Dynamics of Seed Productivity of the Endemic Species Anemonastrum biarmiense (Juz.) Holub (Ranunculaceae) in the South Ural Reserve

Five-year dynamics of seed productivity of the high-mountain endemic species Anemonastrum biarmiense (Juz.) Holub in the territory of the South Ural Reserve is presented. The collection of seed material was carried out in three cenopopulations (Dunan-Sungan, Yusha and Naratash), two of which are associated with tall grass communities of the Polygonion krascheninnikovii Kashapov 1985 union, the third cenopopulation is part of the tundra-like communities of the spruce-birch crooked forest of the Calamagrostion arundinaceae (Luquet 1926) Oberdorfer 1957 union. A brief description of the weather conditions of the growing year is given with a graph of minimum temperatures from May to July 2015–2021, where the largest number of days with frost was noted for 2017 (9 days), and not noted at all for 2021. A description of the morphological heterogeneity is given. Seeds of A.biarmiense, while it was found that the seeds of plants are most often characterized by an ellipsoidal shape, less often an ellipsoidal one with a base narrowed into a stem. The spherical shape of the seeds is more common in forest cenopopulations, and the ellipsoidal shape is more common in meadow ones. Seeds with a wavy and even edge are observed equally often. The metric and quantitative parameters of A. biarmiense seed productivity in natural cenopopulations from 2015 to 2021 are given. Most of the metrics increase in 2016, 2018 and decrease in 2015, 2017 with worsening weather conditions. Among the quantitative indicators, the largest number of ovules and seeds per seedling, fl ower-bearing shoot and individual were found in the meadow cenopopulations of Yusha, Dunan-sungan of the forest belt, and in the Naratash CP of the subalpine belt, their number is reduced. Accordingly, a higher seed productivity coeffi cient was found in the open meadow communities of the forest belt, and a lower one in the crooked forest belt. Characterizing the weather conditions of the growing year, most of the maximum values were found in 2016, when the climatic conditions were the most favorable during the growing season. The minimum values of seed productivity indicators were noted in 2017 and 2021, characterized by the least favorable weather conditions throughout the growing season. The lowest variability of seed productivity traits was found for the length and width of the seed, the highest – for the weight of seeds and the number of unfulfilled seeds per seed, flowering shoot and plant. The amplitude of variability for all studied parameters of seed productivity varies in a wide range among the observed cenopopulations in the belt of spruce crooked forests on the ridge. Naratash, while in the narrowest range, variation of signs in the Yusha and Dunan-sungan CP was revealed.