount to 91.9% of the studied flora. The integral disturbance index was calculated using the IBIS program. For the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains, it is equal to 3.5 (9 grades in the scale); its apophytic fraction is 3.3. In the composition of the synanthropic fraction of the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains, the proportion of highly tolerant species (gradations 8-9) significantly increases (See Table 4). We can conclude that the modern composition of the synanthropic flora includes 105 alien species and 167 apophyte species. In the spectrum of the leading families of the synanthropic flora, we revealed significant modifications as compared with the data of the overall flora complex. The analysis of typological elements established that synanthropic plants are mainly species widespread in large areas (Holarctic, Palearctic, West Palaearctic, cosmopolites); most of them are xeromesophytes and mesophytes; two thirds of them are non-petrophytes. Eco-cenotic analysis data show that 55% of aboriginal apophytes that migrate to anthropogenic habitats belong to the steppe and shrub complexes. The part of alien species (11.6%), as well as the results of the analysis on the hemeroby scale, indicate a low degree of transformation of the flora of the western lowlands of the Altai mountains. The paper contains 1 Figure, 4 Tables and 62 References.