Undergraduate of the specialty "Biology" – Nadyozhkina I.

Cand. Sc. of Biology – Sultangazina G.

Kostanay State University named after A. Baitursynov

GEOGRAPHICAL  ANALYSIS OF STEPPE FLORA IN THE NATIONAL PARK "BURABAI"

 

The conservation of biodiversity is one of the global environmental problems and it becomes more and more acute every year with the disappearance of species.

Floristic studies were carried out in the territory of the State National Natural Park (SNNP) "Burabai" located in Kokshetau mountainous area covering the block of Paleozoic rocks of the same name in the north-western part of the Central Kazakhstan Upland.

The boundary location of Kokchetau upland between forest-steppe and steppe vegetation zones left an imprint on the character of its vegetation. K.P. Gorshenin [1955] considered this territory as "false forest-steppe" based on the fact that outlier-steppe landscapes are widespread there.

On the modern vegetation map the area of Kokchetau upland is charted as the forest-steppe of lowlands, the part of the steppe zone with the predominance of northern zonal types of steppes in combination with birch, asp-birch and pine forests [1].

The national park covers Bohr mountain-forest massif located in the eastern part of Kokshetau Upland (north-western part of Kazakh Upland). Its area is 129,935 hectares. The maximum height of the ridge Kokshetau is 947.6 m above sea level. The ridge is made of deep-seated igneous rocks, mostly of granite. There are also pegmatites, syenites, porphyrites. The once irruptive from the depths of the earth molten magma transformed the composition of the surface sediments. The following metamorphic rocks were formed: schists, quartzites, cherts [2]. The park territory is hilly and lowland terrain, most evident in the western part. The complexity of topography and geological structure as well as other factors determine the extremely diverse and contrastive soil cover [3]. In the area, adjacent to the granite Lowland, the most common are black earth carbonate, normal, leached and solodized, dark chestnut underdeveloped and incomplete developed cobble soils as well as chestnut soils on dense crystalline rocks [4]. The climate of the study area has a clear continental character. The annual amplitude of air temperature is in average  80-90 °C. In July the temperature rises to + 41 °C, in January in certain years it falls to - 51 °C. The annual rainfall is 379 mm, its maximum is observed in elevated areas. Fast drying out of soils in the spring and early summer occurs due to a low rainfall and strong winds. The wind regime during the year is characterized by the predominance of south-west winds (52%), the average annual wind speed is 3,25,3 m/s. The probability of adverse combinations of heat and moisture in the most critical period for the development of plants (May –July), is in average about 50%. Late spring and early autumn frosts also adversely affect the growth and development of plants.

The flora of the Natural Park "Burabai" has 691 species (including 47 foreign) of higher vascular plants which belong to 101 families and 344 genera, representing 49% of the total flora of the Central Kazakhstan Upland and 12% of the flora of Kazakhstan [5].

Among the total number of identified vascular plants species the steppe flora plants compose 124 species belonging to 75 genera, 24 families, representing 18% of the total floristic diversity. The basis for the analysis of steppe flora of the National Park "Burabai" was the list of vascular plants. The main volume of factual material (more than 1,000 herbarium specimens, about 50 geobotanical descriptions) was obtained during field work in 2012-2014.

In the course of research, which aim was to identify the floristic diversity of the steppe part of the Natural Park "Burabai", they carried out a field study in 10 forest districts: Akylbayskoe, Borovskoe, Katarkolskoe, Zolotoborskoe, Mirnoe, Barmashinskoe, Priozernoe, Bulandinskoe, Temnoborskoe and Zhalairyskoe. In addition to field studies of collecting plants, much work on viewing the literature was done ("Flora of Kazakhstan" (1956-1966),  Z.V. Karamysheva, E.I. Rachkovskaya’s monograph (1973), Herbarium (the Herbarium of the Department of Biology and Chemistry of Kostanay State University named after A. Baitursynov and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (Ekaterinburg).

An integral part of the flora analysis is the study of geographical laws of its species distribution and based on the data the isolation of geographical elements, i.e. the division of studied flora into groups of species with a similar spread. All this allows us to generalize and systematize the existing knowledge of the geographical distribution of plant species to reveal the characteristic phytogeographic features of the formation of regional flora (Portenier, 1993, 2000), as well as highlight some moments in its history [6, 7].

For phytogeographical analysis of meadow-steppe regional floras we used the system of geographical elements developed by N.N. Portenier (1993, 2000) and enriched by A.L. Ivanov (1998). The basis for pointing out of geographical elements is the approach based on the conception of phytochorions (Braun-Blauquet, 1919, 1923; Eug, 1931), on the principle of correspondence of species distribution to A.Y. Takhtadzhyan (1978) pointing out of floral zoning (Ivanov, 1998) [8, 9].

The Portenier-Ivanov system of geographical elements reveals characteristic diagnostic features of fitohorion floras. During phytogeographic analysis of steppe flora in studied region 12 geographical elements were found (Table 1).

 

Table 1 – Geographical analysis of species composition of steppe flora in the SNNP "Burabai"

Geographic type

Number of species

% of the total number of species

General Holarktic elements

Palearctic

25

20.2

Eurosibirian

19

15.3

Holarctic

4

3.2

Ancient Mediterranean elements

Mediterranean

14

11.3

Boreal elements

Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan

29

23.4

Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan-Mongolian

12

9.8

Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan-Mongolian

7

5.6

Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan

5

4.0

Central Kazakhstan-Mongolian

5

4.0

Eastern Kazakhstan

2

1.6

Eastern-Kazakhstan-Mongolian

1

0.8

Plurizonal elements

Cosmopolitan

1

0.8

Total

124

100

 

1. Palearctic element. Ranges of species that make up this geoelement comprise temperate and subtropical areas of Holarctic Kingdom within the Old World without apparent beloning to one of subkingdoms. In the studied flora there are 25 of these species (20.2%) (Fig. 1). This geoelement includes the following steppe species: Phleum phleoides (L.) H. Karst., Helictotrichon pubescens (Huds.) Pilg., H. desertorum (Less.) Nevski., Festuca rupicola Heuff, Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski., Stipa pennata L., Artemisia pontica L., Achillea setacea Waldst. & Kit., and others.

Figure 1 – aerographic species groups of steppe flora in the SNNP "Burabai"

BSRK – Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan, PA - Palearctic, EUS – Eurosibirian, HA – Holarctic, M – Mediterranean, BSRKM – Black Sea Region- Kazakhstan-Mongolian, ZKM – Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan-Mongolian, ZK – Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan, CKM – Central Kazakhstan-Mongolian species, EK – Eastern Kazakhstan, EKM – Eastern Kazakhstan-Mongolian, C – Cosmopolitan

 

2. Eurosiberian element. Includes widespread boreal species which are absent in the New World. Their ranges cover the Eurasian part of the Circumboreal Region (Takhtadzhyan, 1978). Here there are 19 species (15.3%).  This element includes the following types: Pulsatilla patens (L.) Mill., Adonis vernalis L., Ranunculus pedatus Waldst. & Kit.,                R. polyrhizus Steph., Erysimum sisymbrioides C.A.Mey and others.

3. Holarctic element. The species cover the territories of at least 3 Holarctic subkingdoms. A total number of such species in the National Park "Burabay" is 4 (3.2%). Holarctics include the following steppe species: Carex pediformis C.A.Mey., Artemisia frigida Willd., Koeleria cristata (L.) Pers.,  Potentilla nudicaulis Willd. ex Schltdl.

4. Mediterranean element. Includes species with ranges covering 2 or more provinces of the Mediterranean region and making up its floral kernel. This geoelement includes 14 species of steppe flora of the park (11.3%, respectively): Elisanthe viscosa (L.) Rupr., Gypsophila paniculata L., Alyssum tortuosum Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd., Stipa capillata L, Poa stepposa (Kryl.) Roshev and others.

5. Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan element. This geoelement of the SNNP “Burabai” has 29 species (23.4%). These are the following: Ephedra distachya L., Adonis wolgensis Steven., Atraphaxis frutescens (L.) K.Koch., Erysimum marschallianum Andrz and others.

6. Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan-Mongolian element is represented by 12 species (9.8%) – Isatis costata C.A.Mey., Sisymbrium polymorphum (Murray), Caragana frutex (L.) K.Koch., Linum pallescens Bunge., Salvia stepposa Des.-Shost.,  etc.

7. Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan-Mongolian element is represented by 7 species, respectively 5.6%. They are the following: Pulsatilla   flavescens (Zucc.) Juz., Eremogone saxatilis (L.) Ikonn., Goniolimon speciosum (L.) Boiss., Alyssum lenense Adams., Clausia aprica (Stephan) Korn.-Trotzky., Hedysarum gmelinii Ledeb., Artemisia sericea Weber ex Stechm.

8. Zavolozhsky-Kazakhstan element includes 5 species (4%): Tulipa patens C.Agardh ex Schult., Astragalus vulpinus Willd., Eromogone koriniana (Fisch.) ex Fenzl., Seseli ledebourii G. Don., Scabiosa isetensis L.

9. Central Kazakhstan-Mongolian element includes the following 5 species (4%): Allium strictum Schrad., A. rubens Schrad. ex Willd., Artemisia commutata Besser., Thermopsis lanceolata R.Br., Chorispora sibirica (L.) DC.

10. Eastern-Kazakhstan element is represented by two species (1.6%): Thesium refractum C.A.Mey., Peucedanum morisonii Besser ex Spreng.

11. Eastern-Kazakhstan-Mongolian element includes one representative (0.8%): Anthemis tinctoria L.

12. Cosmopolitan element has a very wide distribution occurring in many or certain areas of the globe. Real cosmopolitans inhabit all continents. This element comprises only one species (0.8%) – Ceratocarpus arenarius L.

The geographical analysis of steppe flora of the National Park "Burabai" leads to the following conclusions. The flora of the SNNP "Burabai" contains a significant proportion of species represented by Boreal (49.2%), General Holarctic (38.7%) and Ancient Mediterranean (11.3%) elements. Among the Boreal elements the largest by geographic species are Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan (29 species or 23.4%), Eurosibirian (19 species or 15.3%), and among General Holarctic – Palearctic (25 species or 20.2%), Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan-Mongolian (12 species or 9.8%). Ancient Mediterranean element is represented by one type of geographical species – the Mediterranean, to which 14 species of steppe plants belong. The proportion of Boreal species distributed within Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan-Mongolian (5.6%), Zavolzhsky-Kazakhstan (4%), Central Kazakhstan-Mongolian (4%), Eastern-Kazakhstan (1.6%) and Eastern-Kazakhstan-Mongolian subregions (0.8%), as well as the areas of Holarctic subregion (3.2%) related to General Holarctic region is small. Plurizonal element is represented by only one Cosmopolitan species and composes only 0.8% of all steppe species of the park. Thus, in the steppe flora of the SNNP "Burabai" dominate Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan and Palearctic species with significant participation of Eurosibirian, Mediterranean and Black Sea Region-Kazakhstan-Mongolian species.

 

REFERENCES:

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